Now, I’m not usually a tease or some kind of loony who takes a steak to the zoo and waves it around in front of the tiger’s glass cage or anything (Huh?! Just keep reading).

So I know not to promise blog-readers a big reveal only to offer them a puny headband tutorial instead, but the truth is that I’m still tweaking my big project (please don’t eat me…I’m running with that tiger metaphor) .

You’ll thank me for it in time. Because it’s coming. I promise. Just not today.

Today’s project is brought to you courtesy of I-saw-this-on-a-girl’s-head-at-church-on-Sunday-and-was-overcome-by-the-urge-to-either-steal-it-or-recreate-it. The most awesome part of all is that said girl is two weeks away from giving birth to her first child. You know you’re a stylin’ pregnant momma when people (yep, that’s me) march up to you and demand to know where you bought your accessories (Answer: Anthropologie, in case you didn’t see the title of this post) and then spend the next two minutes poking, prodding, and examining them to see how they were made (don’t worry, we’re acquaintances…not bosom buds or anything, but I’m pretty sure she only thought I was a marginal whack-job).

You’ll be happy to know that I couldn’t quite justify yanking a headband off of a pregnant woman’s head and sprinting for the door (at church, no less), so I decided on the recreation route.

And this is what I came up with:

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Let’s get to it, shall we?

Here’s what you’ll need:

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    • At least a 1/4 yd of lightweight fabric. I bought this piece as a remnant from Hancock’s after noticing how Ashley’s (cute pregnant momma) headband was slightly shiny (maybe that’s why I was so irresistibly drawn to it). But because mine was a remnant (no bolt), I don’t know exactly what it is. Some sort of poly/rayon blend, I think. Anyhoo, if you can’t tell from the pic, it has a subtle sheen, but it is not silky.
    • Tape measure
    • Scissors
    • Hot glue gun + glue (yup)—notice I cropped almost all of my glue gun out of the picture. That is because Glen, the glue gun, has seen better days—much better days—and is now too ugly to take pictures of in his full glory. Tough break, Glen.
    • Wire—I bought mine in the jewelry making department at Hancock’s. It’s 26 gauge, but I would buy something more like 20 (the lower the number, the thicker the wire) if I had it to do all over again. This particular wire is a wee bit thin for this project…but I made it work.
    • Coordinating thread
    • Sewing machine (she wouldn’t fit in the ultra-cropped picture that Glen forced me to post)

1. Cut two identical strips of fabric, approximately 5”X35” (depending on the size of your head, you may need to adjust).

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2. Round the corners with your scissors.

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3. Stack the strips on top of each other, right sides together (I was confused by the pic below at first until I realized I was trying to show you that the shiny sides were facing each other. Are you as worried as I am that you’re reading a tutorial by someone who gets confused by her own pictures?).

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4. Sew around one end of your headband, making sure to follow the rounded contour of the edges. I started out with a 1/2” seam (notice that the outside edge of the foot is against the fabric edge)…

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…and then widened it to a 5/8” seam on the straight portion of the strip (notice the fabric now juts out past the foot) to create a slightly tapered effect.

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A view of the seam so you can see the taper:

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6) Leave one end of the headband completely open, since you’ll need to turn it right side out, wires and all.

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7) Trim the excess seam (ignore the wire, I took this pic out of order).

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8) Cut two pieces of wire the length of your headband and grab Glen or Gloucester or Glo or whoever you’ve got working for you in the glue gun department. Make a series of little glue dots down the length of one edge of your headband, press your wire down into the dots, and hold (may you have more success than I did with smooshing the wire rather than your finger into the molten goo) like so:

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9) Repeat the glue-dot/wire-smooshing technique all down the opposite side of the headband so that you have two parallel wires running the length of your fabric (you can just see the edge of my second wire in the bottom of the pic above)

10) Turn the whole thing inside out, and either hand-stitch or machine-stitch closed the opening you left to reverse your headband. I wasn’t that worried about hiding my stitches for this particular project, so I turned the ends under and machine-sewed very close to the edge.

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Now, this cutie could be worn several different ways, but I went with how I saw Ashley wearing it, which I thought was just grand.

Here’s how to “tie” it:

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And now to take it out of my (extremely yellow-light) kitchen and put it to the real-world test:

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As far as I’m concerned, it passed with flying (cobalt blue) colors. It’s comfy, cute, and makes me look just a little bit like Rosie the Riveter:

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…which can never be a bad thing (look at her guns!).

Thanks, Ashley, for inspiring me with your pregnant cuteness and to you guys for restraining your inner tigers.

Big Reveal of Big Project Coming Soon! (Pinky promise).

See you tomorrow for Wardrobe Wednesday!

P.S. For those of you who have asked me to source my nail polish colors, I’m wearing Jaded by Revlon.

