Once the band was secure, I got to choose my embroidery motif. I went with a floral design but it  was a real hard choice. All the options were lovely. 

I didn’t want to draw my own motif because I know myself. I’d mess it up and be mad about it forever. So I traced the floral design onto silk paper, cut it, and sewed it onto the gold band. I wasn’t 100% sure I had it centered perfectly, and in the end it was a tiny bit off—but really, you can’t tell unless you're measuring my forehead. Please don’t. 

I started with the 4mm gold sequins and then added gold cord to fill out the design. 

If you every want the gold sequins or gold spangles I used, go to my etsy shop: Goldwork Treasures

We had a short break for lunch with good food, then back to stitching. I forgot to take a picture but the food was always good....especially compared to Schloss Puchberg.And then… hours of embroidery. Just hours. My neck was stiff, my fingers were stiff. Everything was stiff. 

 I kept going until it was time for dinner. We got wraps and I made myself a cup of tea.

Then, I went to my embroidery work again and even after everyone else had left, I was still sitting there, stitching away until 10pm.

 Look at that amazing embroidery I finished. 

 Exhausted, I went to bed around 11 and got up again at 8 the next morning. 

 And that’s when the real pain started—removing the silk paper from the embroidery. You have to carefully pull it out from under all the tiny stitches using tweezers. And it takes forever.I’m prone to tendonitis, so I had to take breaks every 10 minutes, stretch my hands, and do little exercises but that definitely helped. 

 

Once that was done, I moved on to the velvet band. It’s sewn onto the back, and it’s there so you can slide a headband through and actually wear the piece. I originally just stitched it on quickly but that was a mistake. When I tried to slide the headband in, the velvet started popping out in some places. So I had to go back and sew over the whole velvet strip again to keep it stable. Lesson learned. 

 

To give the band more structure, I also sewed in a wire along the back with an overcast stitch. It’s a bit fiddly but necessary.

On one side, I also added a strip of golden bobbin lace—complete with sequins—because why not be extra?

For lunch we had curry with noodles? Definitely a combination I hadn't seen but it was tasty.

And afterwards we got pastry. My brain was already so sugar depleted that I took two pieces of cake and washed it down with soda water and tea.

Lastly, I pinned the outer lining onto the inside of the band and sewed it in place. 

Once the lining was done, I pushed the headband through, popped it on my head, and… 

It looked wonderful. I really love how it turned out.  It’s shiny, elegant, and surprisingly wearable.

So that’s it—my very first Mädchenband! 

If you are interested in the materials I used, the gilt sequins and spangles, I am selling the ones I do not need anymore on my etsy store! Shop now!

I had such a good time making it, even with the sore hands and late-night embroidery marathon. 

Let me know what you think in the comments—and feel free to guess how much this whole project cost me. Real gold isn’t cheap, I’ll just say that. Plus, maybe you can also guess the hours I worked on it? 

Thank you so much for reading. A video will follow shortly, I just need to film the intro!

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