Fancy Hair Duds

A friend of mine brought to my attention hairbands that were supposed to be non-slip.  I thought Penguin Girl could use something like that because she always seems to have hair falling into her face, but I was definitely not intrigued enough to spend $20.  I'm way too cheap for that.  My bargain-hunting friend was also not inclined to buy a $20 hairband.  Instead, she purchased a few from an Etsy seller.  Once she received them and described them to me, I decided to try making some myself.

I bought some fancy ribbon from a website that sells really cute fabric and notions.  This was the most extravagant part of the supplies.  Each hairband probably used about $1.50 worth of woven ribbon.

I also bought some black elastic from Etsy.  I got yards and yards for a couple bucks.  I now have enough elastic to make at least 3 dozen headbands.  Supposedly the secret to the non-slippiness is to have a velvet ribbon on the underside of the hairband.  I bought some from another Etsy seller in colors to match the fancy ribbon.  

The only wrinkle in buying the patterned ribbon that I chose is that it is imported from Europe and is made to metric measurements.  The velvet ribbon is domestic and made to English measurements so the widths do not match exactly.  I decided to buy 5/8" velvet ribbon to go with the slightly narrower 15mm woven ribbon.  You can see the color of the velvet along the edges as if there is a border but since the colors coordinate, it looks fine.

I used my sewing machine for this project.  I picked multi-colored metallic embroidery thread for the stitching that shows and used a fine white rayon thread in the bobbin.

I measured Penguin Girl's head and figured that to hide the elastic, I'd need about 14" of ribbon, but I cut an extra half inch to have enough to tuck the raw edge away.  I used 6" of the elastic to have enough extra to sandwich firmly between the ribbon.

I really dig the girl superhero ribbon.  Go Girl Power!

You want to fold the raw edge of the ribbon under to keep it from fraying.

You do the same to the velvet ribbon then put the two together with the wrong sides facing each other.

Then, insert one end of the elastic into the sandwich.

Keeping all the layers together, I ran the end through my sewing machine and went back a forth a few times to  really secure the elastic in there.

Then, I raised the presser foot, gave the ribbon a 90 degree turn, and stitched down the side.  You can use pins to keep the ribbon from slipping from side to side but I'm lazy so I didn't do that.  

When you get to the other end, you have to fold in the edges of the ribbon and insert the other end of the elastic.  The elastic is flat so make sure it's not twisted when you sandwich it between the ribbon.  Do another 90 degree turn and sew the elastic in place.

After you sew the elastic in place, turn another 90 degrees and sew the remaining side of the ribbon.

After you trim off the threads, it's done!  This one ended up being about 19" around which is about what I was aiming for as Penguin Girl's head is a couple inches larger.

The spots where the elastic meets the ribbon is reasonably tidy but it will be hidden by Penguin Girl's hair anyway.

The thin white thread I used for the underside was not too obtrusive on the velvet even though it is a contrasting color.  It sort of disappears into the velvet.

I think the metallic thread worked nicely with the multi-colored ribbon.

I also realized a few days after I finished making the hairbands out of ribbon that I could make my own ribbon with fabric scraps!  I have a little tool that makes bias tape, which comes in very handy for finishing quilts.  I used a bit of cotton fabric to make bias tape that ended up being slightly wider than the 5/8" velvet.  The results were just as pretty but it drops the cost of the hairband down to well under a dollar compared to just over $2 for the ribbon only version.  Much more palatable than $20!

Overall, I'm pleased with the result.  I made five of these for Penguin Girl and now they are the only hair accessories she wears.  Not surprisingly, the one she wears the most often is made from, you guessed it, penguin ribbon.