DIY Canvas Bow and Headband Holder

When I had convinced myself that I was pregnant with a girl, I had a really hard time holding back buying things for her, because we already had a boy, and we were waiting until delivery to find out if it truly was a girl. One of the things that was the hardest to keep out of my Target cart was headbands. GAH, BABY HEADBANDS ARE SO CUTE I WANT TO RUN THROUGH A WALL WHEN I SEE THEM ON BABIES!

So when we brought little R home, it was the first thing I bought when I finally made it out to the store. I also kept looking for a good bow holder that would hold bows and headbands. I was finding tutorials that used oatmeal containers and you put the headbands over the container, but then if I wanted one in the middle, I felt like I had to take them all off. Plus what if they didn’t fit around the container? #firstworldproblems.

I knew I had plenty of time to look because we were moving when she was 2 weeks old and I ~~didn’t want to~~ wasn’t allowed to DIY anything in the old house before moving. :::sad trombone:::

Anyway, when I made D’s felt monsters, I had bought a pack of canvases so I thought I’d use one of those. Still not knowing how I was going to store her headbands, I kept looking. And then I thought, “well, duh….I can just wrap the headband around a ribbon or some string on the canvas. DUH!” So here comes the tutorial….

Supplies:
*A large canvas. You can choose whichever size you want, but I went with 16×20 because that’s what I had on hand.
*Fabric to cover the canvas
*Glue gun
*Ribbon or jute cording
*Embellishments (if desired, not pictured!)

Directions:
If your fabric was folded up in a bundle, iron it out. (Use water and steam for best results!)
Lay your fabric out, pattern side down, and place your canvas on top. If you’re a dummy like me and chose a patterned fabric, make sure you put it on so that your pattern is straight. (Enter frustrated groans) This took a little bit of work on my part because the pattern wasn’t straight on the fabric.

Take your glue gun and start gluing the fabric on the edges of the canvas. I did the edges first around the corners and then the back and in the middle. Pull it tight with each glue application.

I think I did a pretty dang good job of making it even!

Now take your ribbon or cord (I used hemp cording) and find the middle of the board. Flip it over and lay the cord straight across the back. Lift it back up and place some glue down. Press the cord onto the glue, leaving a few inches loose (you will tie them later). After that is dry, add more glue on top of the string, for good measure.

Now wrap the long side of the cord around the front of the board and line it up with the glued down side.

And do the glue dance again for the other side of the string and cut it so you have a few inches to tie with the other side.

Here is the (ugly) back of it with all the ends tied. You don’t have to tie up your ends but I felt like it gave me a little insurance that they won’t come off.

Here is the front. I felt like something was missing so I took to my flower collection and since her room is slowly becoming “shabby chic,” (totally did not mean to) I added a few burlap flowers.