Often, however, these coronets stay in place for a picture or two and then end up on our gathering blanket to wilt in the afternoon sun. They're lovely and Naiya and I both enjoy putting them together but, she complains, they can be a bit cumbersome and, especially for active children, not really that practical.
That's why this year we decided to try something new. What you see in the photo above looks like a garland but is, in fact, just a series of hair clips holding little bunches of flowers onto her hair in a circle round her head!
To make it, I pulled a little hair back from the front of Naiya's head, made a braid on each side and bound the the two plaits in the back. I then gathered very small flowers into two-ended bunches and clipped them onto the braid in the middle. She has five clusters round her crown with the largest in the back covering the band where the braids meet.
She loved her "garland" this time around and it stayed in place until her night-time bath. No wires. No floral tape. No complaining. And put together in about 4 minutes. I don't know that we'll ever make a proper garland again!
What a great idea! It is so lovely too! I wish I read this before May Day as I could have pulled this off. As is, I gave up, as our tree branches were infested with tent caterpillars and I thought that you had to use tree branches. This is definitely a Pin for next year though. Thanks for posting it!
ReplyDeleteI've seen garlands made on all kinds of base materials including English Ivy, fern fronds, floral wire and just plain yarn. So many possibilities! I was shocked at the ease of this clip idea though and my daughter loved the comfort and simplicity of it. We had actually planned to weave the flowers into her braids but she doesn't really have enough hair to support that. The clips were attached to some orchid stems right next to our flower bouquet and the construction in a ring sort of happened at random. Funny how that goes sometimes. We had leftover flowers and she enjoyed a second day of hair "garland" for no reason at all. It's spring! Isn't that reason enough?
ReplyDeleteGlad you can use the idea!
I read your other May Day post first and one of the first things I noticed was how pretty her hair and garland looked! Thanks for sharing how you did it! It seems much more practical for longer use for little girls. It even looks like something my little one would enjoy wearing! Good to know!!
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