Shirts into Headbands

More than I love flower clips in my hair, I love headbands because they hold back my bangs. Bangs are cute, but they take patience. For the days I can't muster up enough patience for them, I throw on a headband. I used to have a wide variety, but some got lost, some borrowed, and some curiously snapped in half by the little hands of a three year old. I've got slim pickins' these days so I decided to make a few new ones... If you've got some tops laying around you never wear (Or a skirt, whatev.) and you like the print, why not use them for something you WILL use? (the fabric in the tutorial, I actually bought at Hobby Lobby with plans to use for another project, but I like it so much I decided to use a bit for this particular accessory. Can you blame me? It's too cute to NOT wear on your head.
I found this simple pattern on mmmcrafts.blogspot.com and used it as a guideline. [It's meant to be an interchangeable cover for a hard plastic headband, so cut it a little longer] First, You'll want to measure your head and make sure your fabric will be long enough. (Remember, there will be elastic meeting the ends together under your hairline). Fold your fabric in half and pin your pattern in place up against the edge of the fold like in the picture. (I left some extra room near the edge to make sure my elastic will be hidden) Then cut around the edges leaving about a half inch or so for the seam. You'll need to cut two of these. Open them up and make sure they are both the same size. You may need to do a little trimming around the edges. I like to get the cutting part out of the way and have them all ready for sewing...
Line up your fabric pieces facing each other and sew a tight seam down each side of the edges, leaving the ends open. (You'll connect it with elastic later) Make sure you double stitch (sew back & forth) when you get to each end. Then turn your headband inside out by pinning a safety pin in one side of the raw edge... ...and feed it down the center of the headband. It will scrunch up, but just fold the fabric over itself and keep feeding the pin through. Once the safety pin comes out the other end, pull the rest of the fabric rightside out. Make sure you don't tug on the safety pin too hard, it could rip your fabric.
Once your headband is turned out the right way... ...press it flat with an iron to make it easier for sewing around the edges.
Cut the appropriate length of elastic. [You can do this by safety pinning the elastic on, then try it on to see of it's too big or small. Adjust it to suit and pin in place so you can sew it on just right.] Once your elastic is in place, fold the raw edge of the fabric inside itself and double or triple stitch over the top of the edge like in the picture. Sewing the edges all the way around gives it a crisp, professional look. I love headbands Enjoy!