Oct 09 Ribbon Colors Matching Gymboree’s Gingerbread Girl line

These ribbons are all really good matches… except for French Pink.  Once again, Gymboree is using Kitty Pink and I’m still not satisfied with French Pink as the match.  Let me know if you come up with something better.  I’d also love to see your M2MG Gingerbread Girl hair bows, headbands and more, so post a link if you want to show off your designs!  Also, please note that I have supplied two different matches for Gymboree’s “Olive”: Schiff’s Olive matches the KG cardigan (which is darker), and the velour pieces are closer to Offray’s Moss.  If you want to standardize on one, I’d probably pick S Olive, but if I knew my client wanted bows to match the velour pieces, I’d be sure to use Moss for that.

Pleasing Little Miss Independence

I was about to design a bow for my daughter to wear for our Fourth of July celebrations, but now that she is 6 (going on 20) I figured I’d better consult with Little Miss Independence first to avoid one of those last-minute battles.  (You know the ones that start 30 seconds before you’re scheduled to walk out the door?  Good times.)

Anyway, I was lucky enough to find an adorable Bandanna Print Hanna Andersson dress on eBay that we both love for the holiday… whew!  After careful consideration, she requested a woven headband incorporating all the dress colors, and decorated with some pre-made red velvet flowers she found in my embellishment stash.  “Hmm…” I said, “I don’t usually use velvet in the summer”.  “Mom, they’re a perfect match!” And so they are (aside from being velvet).  So we embarked on the creation of a mutually acceptable, made-to-match, woven headband.

We settled on solid Navy and Capri ribbons, as they are the primary colors in the dress, along with a patriotic Red, White and Navy stripe – perfect for the holiday.  The completed weave came out pretty, though a little busy, so I tried to talk her out of the red flowers once again.  Since she would not hear of it, I decided to clump them all together rather than spread them out.  The end product is pretty cute and by some miracle – pleased both of us!  “It doesn’t even look like you made it!” she said, thrilled.  (This was supposed to be a compliment.)

Not sure how to make woven headbands?  I’m a do-it-yourselfer by nature and I typically figure out how to make things through trial-and-error, but woven headbands had me totally stumped.  I bought #1 Woven Headband Instructions from Devon at NoBowNoGo.com over a year ago, and was very pleased with her comprehensive and detailed directions as well as the many different weave patterns she outlines.  If you plan to make more than a couple, her instructions are well worth the modest price, and I highly recommend them.  I’ve been making these for my daughter, friends and customers for over a year and they are always a hit.

Wishing you and your family a peaceful Independence Day weekend!

7/5 UPDATE: I whipped up a pair of matching flops at the last minute.  What a fun outfit!