Decorating Band with Fabric

[Guest guest]

Has anyone tried decorating the band with fabric? I did and I'm actually really

happy with the results. I posted some photos up of it under " Our Plagio Babies

O-P. " His name is and it's his 3rd DOC Band. The paint did alright on the

first band, but chipped/peeled like crazy on the 2nd one and I literally had to

do touchups every day. There was no way I was doing that again with the 3rd and

I saw in a DOC Band Decorating group on Facebook that the people at one helmet

company decorated a baby's helmet for them using fabric (it wasn't DOC, Star, or

Hanger I don't think). I wasn't sure exactly how they did it. They mentioned

something about using an adhesive, then putting lacquer over it. I didn't want

to use lacquer because I wasn't sure if it would be ok to use (even though the

helmet company did it, but my son has sensitive skin). Anyways, I used mod podge

and this is how I did it:

I got a piece of fabric that was large enough to cover the whole band. Then I

adhered it to the band with the Mod Podge. I did it one section at a time so

that when one part was dry, I could stretch the next part out so that it would

cover it nicely (and prevent folds/air bubbles. There were a couple parts that

looked not so perfect when I was done, but I covered them later with stickers).

When it was all covered, I cut off all the excess fabric using scissors (still

leaving some near the edges). Then I cut the fabric off around the edges of the

helmet with a very sharp boxcutter knife to make a nice edge. Then I went back

with the mod podge to make sure all the edges were nicely glued on. Then I went

over all of it with about 5 coats of mod podge (allowing it to dry between

coats), then let it sit and dry for a half hour. Then I sanded it all, which

made it nice and smooth and also made it NOT look like fabric. Then I wiped it

off with a damp cloth and dried it. Then I put stickers on it and other things I

printed off the computer, and covered it all with a few coats of acrylic

varnish.

This took a LONG time (4 hours!!) but I think it was worth it not to do touchups

anymore. I love how it looks and I haven't had to do anything to keep it up at

all. It's so durable. I just wanted to share because I know how frustrating it

is when the paint peels/chips.

Some tips though: 1. The fabric ends up looking a few shades darker than it did

originally 2. I think it would work best on the DOC band, because those aren't

full helmets and therefore it's a little easier to make the fabric stretch and

stick nicely over it. However, I think a cute idea for any helmet would also be

to cut out different pieces of fabric to make it look like patches. I think that

would be much easier than using one big piece.

Anyways, if anyone else decorated theirs with fabric too, I'd love to hear how

(and if it was easier than my method!). Also, if you try out this method, let me

know how it goes!

[Guest guest]

I've never heard of this before! Thanks so much for sharing!!! It looks like a great paint job... I would have never thought it was fabric!!!

Has the clinician at CT seen it yet? What did they say???

Jen

Mom to Luli - 3 yrs old

Torticollis, Plagio, Syringomyelia

Decorating Band with Fabric

Has anyone tried decorating the band with fabric? I did and I'm actually really happy with the results. I posted some photos up of it under "Our Plagio Babies O-P." His name is and it's his 3rd DOC Band. The paint did alright on the first band, but chipped/peeled like crazy on the 2nd one and I literally had to do touchups every day. There was no way I was doing that again with the 3rd and I saw in a DOC Band Decorating group on Facebook that the people at one helmet company decorated a baby's helmet for them using fabric (it wasn't DOC, Star, or Hanger I don't think). I wasn't sure exactly how they did it. They mentioned something about using an adhesive, then putting lacquer over it. I didn't want to use lacquer because I wasn't sure if it would be ok to use (even though the helmet company did it, but my son has sensitive skin). Anyways, I used mod podge and this is how I did it:

I got a piece of fabric that was large enough to cover the whole band. Then I adhered it to the band with the Mod Podge. I did it one section at a time so that when one part was dry, I could stretch the next part out so that it would cover it nicely (and prevent folds/air bubbles. There were a couple parts that looked not so perfect when I was done, but I covered them later with stickers). When it was all covered, I cut off all the excess fabric using scissors (still leaving some near the edges). Then I cut the fabric off around the edges of the helmet with a very sharp boxcutter knife to make a nice edge. Then I went back with the mod podge to make sure all the edges were nicely glued on. Then I went over all of it with about 5 coats of mod podge (allowing it to dry between coats), then let it sit and dry for a half hour. Then I sanded it all, which made it nice and smooth and also made it NOT look like fabric. Then I wiped it off with a damp cloth and dried it. Then I put stickers on it and other things I printed off the computer, and covered it all with a few coats of acrylic varnish.

This took a LONG time (4 hours!!) but I think it was worth it not to do touchups anymore. I love how it looks and I haven't had to do anything to keep it up at all. It's so durable. I just wanted to share because I know how frustrating it is when the paint peels/chips.

Some tips though: 1. The fabric ends up looking a few shades darker than it did originally 2. I think it would work best on the DOC band, because those aren't full helmets and therefore it's a little easier to make the fabric stretch and stick nicely over it. However, I think a cute idea for any helmet would also be to cut out different pieces of fabric to make it look like patches. I think that would be much easier than using one big piece.

Anyways, if anyone else decorated theirs with fabric too, I'd love to hear how (and if it was easier than my method!). Also, if you try out this method, let me know how it goes!

[Guest guest]

The clinician will see him for the first time in his decorated helmet tomorrow.

I'm really excited to see what she says (she really liked the 1st 2 helmets!).

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> I've never heard of this before!? Thanks so much for sharing!!!? It looks

like a great paint job... I would have never thought it was fabric!!!

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> Has the clinician at CT seen it yet?? What did they say???

