How to Make a Stretchy Headband (+ video tutorial)

This tutorial for How to Make a Stretchy Headband is perfect for those of us trying to keep the hair out of our little one’s faces or just for washing our face!

How to Make a Stretchy headband

We wear a lot of headbands around here.

My missy has a lot of hair and for whatever reason, her hair is the type that refuses to stay pulled back into her ponytail (prime example, lol.)  Our solution to this issue is headbands!  The bad news is we keep losing all our headbands, the good news is that they are super easy to make!

Our favorite type of headband is the kind made from stretchy fabric.

These little headbands are perfect for keeping your hair out of your face for sports, washing your face at night or to use at dinner time.  (Please tell me we are not the only ones who finish dinner with as much food in our hair as is left on the plate, lol.)

Volleyball just started back up for us, so I decided I needed to replenish our supply of headbands.  (A girl can never have too many headbands, lol!)  The headbands only take a small amount of stretch knit fabric, so they are a great way to use up some of your scrap fabric.  And they are so easy to make, you can whip up several in just a few minutes.

They look great with hair up or down!

How to Make a Headband: 

Materials needed for this Headband Tutorial

• Scraps of stretchy knit fabric
• Template (If you don’t want to print the template, cut rectangle 9-3/16 inches wide by 5-1/4 inches)
• Ballpoint/jersey needle
• iron
• basic sewing supplies

Tips for sewing with knits:

• Use a ballpoint/stretch needle
• Sew seams with either a serger, stretch stitch,  narrow zig zag or a straight stitch with a longer stitch length and a slightly loosened tension. (Make a couple of practice stitches on your fabric to see what works best.) I also like to use this “lightning bolt” stretch stitch on seams that need strength but a little give. (For today’s project I used a combination of straight stitch and zig zag stitch.  I also made several with my serger – see how that looks here.)
• If you find your fabric keeps getting pulled inside the needle plate, place a small piece of tissue underneath the fabric so the feed dogs have something to grip.  It also helps to move the needle all the way to the right, which forces your fabric over the feed dogs.

Ready to Make a Headband?  

(Scroll down to the bottom for the video tutorial.)

Products used and recommended in this post:

1. Floral knits on Etsy, another favorite fabric shop for knits:  Funkalicious Fabrics.
2. My Sewing Machine: SINGER 9960 Quantum Stylist, my coverstitch: Janome Cover Pro 1000cpx
3. My Serger: Brother 1034D 3 or 4 Thread Serger or you can just use Pinking Shears
4. Rotary Cutter
5. I love my large ruler and large cutting mat, but you may prefer to start off with a smaller Cutting set
6. Dritz Dual Purpose Marking Pen and Fray Check
7. Ball Point needles
8. Singer walking foot or universal walking foot  (helps when sewing on very stretch fabric.)
9. Cordless iron
10. Wonder clips (I didn’t use these in the post, but they are just awesome!)

Headband Sewing Tips:

• .25 inch seam allowance included

• Use a ballpoint/stretch needle
• Sew seams with either a serger, stretch stitch,  narrow zig zag or a straight stitch with a longer stitch length and a slightly loosened tension. (Make a couple of practice stitches on your fabric to see what works best.) I also like to use this “lightning bolt” stretch stitch on seams that need strength but a little give. (For today’s project I used a combination of straight stitch and zig zag stitch.  I also made several with my serger – see how that looks here.)
• If you find your fabric keeps getting pulled inside the needle plate, place a small piece of tissue underneath the fabric so the feed dogs have something to grip.  It also helps to move the needle all the way to the right, which forces your fabric over the feed dogs.

Materials needed to make the Headband

• Scraps of stretchy knit fabric
• Template
• Ball point/jersey needle
• iron
• basic sewing supplies

 

Instructions to Make a Stretchy Headband

Step 1:  Cut out fabric pieces.

Fold fabric in half, with the stretch going side to side.  Line up provided template on fold and cut out fabric.  (Template found under “materials needed”)

 

Step 2: Assemble headbands.

Fold fabric in half, right sides together.  Starting 1 inch from the end, sew together using a stretch stitch, serger or long wide zig zag.  Stop sewing about 2 inches from the other end.

Trim seam allowance.

Flip fabric tube right side out.

Line up raw edges of fabric tube, right sides together.

Sew, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance, twisting fabric tube as you go.  (See this step in action via the video tutorial below.)

Step 3:  Close opening.

You are left with this small opening.

Pull a bit of the fabric tube back out and with a straight stitch, sew as much of the opening closed as you can.

Either by hand sewing or with the machine, sew the rest of the opening closed.  Trim threads and seal with a bit of fray check if desired.

You are done!

Check out the video below for tips and tricks and to see me make a headband in real-time!

 

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