How to Make a Cloth Headband Using Beads

Seed beads can be found in most craft stores, and are handy to have around, as they can be used with many things.

Cloth headbands are easy to make, and adding beads requires very basic hand-sewing skills. Making the basic headband part will not take very long--maybe ten minutes--but sewing the beads to the headband will take a little bit more time, depending on your hand sewing speed. The headband can be made from salvaged materials, like an old shirt you can't wear anymore, or a sheet you found at the thrift store. Stick to solid colors or fabrics with very light patterns for the purposes of this project.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape
• Cloth
• Ruler
• Tailor's chalk
• Scissors
• Sewing machine with thread
• Safety pin
• Iron
• Elastic, 1 in wide
• Needle
• Thread
• Seed beads

Instructions

1. Measure around your head, where you want the headband to lie, and subtract four. Lay your cloth out. Use your ruler and your chalk to draw a rectangle that is three to four inches wide and as long as your altered measurement. Cut out the rectangle.

2. Fold the rectangle in half lengthwise, and sew a seam on the long, raw edge with your sewing machine. Use a seam allowance of about 1/4 of an inch.

3. Open your safety pin and pin it through one layer of fabric on one end of your tube, then close the safety pin. Turn the tube inside out by pushing the safety pin through the tube. You'll scrunch the fabric up over the safety pin, and then tug the fabric on the other side of the pin, smoothing the fabric back out.

4. Straighten your fabric tube out and lay it flat. Tuck the ends of either tube in by 1/2 inch, and press with your iron.

5. Cut a piece of elastic that's 4 inches long, and push one end into the end of the tube by about 1/2 inch. Sew this in place with your sewing machine, and do the same with the other side of the elastic in the other end of the tube.

6. Measure from one end of the cloth part of the headband to the other, ignoring the elastic part. Divide this number in half; measure that distance from one of the cloth edges and mark it with your tailor's chalk.

7. Use your ruler to draw a straight line across the width of the headband, where you made your mark earlier. Measure one inch to the right from the line you just made, and make another line. From this new line, measure one inch to the right and make another line. Do the same on the other side of your middle line.

8. Thread your needle, and make a knot in the end of your thread. Place a bead on one of the lines, near either edge. The tube inside the bead should be perpendicular to the chalk line. Push the needle through the headband from the opposite side that your bead is lying on, as close to the bead as possible. Push the needle through the center of the bead and then back down through the headband.

9. Repeat, following the line. When you get to the end, knot the needle underneath, cut the thread and re-thread your needle. Complete the other lines using the same techniques.

Tips & Warnings

• You can add sequins in the same manner. You can also draw a name in cursive, or other shapes and fill in with beads.

• If you have a piece of fabric you want to use, but it's not quite wide enough, use a second fabric as a 'back', like black cotton.

• If you want to use fabric that is heavily patterned, you can follow the edges of the pattern with your bead work.

• If you're feeling particularly ambitious, you can completely cover the headband with beads.

• Keep your hand stitches small and as close to the beads as possible. If you start getting away from the bead, when you pull the stitch tight, it will cause a visible pucker on your headband.