How to Make a Preppy Headband
Hair accessories add personality to an outfit while also keeping your hair out of your face. Accessory stores, such as Claire's, sell a wide variety of hair accessories--elastics, barrettes and bobby pins, to name a few--but the easiest hair accessory to use is the headband because it doesn't require a mirror to put it in place in a matter of seconds. Make your own headband with ribbon and a couple of hair elastics.
Things You'll Need
- 2 hair elastics
- 1 to 1 1/2-inch wide ribbon
- Iron
- Straight pins
- Sewing machine
- Scissors
- Fabric glue
Instructions
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1
Lay two hair elastics out on your work surface so they overlap each other by half, like a Venn diagram.
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2
Pull the side of each elastic that makes up the overlap through the other elastic at the same time to link the two elastics together. Keep pulling until the elastics are completely tightened around one another.
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3
Fold over each end of the ribbon 1/4 inch toward the wrong side of the ribbon. Press this fold with an iron.
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4
Fold over the ends of the ribbon again, this time with a 1/2-inch fold and with the free end of one elastic in the center of each fold. Pin this fold in place, do not press it since heat may ruin the hair elastics.
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5
Sew along the edge of the folded over ends of the ribbon, effectively trapping the hair elastics in the center of the folds. Use a straight stitch as close to the ends as possible.
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6
Cut a 12-inch and a 8-inch strip of ribbon.
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7
Sew each strip of ribbon in a circle, overlapping the ends of the ribbon by 1/2 inch.
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8
Flatten both ribbon circles, making sure the overlapping ends are in the center of one of the flattened sides of each flattened circle.
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9
Tack the ribbon circles flat in the center where the overlapping ends are, so there are semi-flat loops at either end of the flattened ribbon circles.
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10
Stack the smaller flattened ribbon centered on top of the larger one and position the stack on your ribbon headband off-center so the bow will be off to one side of your head and near the top of your head.
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11
Tack the stacked ribbons and the ribbon of the headband together.
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12
Cut a 4-inch length of ribbon and wrap in around the center of your bow, keeping the ribbon flat, with the ends overlapping on the underside of the headband. You may need to trim some of the length off the strip, depending on the width of your ribbon and the thickness of your stack.
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13
Unwrap the strip from around the bow and then re-wrap it around the bow. Use fabric glue to secure it in place this time.
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14
Allow the fabric glue to dry completely, following the instructions on the bottle, before you wear the headband.
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Tips & Warnings
Select striped ribbon in colors such as black, brown, navy or red to add to the preppy feeling of the headband. You may also look for argyle or plaid ribbons to make it more preppy.
