I am a fan of the headbands that have an elastic back and a nice big, foldy top that makes the width customizable. I recently received one as a birthday gift, and I looked at it and said, “Why, I should make some of these. And I should show other people how to make them too!” Because they are pretty simple, and you can very quickly whip up a whole new swath of hair accessory options.
Also, they don’t take up much fabric, and were a great way to use up some stash.
-About 1/3 yard of lightweight fabric. I used an old shirt with a hole in it! -Matching or coordinating thread -18” of 1/4” elastic
That’s it! I’m taking for granted that you have a sewing machine.
Note: I used two strips of thin elastic because it’s more comfortable to me than a single strip of thick elastic. Also, it’s what I had on hand. If you want to save some time, use one 9” strip of 1” elastic and skip Step 4 below.
Cut a rectangle that is 10” x 12” for the top of the headband, and one that is 3” x 15” for the back. Trim your elastic so that you have two 9” bands.
(When I made the first two headbands, I made them just a tad too small… And then forgot to photograph the corrected dimensions. So please ignore the true dimensions suggested by the ruler markings in the photo above and just go with the written dimensions.)
Fold over the short ends of the smaller rectangle 1/4” and press, then fold it over another 1/4” and press again. Hem, stitching close to the inner folded edge.
Using a 1/2” seam allowance, sew the long edge, finish the seam, and trim the allowance. Turn this tube inside out and press flat with the seam in the middle on one side.
Starting 1/2” away from the hemmed end, edge stitch 1/8” away from folded edges. Then sew 3/8” from these stitches (1/2” away from the folded edge) to create encasements. You will have a total of 4 stitch lines running the length of the band.
Thread the two elastic bands through each of the encasements. To keep the elastic from popping back into the band, attach a safety pin to one end of the strips (fastening it through both.)
Now onto the other rectangle. Hem the long, 12” edges as you did with the small rectangle in step 1. Finish the shorter, 10” edges with a zig zag stitch or a serger.
Sew two lines of basting stitches using your largest stitch setting on the 10” edges of the top band. Tie a knot on one side, and then pull the bobbin threads on the other side to gather to approximately 1”.
This part can get real finicky, so have patience. Using a zig zag stitch and backtacking a few times, sew the elastic bands onto the gathered ends. Be careful not to twist your band when you sew the other side. It should look somewhat akin to this mess when you’re done.
Carefully push all of those frayed, stitched parts into the nice hemmed band, and arrange the gathers so they look nice. Then make two top stitches across to secure the band, one 1/8” away from the small band edge and one over top of the original hem stitches.
Doesn’t that look nice?
So I made a total of four of these headbands. The first two I made, I made way too small. I could barely pull them onto my head. Instead of taking them apart and fixing the back band, I decided to quickly stitch the band even smaller, and make them into some Haute Doggy Fashion:
Tres Chic, Franki.
Such a handsome lady.