Sweet & Skinny Ruffled Headband

I have discovered that I’m fairly picky about my headbands. Are you?

1.) They can’t be so tight that after an hour it feels like you have put your head in a giant pincher and will have indents on the sides of your head for the next 4-5 hours. I have a low tolerance for skull squishing.

2.) They can’t be too wide – apparently I have a smallish head and wide headbands tend to make me look like I’ve wrapped a dinner napkin around my head or some such thing.

3.) They can’t have too big of a flower/pouf/decoration – back to the smallish head thing. I don’t need to look like a large tropical plant has sprouted in my hair.

It’s a quandary.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands and come up with a skinny, girly headband that is crazy comfortable to wear while being super adorable.
As in, “I forgot I had a headband on until I caught a glimpse in the mirror – and man – is it cute!”

Or something like that. :)

Want to see? (After a build up like that – how could you not?)

Aren’t they cute? And Ruffley?

Here’s a shot on so you can see that they’re pretty thin – and not too poofy.

These are super simple and quick to make! Just a little straight machine sewing and a tiny bit of hand sewing.

Materials:

• Base Fabric: You want this a little heavier weight, like the linen or twill I used.
Cut out a rectangle that is 19″ long and is 3/4″ wide at the ends and 1 1/4″ wide in the middle.
You’ll also need some small pieces – cut 4 rounded 1 5/8″ squares
• Chiffon or other sheer fabric: Cut a piece twice as long as your rectangle and twice as wide.
You’ll also need about 8 rounded 1 5/8″ squares
• 2 Elastic Hair ties
• Small beads for center of top flower

Your base piece should be narrower at the ends than the middle. You can use a ruler to draw out a pattern based on the measurements above.
I cut both fabrics out on the bias (diagonal to the selvage) to cut down on excessive fraying. A little is good though.

For this first headband, I wanted it to have a soft, pleated look. I didn’t really want the pleats to be perfect though, so I just eyed it.
Lay the chiffon centered over the base fabric. Begin pinning the pleats in place, the folds towards you.
When you get about 8″ up, flip the fabric so the unpleated end is towards you, then continue pleating with the folds down.
Leave about a 1″ section unpleated between the change of direction of the pleats.

Keep pinning the pleats in place until the ends meet and all the chiffon is pinned down.
You might need to adjust your pleats if you don’t end up with the right amount of fabric, just make them larger or smaller as you need to so the two fabrics begin and end at the same point.
I ended up with about 1/4″ pleats and about 1/2″ between each pleat. Approximately.

Sew down the pleats on one side, 1/4″ in from the base fabric underneath. It should show through the chiffon.
Repeat with the other side, 1/4″ away from the other edge.

Flip the fabric over so the base fabric side is up. Trim off the chiffon along the edge of the base fabric.

Trim up both sides.

Run your fingers over the edges just a little to fray them up some.

Now we’re going to sew on the flower piece. Take one of the rounded chiffon rectangles and pinch it together in the center.

Measure about 7″ up from the bottom towards the 1″ area where there are no pleats.
Tack the center folded section down, a little off center on the headband. Sea another little square piece next to it.

Continue working up from these petals, adding more as you go and alternating base fabric and chiffon, for about 3″. All these petals should be pointing about the same direction.

After you have 3″ of petals sewn on, sew two more about 1/4 – 1/2″ above that, pointing the other direction – up towards the center of the headband.
Sew a chiffon piece between these by tacking down the corner, then open up the square and sew a few more stitches so that it is gathered a little but stays open.

Sew three little beads in the center.

Follow these complicated pictorial instructions to knot your hair ties together.

Ok – maybe not so complicated. :)

Fold one end of the headband around one end of the elastic. Make a 3/4″ hem and sew down.

Repeat with the other end of the headband. (If you are worried about fit – try it on at this point and make sure that it will be comfortable. You can adjust your hem if you need to.)

That’s it! Pretty easy right? :)

Feel free to get carried away and make a few more. . . .

For this green one, I wanted to see what the chiffon looked like just gathered instead of pleated. I think that’s a pretty look too.

This is is made from some pretty knit lace I had – the knit worked great as a top fabric too!

I think they meet my criteria pretty well! I’d love to hear what you think!

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