1. Acquire 2 velvet hipscarves. (I've tried the chiffon, but the chiffon takes a lot more work because of the material. It is not very forgiving when it is cut. If you do decide to use the chiffon, make sure you use plenty of Fray-Check.)

2. Place the hipscarves on your hips to see where they line up. You'll want to make sure there's a small gap (about an inch) because once you start dancing, I find that it stretches out a bit (or the knot loosens up) and tends to fall off. Pin the hipscarves together where they overlap. I like to make sure to pin them together at the part where the ties start.

3. Take off the hipscarves and inspect the lines. Sometimes, there are extra decorations and you'll want to line them up as much as possible. The idea here is to make it look like one single hipscarf, not two.

4. I hand stitch these because the area is so small that it would take longer to pull out the sewing machine. a.) Typically, I like to do a basic stitch just under the upper band because it doesn't show as much and will still allow for the coins to move around. b.) Then, I do a quick whip-stitch on the top to help keep things looking neat and tidy (the only bits that I want flopping around are the coins!)

Click for larger images and captions:

5. Carefully, remove two of the ties so that you are left with just the normal 2 ties. I try to cut right under the coins so there is no extra velvet hanging out. Save the ties to a make a matching headband!

6. Inspect to ensure that everything is the way you want it to look. It's best to find out now while you still have everything out. Try it on, make sure it's not going anywhere.

A few years ago I was teaching a cane class where the students had a wide range of heights. We decided to make our own canes for the student showcase. I cut dowels down to the length each student needed so that we could have a cane making party after class one night. One of the students happened to make hula hoops and taught us how to wrap the canes. It was really fun and an affordable way to ensure that students of different heights could easily get a cane that would work for them. In a recent Bhuz thread I was discussing how we made our canes and it seemed like a useful thing to write a tutorial on. Enjoy!

Acquiring and Preparing the Cane
For making my canes I use wooden dowels from my local hardware store. There are many different diameters to choose from and often a few types of wood as well. Test the various types out in the store (being careful not to hit anything!) to find what will work best for you. Different wood types are more or less dense and heavy so find one that feels like it will be light enough not to stress your wrist. The wood type of mine wasn't labeled but I chose the lightest wood available. I like 1/2” diameter canes, but you can go smaller or larger as you prefer. The standard dowel size is usually 48” long so it will need to be cut down to a usable cane length. Most hardware stores will cut them down for you if you need. If you aren't sure how long you want it have it cut a bit long, test it out, and cut down more as needed. If you have the dowel cut down at the store keep the end they cut off in case you want to try practice wrapping before wrapping your cane. I like my canes to be 38” long, which is the same length I wear in trumpet skirts so that may be a good way to roughly estimate length. I have a miter box and saw at home so I just bought the dowels and cut them down at home. Sand down the ends of the cane before starting to wrap it.

Choosing Tape
For this cane I used leftover silver metallic hula hoop tape from when we made the class canes. It is 3/4” wide. The larger the width the less times you will be need wrap it around. I think that 3/4" or 1” wide tape would be ideal. 1/2” may be too small, but could be used for adding an accent color if you wanted to make a two tone cane. Hula hoop tapes are available in lots of fun finishes and colors such as holographic, prism, and metallic which makes it easy to match a variety of costumes and create a fun and unique cane. To determine how much tape you will need you can use this handy formula:

L=(π*D*C)/(W-O)
where,
L=length of tape
D=diameter of cane
C=cane length
W=width of tape
O= overlap length per wrap

This will give you the minimum amount of tape you will need since you will need an extra few inches to cover the ends and more to account for any mistakes or practice wrapping you want to try.

Wrapping the Cane
Start by covering both ends. Take an inch or two of hula tape and place it over each end then smooth it down and fold the edges where it overlaps. Wrap another piece of tape all the way around the top to secure down the piece you just used to cover the end. Make sure to do both ends so that once you get to the end of wrapping you will already have that bottom end covered. Now start your wrap with the tape at a diagonal. As you go you want to have the tape overlap the previous wrapped section by about 1/4”. To get the tape to lay smoothly unroll a few inches of tape and hold it tightly to the side then slowly rotate the cane so the tape is applied evenly and unroll more tape slowly as needed. If the tape starts to pucker or gets an air bubble just unwrap that section of cane and redo it. I found the tape I used was easy to unwrap and still sticky enough to hold even if I needed to redo sections. Try to keep a constant amount of overlap on each rotation of the tape. Once the cane is completely wrapped, look it over and press down any sections that need to be smoothed out. Now your cane is ready for dancing!

