Braided Headband Tutorial

When I was younger, I thought that the creative gene had completely missed me, although it ran deeply in my family. I NEVER thought I could draw, paint let alone SEW! I remember when I first decided to start sewing, I asked (let's call her Ms. X) if she could show me how to navigate my way through a pattern. Ms. X was very persistent that patterns had to be followed to a "T". Every notch had to line up, and if not....well HA! So in my ignorance to her, I asked, if the patters are so tedious to follow, could I make my own? I still remember her dauntingly laughing and telling me there was NO WAY!

I am not going to lie and say that this in no way slowed me down, that I victoriously showed her! In fact, it did discourage me. She knew how to sew, and I was just beginning. I did end up trying again and being able to conquer my fears. The best part is that I love to sew, and if I would have listened, I would have missed out on this great blessing.

I wanted to write this for all of you that think that you are not creative. You can't sew. That is way too hard! I am here to tell you...TRY. You may realize that you are creative, you CAN sew and even though some projects can be hard, the end result are worth it....and you may even fall in l♥ve!!

On to the tutorial:The Ribbons and
Pigtail's Braided Headband




With this tut, I wanted to use up my bag of scraps, so I did it with that in mind. All you will need is some scraps, thread, pins and your sewing machine. I am giving you the dimensions that I used for a toddler headband, but you can change it up to make your own.

I started off taking 3 fabrics, lining them up and cutting 3 strips 15" by 3" as seen here:



I folded the 3 strips in half (lengthwise...the 15" turn into 7.5) and stared cutting strips about 3/4 of an inch in width. You will have 3 strips.




**as you can see in the picture, I am going to have more than 3 strips...I doubled it to make 2 headbands**

Now I cut my extender piece. This is the piece that ties around her head. I am going to be making a frayed headband,so I will not finish the edges. I made my ends more fancy like a leaf, feel free to do a square shape.



I folded my fabric, so that when I cut, I would be able to cut 2 pieces at a time. I cut them 8.5" by 1.5".



I ended up with 4 pieces total.

Now back to your strips. The fun part was braiding them. I lined up mu strips and put them under a corner of my sewing machine to hold it down as I braided.



Get your pins and extenders. Sandwich the ends of the braids into the end of the extender and pin in place. Do both sides.



Now we can sew it all together...and use that machine as something other than a weight :)

Start where you have pinned, to secure the braids in place. To hold it in place tightly, go back and forth over it several times.



Now go around the extenders, to keep them quilted together.



Sit back...admire your new headband...**sigh**




Put it on your pretty princess...L♥vely!