Lace flower hair clip tutorial.

I am trying to make as many Christmas presents as I can this year because A) making things is fun and makes the present more meaningful and B) I spent all the money I made over the summer on vet bills and clothing.
So here is one of the things I made this year and instructions on how I did it. I think it came out pretty cute.

Here's what you will need :

• a needle and thread
• scissors
• glue gun
• lace
• ribbon
• a small piece of leather
• felt
• a button or any embellishment you would like for the middle
• a hair clip (I used an alligator clip)
• one of those flat bottom pins (I think they are called pin backs?)

Cut your lace to the desired length. The longer it is the more tightly you will need to gather it and the shorter it is the looser the gathering will be. I used about a foot of lace. I thought my lace was a little too wide so I did some more cutting to make it thinner. (The width of your lace is the radius of your flower.)

Thread your needle and make a knot in the end of your thread. Begin gathering your length of lace about a quarter of an inch up from the bottom edge. (To gather, sew small, even stitches along the edge and gently slide the lace, in folds, toward the knotted end of your thread.) Keep gathering until your lace forms a circle. Slightly overlap the two open ends of the circle and stitch them together to close the circle.

 Cut a small circle out of your leather for the center of your flower. My center was 1 1/4 inches in diameter. I used a looped button as my embellishment in the center so I had to cut a slit in the middle of my leather circle for the loop to go through. If you are using a flat button you can just glue it on or if you are using a bead try stitching it on to the leather circle. Glue your leather circle on to the middle of your flower.
Note: when you glue your leather circle, leave 1/8 - 1/4 of an inch of the edge unglued all the way around. You will see why later. 
 Because I used a looped button I made sure the loop was coming through the small opening in the gathering of the lace so that I could stitch it to the flower.

Cut a length of ribbon (mine was about 6 1/2 inches long). Cut the ends of the ribbon to make little v shapes. Fold the ribbon over in half. You can make one end longer than the other or have both ends be the same length, whatever you prefer. Put a dot of hot glue in the fold of the ribbon to keep it in place. Now glue the folded end of the ribbon to the center-back of the flower.

 Cut a circle of felt about the same size as your circle of leather and glue it to the back of your flower, over the ribbon.

Ok now thread your needle and stitch all the way around near the edge of the felt circle with out going through the leather on the other side. This is why you did not glue the leather circle completely. You need to lift the edges of the leather while you push the needle through so that you are only going through the felt and the lace. Yes, I know that you just hot glued the felt to the flower; I trust thread a lot more than I trust hot glue. Don't roll your eyes at me.

Almost done!
Glue your pin (if you are using one) to the felt. Now cut a rectangle that is about as long as your felt circle's diameter and just a little thinner than the length of your pin. (This is not rocket science; you dont actually have to measure the rectangle.) Put some glue on the inside of your pin and stick the felt to it. (Do not finish gluing the felt down yet.) Now fold back the unglued end of the felt and put some glue where the alligator clip is going to go. Open the aligator clip and press only the bottom into the glue then press the felt down on top of it and close the clip on the felt.

 Finish gluing down the felt, let the glue harden and you're done!

Good job, crafter!