How to Make Baby Headbands From Pantyhose

Designing and making a headband for your baby can save money.

It's often difficult to distinguish between baby girls or boys, unless they're accessorized to accent their gender. Baby girls will often wear clips or bows in their hair, but when they're very young, these can be stressful on their fragile heads. Nylon headbands are available for purchase online, as well as in most retail stores, but you can make your own headband for a fraction of the cost. Creating a headband will not only save you money but will also enable you to customize the piece for your child.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape
• Scissors
• Needle
• Thread
• Ribbon
• Lighter
• Hot glue gun

Instructions

1. Measure around your child's head with a measuring tape. Make note of this measurement, and then subtract 3 inches. This is the measurement for your nylon (it should be a few inches short so that the nylon can expand and fit snuggly over the child's head).

2. Cut the pantyhose leg at the toe seam. Use a measuring tape to measure from this point, up the inseam, to the length that you determined earlier (the circumference of the child's head minus 3 inches). Cut the hose across at this point. You should now have a single straight tube.

3. Thread a needle with a color of thread that matches your pantyhose color.

4. Fold the pantyhose ends so that they overlap one another just slightly -- no more than 1/4 inch. This should create a loop.

5. Sew this overlapped area with the threaded needle in a weave-like fashion. To do this, poke the needle up through the bottom of the overlapped area, and then poke it back down through the overlapped area. Continue this pattern until the two ends of the pantyhose are sewn together, creating a single loop.

6. Wrap the string around the sewn area a few times. This will create a bunched section in the middle of the loop. Knot the string by threading it through the material once more, and then threading it through itself creating a knot. Cut off the excess string.

7. Cut off a 1 1/2 to 2 inch section of ribbon. Turn the headband inside out, and add a dab of hot glue to the middle of the bunched up section. Wrap the ribbon around the bunched up section -- keeping the overlapping portion of the ribbon on the inside of the headband -- and continue to hold it in place until the glue dries.

8. Turn the headband right-side-out. Insert an alligator clip bow in the space between the ribbon and the outside of the headband. You can also glue a flower, jewels or animal shapes to an alligator clip before attaching it to the headband for a more personalized look.