Stars and Fireworks - Another Patriotic Tulle Headband

I had a lot of fun creating a headband for the 4th of July, but the clump of star flowers left me wanting something else.  The tulle shapes looked so much like stars before I arranged them on the headband, and now they look a lot more like flowers.  I loved the simple rainbow flower I created for Pride Month, and I wanted to see if I could take this up a notch.

I had the idea to combine the look of knotted pompom headbands with a star flower in the center. This exuberance might evoke the feeling of stars and fireworks, perfect for the 4th of July!  I wasn't entirely sure if this would work, but I knew that the white star would be beautiful.

I cut 6 strips each of red and blue tulle that were approximately 2" wide and 20" long.  One at a time, I folded the strips in half and then collected them sort of bunched in the middle.  I let the folds all be one one side (I'd snip those at the end).  The reason why I bunched them one at a time is that I didn't want the centers to be perfectly aligned. I wanted it to be gathered to help turn into a flat pompom.

I tied over the center with a piece of thread, and already you could see that it flared out into a circle versus keeping the bow shape.  If I had used more tulle, this would be able to puff into a more 3D pompom but this volume was perfect for my needs.

I snipped the ends folded ends to have all of the edges look even.

To create the white tulle star, I cut 10 - 5" squares out of the white tulle.  I've now exhausted the 1/4 yard I started out with and used for both of these headbands.  My plan was to create one more 5 pointed star (see my first tulle star headband post for step by step instructions) and then put this on top of my red and blue explosion.

This accessory already looked super cute with the star on it, but it was still a little big for my liking.  I could trim the tulle shorter, but I wanted to try something to define the "fireworks" a bit more.  I decided to  knot the ends of the tulle to shorten and give it a more finished look.

You can see that there is a lot of variety in the length of my tulle strips, even as I started to knot them.  I knotted an inch or more down from the tip with the thought that I could trim the edges back later.  

This looked awesome.  So poofy and fun.  Too poofy?  I'm not sure.  I thought that I would shorten the "explosion" but decided it was worth securing it to the headband first.  If I think it is too much when it is on my head then I can trim the ties a bit.

I put the star on top and fell in love.  This looks fantastic!  I just needed to secure it to a headband and then see if it was too much on my head.  

I hot glued the accessory to the headband in two steps.  First, I glued the red and blue "explosion" to the headband.  I made sure the glue went all the way around the headband to help it stay secured.  Next, I glued the star to the center and pressed it down as it cooled to help the glue soak into the tulle a bit.  Finally, I glued a large rhinestone (not shown) to the center of the star.  

This wasn't too big at all!  This is a delightful, whimsical, almost hat-like accessory for the 4th of July.  

Initially I was afraid that this would block my view, but I could see just fine.  I proudly wore my homemade tulle headband around on the 4th of July as we went downtown with our friends.  I've heard some people say that hot glue can melt in the sun, but this headband stayed intact through a whole hot morning outside.  

For the evening, I changed out of my awesome watermelon dress and into some sparklers leggings.  Lucky liked my headband so much that he started wearing the original tulle 4th of July headband that I made.  

It is really hard to get your leggings in a selfie!  

Now I just need to pack this headband up and hope that I can keep it from getting too squished until next year.  I'm so happy that I had my own patriotic outfit this year.  I love our country and I want to fight to help move our country in a direction that is supportive of everyone who lives here.