Free Simple Headband Tutorial

This week has been soooo hot in Minnesota. Sometimes you just want to put your hair UP, you know what I mean?

I love wearing simple stretchy headbands but there are three problems. 1. It’s hard to find them in cool colors 2. The bulk in the back of the headband is annoying. 3. They aren’t always loose enough, or tight enough.

Here is a quick little tutorial  on how to make your own simple headbands out of any jersey fabric you can get your hands on. You can simply cut up a t-shirt, or go to a nice fabric store and buy some really quality,lightweight, smooth-as-butta jersey in a nice color. You only need about a quarter yard (not a fat quarter though–it should be a cut that runs the length of the fabric, so you get one nice, long piece).

you will need :

-a piece of knit jersey ( at least 6″x20″)

-thread

-sewing machine

-safety pin

Start by trimming your fabric into a tidy little rectangle. make sure the stretchiest direction is going length-wise. I like to fold my fabric in half, and then trim it to be 3″ wide, for a total of 6″ once unfolded.

Then , with pretty side of fabric together (if there is an obviously prettier side), fold in half length wise, and sew down the length of the open end. To keep the Stretch of the fabric, pull fabric taught from both ends as you sew on your machine. This is usually a no-no to pull your fabric as you sew, but unless you have a serging machine, this is the best way to keep the stretch that I’ve found.

Turn your piece inside out so your seam is on the inside of the tube. Fold your tube in half, so that the seam is on the outside. Lika that…

secure the ends with a safety pin, and try it on to see if the tightness is right. move the safety pin closer in, or out depending on how tight you want your headband to be. I like mine pretty tight, as jersey will stretch out as you wear it a bit.

once you have the pin where you want it, go ahead and sew the seam right where the pin was, backstitching a bit at each end.  It doesn’t have to be pretty, we will cover it up in the end.

Try it on one more time to make sure you like the fit. Cut the excess fabric off, leaving about 1/2 ” past the seam.

Here comes the cool part. You know when you wear a headband like this, and it’s all bulky in the back, wear your ponytail is? Here is how to make it narrower…

turn your headband inside out, with seam line on the outside. Right above the seam, fold the top of your headband half way down, and the bottom part half way up and pin.

  

simply hand sew about an inch where they meet. This will cover up the back seam AND gather the fabric a bit to reduce bulk.

  

flip your headband right side out and experiment with new do’s.

Here is a picture of Avery wearing a yellow one I made from an old T-Shirt of hers

Here is another picture of the blue one.

If you decide to make one, send me a picture of you wearing it; I’d love to see it!

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