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> Jen

> Mom to Luli - 3 yrs old

> Torticollis, Plagio, Syringomyelia

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> Has anyone tried decorating the band with fabric? I did and I'm actually

really happy with the results. I posted some photos up of it under " Our Plagio

Babies O-P. " His name is and it's his 3rd DOC Band. The paint did alright

on the first band, but chipped/peeled like crazy on the 2nd one and I literally

had to do touchups every day. There was no way I was doing that again with the

3rd and I saw in a DOC Band Decorating group on Facebook that the people at one

helmet company decorated a baby's helmet for them using fabric (it wasn't DOC,

Star, or Hanger I don't think). I wasn't sure exactly how they did it. They

mentioned something about using an adhesive, then putting lacquer over it. I

didn't want to use lacquer because I wasn't sure if it would be ok to use (even

though the helmet company did it, but my son has sensitive skin). Anyways, I

used mod podge and this is how I did it:

>

>

>

> I got a piece of fabric that was large enough to cover the whole band. Then I

adhered it to the band with the Mod Podge. I did it one section at a time so

that when one part was dry, I could stretch the next part out so that it would

cover it nicely (and prevent folds/air bubbles. There were a couple parts that

looked not so perfect when I was done, but I covered them later with stickers).

When it was all covered, I cut off all the excess fabric using scissors (still

leaving some near the edges). Then I cut the fabric off around the edges of the

helmet with a very sharp boxcutter knife to make a nice edge. Then I went back

with the mod podge to make sure all the edges were nicely glued on. Then I went

over all of it with about 5 coats of mod podge (allowing it to dry between

coats), then let it sit and dry for a half hour. Then I sanded it all, which

made it nice and smooth and also made it NOT look like fabric. Then I wiped it

off with a damp cloth and dried it. Then I put stickers on it and other things I

printed off the computer, and covered it all with a few coats of acrylic

varnish.

>

>

>

> This took a LONG time (4 hours!!) but I think it was worth it not to do

touchups anymore. I love how it looks and I haven't had to do anything to keep

it up at all. It's so durable. I just wanted to share because I know how

frustrating it is when the paint peels/chips.

>

>

>

> Some tips though: 1. The fabric ends up looking a few shades darker than it

did originally 2. I think it would work best on the DOC band, because those

aren't full helmets and therefore it's a little easier to make the fabric

stretch and stick nicely over it. However, I think a cute idea for any helmet

would also be to cut out different pieces of fabric to make it look like

patches. I think that would be much easier than using one big piece.

>

>

>

> Anyways, if anyone else decorated theirs with fabric too, I'd love to hear how

(and if it was easier than my method!). Also, if you try out this method, let me

know how it goes!

>

[Guest guest]

basically what you did was decoupage it with fabric.  i did my sons helmet in decoupage with tissue paper, a napkin (couldnt find camo tissue paper), and wrapping paper (couldnt find sesame street stickers i liked).  no he didnt have 3 bands, we changed his helmet weekly.  we only did a few layers of mod podge over top so it was really easy to just peel off when we went to change it, came off in 1 big piece.  i was going to use john deere fabric for his next week but he ended up graduating so there was no next week.  his pictures are at joeysmanicmelon.blogspot.com

On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 3:43 PM, melissa114@... <melissa114@...> wrote:

 

Has anyone tried decorating the band with fabric? I did and I'm actually really happy with the results. I posted some photos up of it under " Our Plagio Babies O-P. " His name is and it's his 3rd DOC Band. The paint did alright on the first band, but chipped/peeled like crazy on the 2nd one and I literally had to do touchups every day. There was no way I was doing that again with the 3rd and I saw in a DOC Band Decorating group on Facebook that the people at one helmet company decorated a baby's helmet for them using fabric (it wasn't DOC, Star, or Hanger I don't think). I wasn't sure exactly how they did it. They mentioned something about using an adhesive, then putting lacquer over it. I didn't want to use lacquer because I wasn't sure if it would be ok to use (even though the helmet company did it, but my son has sensitive skin). Anyways, I used mod podge and this is how I did it:

I got a piece of fabric that was large enough to cover the whole band. Then I adhered it to the band with the Mod Podge. I did it one section at a time so that when one part was dry, I could stretch the next part out so that it would cover it nicely (and prevent folds/air bubbles. There were a couple parts that looked not so perfect when I was done, but I covered them later with stickers). When it was all covered, I cut off all the excess fabric using scissors (still leaving some near the edges). Then I cut the fabric off around the edges of the helmet with a very sharp boxcutter knife to make a nice edge. Then I went back with the mod podge to make sure all the edges were nicely glued on. Then I went over all of it with about 5 coats of mod podge (allowing it to dry between coats), then let it sit and dry for a half hour. Then I sanded it all, which made it nice and smooth and also made it NOT look like fabric. Then I wiped it off with a damp cloth and dried it. Then I put stickers on it and other things I printed off the computer, and covered it all with a few coats of acrylic varnish.

This took a LONG time (4 hours!!) but I think it was worth it not to do touchups anymore. I love how it looks and I haven't had to do anything to keep it up at all. It's so durable. I just wanted to share because I know how frustrating it is when the paint peels/chips.

Some tips though: 1. The fabric ends up looking a few shades darker than it did originally 2. I think it would work best on the DOC band, because those aren't full helmets and therefore it's a little easier to make the fabric stretch and stick nicely over it. However, I think a cute idea for any helmet would also be to cut out different pieces of fabric to make it look like patches. I think that would be much easier than using one big piece.

Anyways, if anyone else decorated theirs with fabric too, I'd love to hear how (and if it was easier than my method!). Also, if you try out this method, let me know how it goes!

-- -mommy to Emma, Becca, , and A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.  ~Author Unknown