DIY Upcycled Knotted Jersey Headband

As promised, I'm here to share a quick and easy project for all of you who want to give sewing knits a try. This headband takes you just half an hour (tops) to make and makes the perfect project to practice those knit stitches on. Try it once and before you know it you'll have a stack of pretty headbands. It's addictive!

You can play with different types of knits and different colors and patterns to mix up your own variation of it. I tried three different styles, and love them all. I might even make a few more - one for every outfit, haha. And these are not just for adults. I tried one of mine on my 4-year-old cousin, and she looked so adorable. (Granted, she hates having anything stuck on her head, but she looked dang cute for those 30 seconds).

 What you will need for this project:

1) A little bit of jersey fabric (or lace) - I cut my material from old t-shirts, lace tops and scraps of left-over fabric.

2) Basic sewing equipment (machine, needle and thread, pins, scissors, iron and ironing board)

4) Cardboard for the template

5) Ruler and pencil

STEP 1

First, you need to make 2 templates. One for cutting out the pieces, and the other one for ironing. You can see the measurements of the headband template on the upper picture. It includes 1cm wide seam allowances, but if you have a bigger than average head (I measured my head the way I would wear the headband and got 55.5cm), you might add a couple of cm to the length of the piece.

NOTE! I've had a reader point out that their headband came out too short. This might be due to different stretch of the fabric, or partly because of wider seam allowances or just a slightly bigger head. For this reason, I suggest measuring your head before making the pattern. Given that the fabric has good stretch, the headband should be about 10cm longer than your head circumference. Also, don't be afraid to stretch the headband when knotting it. I stretched mine quite strongly to make the knot comfortably. I'll try and add a video of that soon!

The ironing template is slightly smalles and will come in very handy later in the tutorial. The ironing template needs to be cut from cardboard. 

STEP 2

Cut 4 pieces of fabric using the headband template. Sew 2 of them together (right sides facing) and press the center seam allowances on both other pieces.

STEP 3

Place the two single pieces on top of the sewed piece right sides together and pin them in place. Be sure to pin to match the centers.

I don't know if you noticed, but I pinned the pink piece to the pink and white to white on the above photo, but I had to do it over, because I wanted to be like a chess board (white on pink, and pink on white). 

STEP 4

Sew the pieces together with a 1cm seam allowance. I used a lightning bolt stitch here, but you could use any of the three stitches I showed in this post. 

STEP 5

Cut the seam allowance to just a few millimeters to reduce bulkiness, and give the seams a good press. 

STEP 6

Turn the headband inside out. 

STEP 7

Use the ironing template to press and form the headband. Just shove the cardboard template into on half of the headband and give that side a good press. Then remove and repeat with the other side. This makes getting a good shape very easy. 

STEP 8

Lastly, hand-sew the center opening shut. 

Now, wasn't that easy? But if you have any questions, you can always just ask in the comments, and I'll do my best to clarify.

A little-known fact about me is that I have a very oddly shaped head. It's narrow, which makes finding a headbands that fit pretty hard. Also, most fabric headbands (and scarves for that matter) won't stay on for more than 2 minutes. But, I actually managed to wear this one for a whole day. Wow! So, I made myself three (lol). 

Happy sewing!

xo. Hanna

DIY Knitted 2in1 Bow/Turban Headband (knitting pattern)

I don't know what the weather is like in your part of the world, but here it's getting real cold. Like, they're predicting snow for tomorrow. Yes, SNOW. I don't know what's happened to the climate this year, but the fact is that we've jumped from sunny and summery to cold and wintery in just 2 days, so it's time to dig out those scarves, hats and gloves. And, even if it's not that cold where you live, it's still not too early to prepare yourself for the colder months ahead. So, today I thought I'd share my bow headband knitting pattern with you. 

I originally created this pattern for my Etsy shop 2 years ago, but since I stopped making these headbands last year, I thought I'd share the pattern with you so you could make your own if you wanted to. The pattern is designed in a way that allows you to change up the bows creating many colorful combos. Or, you can omit the bow altogether for a turban headband look.

 You will need: 
100 g of yarn (thickness suitable for size 3-3.5mm needles, but knit 2 strands together)
4mm double-pointed or straight needles
Tapestry needle or a crochet hook for hiding yarn ends

 Abbreviations: 
st, sts - stitch, stitches
k - knit
p - purl
k2tog - knit two stitches together
yo - yarn over (for adding a stitch)

One size fits most.

 The headband: 
Cast 15 sts
Work in *k1, p1* ribbing for 6 rows.
Rows 7-26: *k1, p1 repeat from * until the end of the row. (This is called the seed stitch)
Row 27: k1, yo, continue in the same seed stitch pattern until the last stitch, then yo, k1. (So your number of stitches grows by 2.)
Keep working in the seed stitch pattern for 30cm.
On the next row k1, k2tog, continue in the same pattern as previous rows until 3 stitches from the end, then k2tog, k1.
Continue working in the seed stitch pattern for 20 rows, then work the last 6 rows in *k1 p1* ribbing.
Cast off all stitches.

 The bow: 
For the bow ring cast 10 sts, and work in *k1 p1* seed stitch pattern for 36 rows, then cast off.
For the bow cast 15 sts and work in the same seed stitch pattern for 42 row, then cast off.

 Sewing: 
First, sew together the ends of the headband. Hide yarn ends.
Next, place the bow ring across the ribbed part of the headband, so that it cover the seam. Join the ends on the other side of the headband and sew them together. Then, sew the back of the bow ring to the back of the headband securing it in place. Hide yarn ends.
Lastly, hide the yarn ends of the bow, and place it inside the bow ring from the right side of the headband.

I don't know about you, but cold weather always makes my fingers itch for some knitting.
If you have any questions, just leave them in the comments, and I'll try to clarify.

xo. Hanna

Modeled by Marianne Nugis

DIY Gold leaf headband

Happy Monday! I hope you've had a wonderful start to your week. Mondays can be a bummer, as we all know, so why not start this week off with making something pretty for yourself. This headband takes very little time and effort, but looks stunning. Plus, it's a great project to make use of those old artificial flowers you're not using anymore.

I've been seeing a lot of pretty gold leaf headbands on Pinterest these past few months, and I really wanted to make one for myself. I don't usually wear headbands because they're uncomfortable to wear with classes, so I didn't want to spend money on something I would rarely use. Which is why I used only materials I already had for this project.

You will need:

• artificial flower leaves
• Golden permanent marker or spray paint
• metal headband
• bobby pins
• strong adhesive (like super glue or E6000)

1. Start by cutting the leaves off the stem. Your final design depends on what type of leaves you use of course, so you could also use very small leaves on a stem, in which case ignore this step.

2. Use a permanent marker or spray paint to color all the leaves you plan to use.

3. Let the leaves dry. Once they're completely dry, you can start making the headband.

4. First, mark the center on the metal headband. I wanted the leaves to overlap a little in the center, so I glued the first leaf so that the tip was about 1cm over the center line. Use bobby pins to stop the leaf from moving. When you first place the leaf and the glue is still wet, the leaves have the tendency to stick up from one side or move off center, so bobby pin are perfect for avoiding that.

5. Continue glueing the leaves to the headband from the center towards the sides. After all the leaves have been glued and you're happy with your design, add more bobby pins and leave the headband to dry.

I'm pretty happy with the end result. I would have liked to use smaller leaves, but I wanted to use materials I already had, and those were the best option from that.