Simple Flower Hair Clips

Today I bring you a super simple tutorial for making adorable flower hair clips! I shared this originally as a guest post at Happy Hour Projects, but in case you missed it there I’m sharing it here too.

The coolest thing about these flower hair clips (besides being quick and easy to make) is that you can make them in any color or size! Usually I like smaller, more subtle hair accessories, but now that my hair is short I’m kinda having fun with this super large purple-y guy!

You only need a couple of things to make these flowers:

• decorative flower petals, some solid and some “gauzy” (in the Wedding section of most craft stores  you can usually find one box that contains both types)
• beads
• needle and thread
• glue (tacky glue or fabric glue works great)
• felt or other fabric for backing
• bobby pins

(I forgot to take a “supplies” photo before making the purple flower, so I took this one before making a second flower with green petals. Pay no attention to the green petals in this photo!)

The finished size of your flower hair clip depends on how many layers of colored flower petals you add. The one in the picture above is about 4″ and has three layers of petals; the other size I made has only two layers and turned out to be just under 3″ when finished.

No matter what size flower you want, you’ll start the same way.

Take 5 flower petals and lay them one on top of another in a circle. You can make your flower bigger by layering the petals loosely, or make it smaller by tightening them up a bit. You can glue the petals to each other, but I found they needed a little extra security, so I added a few stitches as well. (The thread color doesn’t matter at all; it won’t show.)

This will be the bottom layer of your flower clip and you will add layers of petals on top. If you want your flower to be bigger, just glue or sew another layer of petals underneath this base. You have to start with this layer as a base so that the petals all meet in the middle, but you can add more underneath if you want your finished clip to be bigger.

Next, cut five flower petals down to a smaller size for the inner layer. You can toss the u-shaped piece; you only need the smaller petal bit.

Layer the five smaller petals on top of the first layer you made, and glue or sew them down.

Cut a small circle out of one of the extra petals to cover up the center of the flower.

Glue the circle down. Then cut another circle and five tiny petals out of the shimmery, gauzy petals. Put down the circle, then layer the petals in a final layer right on top and sew them down. (Don’t use glue for this layer because it will be visible when you’re done.)

Take a few small beads and sew them on in the center of your flower, and the flower part is done! Now all you have to do is attach the hair clip part.

Cut a circle out of a piece of felt (it doesn’t have to match, the circle won’t be visible). Slip a bobby pin over the circle.

Add a bit of glue to the back of the felt and bobby pin and attach them to the back of your flower.

Let the glue dry for a bit and you’re done!

I loved them so much I ended up making four of them!

These petals come in about 10 different colors at Michael’s, so you have lots of options for colors. And you could alternate between two or three colors if you want to mix it up a bit. If you don’t want to use beads in the center, just tack on a spare button. You have tons of options for customizing these!

What do you think, do you ever wear big fun clips in your hair? They’d be adorable on little girls too. I made some fun fabric flower hair clips with buttons earlier, and I can’t really decide which style I like better. These are fun and outgoing and the other ones are cute and subtle. Luckily it’s easy to switch out hair clips depending on my mood!

I link up at these awesome parties!