Braided Headbands

I'm terrible at figuring out what to do with my hair. It's layered, there's a lot of it, and I'm not terribly good at doing anything semi-complicated with it, particularly since I can't really see what I'm doing. So when I do find something easy, I latch on it to it.



I guess the original inspiration for the headband was my sister at my wedding. She looked adorable.

But most headbands I've seen in the store are either the plastic kind that always hurt my ears or fabric ones that cost more than I'm willing to pay. So when I saw this tutorial, I jumped on it. I have spare t-shirts (and a nearby Goodwill). I can braid. I can't sew well, but this was simple enough AND it would be in the back, under my hair. Score.

I used scissors on the first few headbands. Then I bought a rotary cutter and self-healing mat to use on my t-shirt latch hook (post coming soon, as soon as I can find a few more white t-shirts to cut up and dye). The rotary cutter was definitely the way to go.

On the first three headbands, I tried the "cover the seam" method, but it didn't look great. Still, it would be in the back, under my hair. However, on the last headband I made, I braided a little too far and didn't really want to undo the braiding. It was long enough to tie, and I tried that, but it was somewhat bulky on my neck. Then I came up with the genius idea: buttons. So I measured the headband on my head, and sewed a button where the ends overlapped. To fasten the headband, just slip the button through the braid on the other end of the headband. And to make it adjustable (for whatever reason), I added two more buttons on either side of my original, about an inch away.

Next up, I'll probably be adding a flower a la Craft Snob, but instead of gluing or sewing it directly onto the headband, I'll sew a button onto the underside and attach the same way I fastened the headband. That way I can mix and match. :-)

I'm in love with these because they're simple to make, but the braiding jazzes them up a bit. They're comfy and effectively keep my hair out of my face. And I can make them in whatever color of t-shirts I find (so far I've got black, red, brown, and green).