Tutorial: Hair Candy Headbands

 I'm not sure if we really need a tutorial for this, but I thought it would be wise to share, and then there is no guess work.  Great for a beginner project, or something to just whip up in 15 minutes.

For this project you will need a plastic headband, fabric, fabric glue, sewing machine, and embellishments.  The headband I'm using is approximately 1/2 inch wide, and made for girls, but it fit my head just fine too.

Cut out a piece of fabric the width x 2 of your headband + 1/2 inch for seam allowance.  (My headband is 1/2 in wide, so I cut out 1 1/2 inches)  Then measure the length. You can do this by using a tape measure or just starting at one end and rolling it to the other end and marking it like I did here in the picture.  (The tape measure was buried, and yes, I'm aware I need a manicure)
Give yourself a little allowance at the ends because we want it to be slightly longer than the plastic part of the headband when it's finished.

Fold ends over so that wrong sides are touching wrong sides.  Straight stitch it across.  Repeat on other end.

Fold your fabric right sides touching right sides down the length of your strip.  Straight stitch it all the way down with a 1/4 inch seam.

You have now made a tube!  Don't you feel accomplished?
I used that odd looking metal stick to turn my tube right side out, or you can use a safety pin.  I like to press it with the seam in the middle for a more polished look.

Slip your headband into the fabric.

It should now look something like this.  Trim any stray threads before proceeding, because we are going to play with glue now.

Add a little dab of fabric glue to close up your ends.


The fun part begins.  You can get really creative with the embellishing.

 I glued a piece of vintage Swiss velvet I picked up at Accessories Of Old, on the headband.

Then take two more strips of velvet (one smaller than the other) and glue the ends together to make a circle.

I put them on top of one another and stitched right across to make the bow.  You could use glue to secure them together, but velvet is not very forgiving if you get glue on it. 
Place glue on the backside and attach it to the headband.

Here's a few more I whipped up today

She's finally wearing the refashioned dress I made from the men's shirt, found here.

 This one had a flower made from vintage Austrian cotton eyelet lace.  Stunning!