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The first stage is to tie back your hair. The base cloth will work best if there is no stray ends sticking out so this means really scrapping it all back into a pony tail or bun. This is most trick for those of you with shorter styles, but efforts made here really pay off later.The best base cloth I have found is soft cotton, this one is my favourite and is an old (and cheap) sarong. Synthetic fabrics tend to stretch and are often too slippery to tie tightly; cotton on the other hand grips well and helps absorb perspiration. |
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Position the middle of one long edge of the cloth on your forehead and pull the cloth to the back. If you find this tricky, a friendly hand can help hold the cloth in place, but with practice you can do your own. Your will want your turban to compliment your costume, but you need to think about the colour of the base cloth as it will be the one closest to your face. Dark colours are fine, but if you have a pale skin tone the contrast may be too much - so experiment! |
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You now need to taker hold of one side of the cloth and twist it near to the nape of your neck so that it pulls in close to your head (this is generally when you notice how tricky synthetics are). You don't need to twist the whole length of the cloth, just a few inches. Holding the twisted cloth (in your teeth if you are on your own!) then twist the other side of the cloth. This should tighten the whole thing to your head. If you have thick, curly hair you may find this stage more difficult, but persist. Unless this stage is firm your turban is likely to collapse. |
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Without allowing the twisted parts of the cloth to work lose you need to tie the cloth in a singe knot at the nape of your neck. This should be pulled fairly tight, but not so much so as to be uncomfortable. You can choose to cover your ears entirely with the base cloth (in which case you can hang earrings on the turban fabric) or you can leave the bottom of your ears exposed as I have. |
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(Sorry about the expression here, I don't know what I'm thinking about!) Lay the two ends of the base cloth over your shoulders. Now you can start to layer your turban. Choose lengths of cloth and lay them across the back of your neck with the ends coming over your shoulders. This is where you can add more exotic materials - each piece needs to be about the length and width of a standard coin belt, but it's always worth experimenting. Very heavy, thick or stiff fabric will be difficult to work with so try something lighter to start with. |
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The easiest turban consists of a base cloth and two others that can simply be platted together. However my favourite turban involves this beaded net hip scarf (bought very cheaply from an accessories shop some years ago when they were the in-thing). I have roughly positioned the point of the triangle on my forehead and draped the long edge over my shoulders. A light triangular coin belt works well like this too. |
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Taking one side at a time plait the cloths together or wind them around themselves. The other end needs to be held still so it helps to have a friend here (or you can hold it in your teeth or under your arm). The plait should not be too tight, you want to show off the fabrics so don't squash them up. At the same time you can add in cords, braid, strings of beads (the sort you get to go on Christmas Trees are wonderful for this). |
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This is the hard bit! You now need to tie a single knot on the top of your head using all the materials you have plaited together. The knot needs to be positioned on the crown of your head so that the whole thing feels stable and firm. To make the turban fixed you will need to tie a second knot. If some of the materials in your turban are delicate you won't want to pull at them. However you can make this second knot with the base cloth only and this seems to hold in my experience. |
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Having got the basic turban up and running, now it's time to tuck in all the ends. This is where you really need a mirror and/or a friend to help. Tuck the ends of cloth back into the plait, or let them fan out or drape depending on the effect you want to achieve. Provided your base cloth is on properly it should stand up to a fair amount of pulling and pushing. |
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Once all the ends are secure you can think about adding further decorations. This could include jewellery, more layers of plaits, veils pinned over the whole or anything else your imagination comes up with. The only limiting factor to the turban is your imagination - but like all great works remember to start with a very firm foundation and the sky's the limit! |
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This is the way I do a turban, others may have other methods, experiment and find your own - and have fun. And how does it come off? In fact, although this turban would stay on for hours (and I've worn one for a full 5-hour workshop), they come off very simply. All you need do is push the top knot back off your head (take care to un-pin any bits attached before you do so) and the whole thing falls apart ready to be reused another time. |
