Headband Tutorial... sort of

May 18, 12:16 PM - and

When my hair started falling out I decided to stop pulling it back into ponytails, french knots, french braids and the odd french twist to see if that would help. It did. But it left me with the unfortunate problem as to what to do with my shoulder length hair. I finally decided to start making headbands and happily cast on for Molly’s Headband (available in the “Sweet Somethings” .pdf linked at the bottom of the page). Halfway through I got bored, decided that it was ugly and threw it aside in favor for a fabric headband. After browsing around looking at various headband styles I found one I really liked, this retro-type headband and as luck would have it I found a pattern for a very similar headband: Best Band Ever

Best Band Ever my ass. There isn’t enough seam allowance to allow the tube to be pulled inside out. I had to add a 1/4” to the pattern piece then and only then did it work. It was still a bit tough pulling it out, but no where near as difficult as the much skinnier versions.

I made a grand total of four headbands. Two following her directions and two that I improvised. The first two I made with different weights of interfacing, one light, one heavy. After pinking the sides it was completely and totally impossible to pull the tube inside out, the interfacing created too much bulk for the skinny, very skinny, bands. After much fiddling and one massive time waste of an experiment I finally got it right. This is what I did:

Materials Needed for My Version

Directions

I used the narrow template that Foofanagle provide because it resembles the headband I wanted to make. I made a couple using the wide template, but I didn’t like that. You can use either one.

The first thing I did was lay out the narrow pattern piece on top of some stiff interfacing. I traced around the pattern piece she gave me then discarded it. The reason being that there just wasn’t enough seam allowance for me to pull the tube inside out. Using a ruler I just went down the template marking 1/4” around both long sides. I just placed the 10” marking on the ruler along the line of the traced pattern piece and marked a 1/4” all the way down. Just keep moving the ruler down and keeping the traced line on the 1” marker. Afterwards I used a pair of scissors to cut out along the dots, then I cleaned up the edges with the rotary cutter and the lines on the cutting mat. I chose to cut out the full piece, but you can just do half, as Foofanagle did in her pattern, and cut on the fold. It doesn’t really make any difference.

Like Foofanagle I fused the interfacing to the fabric before I cut out the pattern. If you’re making a reversible headband then cut out one strip in each of your fabrics that is long and wide enough to cut out your pattern. Cut out two strips of interfacing and follow the instructions that came with it. If you want to make a non-reversible headband then just cut out a strip of fabric and that is long and wide enough to accommodate two templates. Once it’s all cooled and ready to go, use your scissors, I prefer the wheel cutter personally, and cut out the pattern.

Place the two pieces of material right sides together and start sewing the long sides together. You may want to use tissue paper because it’s a wee bit difficult to sew with the stiff’n‘sticky interfacing. Once you’ve sewed it together, press the headband very carefully with the iron and sew in the elastic.

I’ll post pictures of mine when I get batteries for my camera.

Tags: headband, sewing, tutorial

Get those damn batteries ffs!

#1 Sarai May 18, 14:48 Permalink

Please post pictures! I’m very excited to see how you did!

#2 Sonia May 19, 22:06 Permalink

I can’t wait to see your headband pictures! :D

#3 Holly May 20, 05:29 Permalink

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