Monday ~ The DIY Showoff Project Parade ~ Made by You Mondays ~ Embellishing Life Everyday ~ Just Something I whipped up Monday ~ The CSI project ~ Menu Plan Monday ~ C.R.A.F.T. ~ The Southern Institute ~ Making the World Cuter ~ Thrify Décor Chick ~ Metamorphosis Monday ~ Sumo Sweet Stuff ~ Gunny Sack ~ Singing Three Little Birds ~DIY Homes Sweet Home ~ Dittle Dattle ~ 1929 Charmer ~ Everything Under the Moon ~ ModMix Monday ~ Sew Stylish ~ Coastal Charm ~ Under the Table and Dreaming

Tuesday ~ Get Your Craft ~ Tip Junkie ~ Blackberry Vine ~ Crafty Confessions ~ Me & my Boys ~ A Bowl Full of Lemons ~ Home Stories A-Z ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suberbia ~ Carolyn’s Homework ~ Sugar Bee Crafts ~ House of Grace ~ Passionately Artisitc ~ My World Made by Hand ~ Uncommon Designs ~ Trendy Treehouse

Wednesday ~ Blue Cricket Design ~ Somedays Crafts ~ Sew Much Ado ~ Sew Woodsy ~ Handy Man, Crafty Woman ~ Savvy Southern Style ~ {Primp} ~ Midweek Fiesta ~ Rae Gun Ramblings ~ Polkadots On Parade ~ Lollipop Cards ~ JAQS Studio ~ Let Birdz Fly ~ Let Birdz Fly ~ My Girlish Whims

Thursday ~ Transformation Thursdays ~ Somewhat simple ~ Show off your stuff ~ House of Hepworths ~ Delightful Order ~ My Simple Home Life ~ The Frugal Girls ~ Thrifty Thursday ~ DIY Diva Thursday ~ Tablescape Thursday ~ No Minimalists Here ~ Crafty, Scrappy, Happy ~ Thrifty Decorating ~ Between U and Me ~ 36th Avenue

Friday ~ The Shabby nest ~ Show and Tell Friday ~ Finding Fabulous ~ I’m Loving it ~ Simply Sweet Home ~ Whipper Berry ~ Chic on a Shoestring decorating ~ Spunky Junky ~ Delicate Construction ~ Homemaker in Heels ~ Family Ever After~ French Country Cottage ~ Common Ground ~ Young And Crafty ~ At the Picket Fence ~ Fingerprints on the Fridge ~ Miss Mustard Seed ~ Addicted to Decorating ~Bacon Time with The Hungry Hypo ~ Making Lemonade ~ I Can’t Stop Crafting ~ Over the Big Moon ~ Shabby Art ~ Answer is Chocolate

Saturday ~ I heart nap time- Sundae Scoop ~ Tatertots and Jello ~ Be different Act Normal ~ Funky Junk ~ 2805 ~ Making Lemonade Blog ~I am Along for the Ride ~ Lolly Jane

Sundays ~ Homemaker on a Dime ~ Sunday’s Best

14 Comments

  1. kinda flapper-ish, looks great on you! I enjoyed very much your move it monday post, tres inspiring! Thanks for the smiles 🙂

  2. Hilarious tutorial!
    And the bow is just too cute not to want to make..I’m def. trying this tonight. I’m think that instead of using glue (I always mess it up and get a big spot on the fabric that shows or something) I’m going to make a small tunnel to guide the wire through (let’s see if that’ll work. I’m bummed I didn’t see this tutorial earlier because just last night I shortened some maxi dresses for my sister and because I wanted to use the extra fabric I decided to make a headband, a belt and a bow for on one of her hats out of it. Had I seen this tutorial I would have made this instead (I think it would have loved cute with the floral print) anyhow..a new day a new project and safe to say I still have tons of fabric laying around so I shouldn’t whine.
    Thanks again!

    Michèlle
    https://notfromholland.blogspot.com/

  3. I definitely agree w/ the fun personality comment! 🙂
    And I was looking for the “big reveal”…. I need some “oomph” to get mine done. 🙂

  4. Cah-yoot! Maybe this one would fit my weird head. Other headbands I’ve tried just don’t stay on. Might have to give this a try. 🙂

  5. You know, you could do this with fabric glue. It’s a very forgiving project.
    You would just follow all the guidelines I gave but run a bead of fabric
    glue instead of a stitch…let it dry, and then turn the whole thing inside
    out. I don’t think it would matter too much if your lines weren’t
    super-duper crisp since it’s such a poofy look. Give it a try and see if it
    works!

  6. this is adorable! I love how it is so simple yet, cute! Thanks for the awesome tutorial and your fun personality that shines through!

I love hearing from you guys!