Preparing the Base
Measure how long and wide you would like your headband to be. I made mine to stop just behind my ears. I also wanted a wider surface on the top in case I use it for sword balancing. My dance partner Felicia made me a beautiful headpiece for a sword dance we perform and she lined it with fleece which completely alleviated the head pain swords can cause for me. Cut the fleece in the shape you want to the measurements you just made and hold it up to see if it looks the way you want. This will be the base for the rest of the headpiece. Your headband may need darts in the back to help it conform to your head and not stick up in the back. Cut cover fabric with about a ½ inch seam allowance to cover the fleece. I used brocade for mine and serged the edge of the cover fabric first. Pin the cover fabric to the fleece and sew around the edges. This step can be done on a machine but I prefer hand sewing so mine was hand sewn.

Preparing the Flower
I found a long stemmed fake flower at Michaels that matched my headpiece fabric and costume perfectly. The flower is usually just held to the stem by a short piece of plastic that comes from the center piece of the flower so the stem can just be popped off. The plastic bit that held the stem on won't allow the flower to lay flat against the headpiece and we are going to switch out the center for something more sparkly anyways, so pop the center part of the flower out as well. Now you have the petals remaining. The centerpiece is usually the only thing holding the layers of petals together so you will want to sew the petals together before attaching the new centerpiece. When the petals are sewn together attach the new centerpiece. Pendants or brooches work well for this, but you could also use store bought or homemade appliques. My costume is black and teal and I found a black rhinestone pendant in the shape of a flower to go with my teal flower. I'm pretty excited about it.

Adding Fasteners
Cut two pieces of ribbon long enough that they will overlap the headband by ½ inch and still be long enough to tie under your hair. Sew these to the two end points of the headband. I used satin ribbon for mine, but it is a bit slippery. I might try organza next time. Depending on your cover fabric you can also use hemmed strips of that fabric as ties. When Felicia first taught me to dance with a sword, one of my fears was not that the sword would slip off my head but that the sword would be perfectly balanced on my headband and the whole darn thing would slide off the back of my head with the sword on it. Felicia taught me that using hair clips sewn inside the headband would ensure that did not happen and sure enough it hasn't. So I recommend adding two hair clips in addition to the ties for extra security. They are positioned one on each side of the headband facing so that when you push it back from your forehead they latch to your hair. I chose teal ones for mine and got them at Target. I know they won't show, but I like knowing that they match anyways.

Assembling and Embellishing
Now all that is left to do it attach the flower. Try your headpiece on to decide on flower placement. I put mine slightly above my left ear. Jericha uses hot glue to affix hers, but I sewed mine. Add beads or any other decorations you want and then you are done. I ended up beading mine following the paisley pattern of the fabric. It will mean that it is not usable for sword balancing, but it added a little extra sparkle.

My skirt dance students used this tutorial to make their headpieces for the Dancing into the Light student showcase.  Here are some photos.

Preparing Materials
Thread your needle and cut four pieces elastic down to about an inch longer then needed to wrap around your finger. Two of the elastic pieces are for your thumb zills so be sure to measure those by the circumference of your thumb and the other two by the circumference of your middle finger. If you want you can use different colored elastic or thread for the finger and thumb zills. This can help you tell which is which if you need to put on your zills quickly.

Next, put each of the pieces of elastic through a zill so the two ends of the elastic are on the top sides of the zills. If they are on the bottom side it will be harder to sew into the bell of the zill. Also, having the sewn part in the bell can affect the way they are played since the more elastic is on the underside the more likely you are to hit the elastic when playing the zills, thereby accidentally muting them on some hits.

Measure and Pin
Hold the zill and elastic around your finger and pin it to mark where it feels like a good fit. Take it off and overlap the elastic by 1/4-3/4” and cut off the excess as needed. This is how it will get sewn down so try it on again and do a little hand shimmy to check if it will be secure. You want them to be tight enough that they won't fall off (or go flying off as a zill rocket) but not so tight that they become uncomfortable.

Sewing
Your zills are now comfortably adjusted and pinned in place with the elastic overlapping. Sew the elastic around the perimeter of the overlap. Try them all on, if everything feels comfortable and secure then you are good to go. Now its time to practice your zill drills and dancing!

The zills seen in this post are by Saroyan Mastercrafts. You can get them here. The cute squirrel pouch is handmade by Marcia Furman.  You can get one here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/CinamonSquirrel.