Tutorial - Ruffled headband

 I'm not much of a girly girl. I'm more like a black pants (or jeans) black or solid bold colors t-shirt kinda gal. I even had a goth phase in high school (black everything including hair and nail polish). So it came a bit as a surprise when my little girl turned out to be a ruffles/frills and pretty dresses loving little girl. I'm still resisting the pink tsunami she would rather see in her wardrobe but I caved in for the pretty dresses and ruffles and frills.

Little girls that like frills also like pretty barrettes and hair things. I can do this. 

So for a girly ruffled headband here is what you need: 

- One strip of satin fabric 4"x 1.5 times the measurement of the recipient's head - Longer if you like a more ruffly look

- 3-4 foot of thick yarn/ribbon  Must be at least a couple of inches longer than your fabric
- Elastic band length 
- Matching thread
- Pins
- Sewing machine
- Iron and ironing board
- Something to embellish the headband (optional)

• Cut your fabric strip
• Fold in half lengthwise
• Slip the yarn/ribbon in the fold and stitch the short end making sure to catch the end of the yarn/ribbon in the seam
• Stitch the long edge (1/4 inch seam allowance) - i.e. into 1 long tube

• Make sure the yarn/ribbon pokes out at the end of the tube and pull the free end to turn the tube right side out . (I love that trick. It is so much easier to turn the tube right side out and it works for really thin tubes too)

• Iron the tube making sure the seam is in the center (not the edges) 
• Measure and cut a piece of elastic band (= measurement of the recipient's head  minus 1 inch)

• Thread the elastic band through the tube and secure it at each end leaving about 1/2 inch of fabric at each end
• Pull the elastic taut 
• Pin the elastic every 2 inch to the center seam

• Stitch the elastic along the center seam while pulling every 2 inch section taut one by one
• Fold in the non-elastic ends, insert one end of the tub into the other and stitch along 
• Top stitch each side for a more finished look

• Optional : Add some embellishment like a fabric flower / rosette 
• You can find my daisy tutorial here

Update :  This tutorial was featured