Thursday, August 4, 2011

TUTORIAL: Easy Headband


I have bangs that swoop towards my ear, and a lot of days I want to keep them from falling into my face. I have a couple of stretchy bands that go around my head, but some days I need something that looks a little bit nicer. There are a lot of great tutorials out there for how to make a headband, but I thought I would share with you how I like to do it :).

Measure around your head (where you would wear the headband). Then subtract 2" from this measurement. Cut a rectangle of fabric that length by 3.5". For example: My head is 22" around. I subtract 2", so I cut a rectangle of fabric 20" x 3.5".


Next, sew wrong sides together with a 1/4" seam allowance (if you would like a larger seam allowance, just add that to the width of your fabric before you cut).


It will look like this:


Turn it inside out.


And press with the seam in the middle of one side.


Next, turn in one end (so the raw edges are on the inside) and press.



Place your piece of elastic inside the two layers, in the middle.


Fold down the extra fabric on the top.


Fold up the extra fabric on the bottom.


Have you ever seen one of these tools? You can use 1, 2, or 3 of the layers under the back of your presser foot in order to help with sewing through really thick (or lots of layers) or fabric. I used 2 of the pieces. You could use a couple of small pieces of cardboard to help up the back of your presser foot if you don't have this tool.


Sew across ALL the layers (making sure to backstitch at the beginning and end).


Now attach the elastic on the other side. Fold the fabric in the same order.




Sew across the top of all of the layers again.


And, you're done! Try it on (don't judge my fuzzy hair - I was helping my brother-in-law move for a couple hours this afternoon - the moment when a good headband is needed!).



Now, make some more in every color of the rainbow...it looks like I still need to make one in purple.


Have fun!


Linking up to: Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Nap Time Pin It

8 comments:

  1. thanks for the idea! these would be fun to make!

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  2. Its so beautiful. I reported of it in my blog. Thank you!

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  3. How long is your piece of elastic?

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  4. Does the elastic go through the entire sleeve of fabric?

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  5. This tutorial is awesome! I made two this morning and wearing one now. It's so easy to make. No worries about cutting out pattern pieces- and since I don't have a printer I really appreciate the simplicity of this one!

    Thanks again for sharing. It's so comfy.

    The only difference I did was made mine 4 inches instead of 3.5 as I wanted a bit wider one. My length was 19 inches.

    The first one I used a piece of elastic about 3-4 inches and the second one only 2 inches.

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  6. what kind of farbic? im planning to make about 70 bands for my ladies retreat in Oct! :) this tutorial is so easy for me to do this! :) let me know what kind of farbic so i can buy out from online :) thanks!

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  7. Great tutorial! Can you share the name of the tool you used?

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