Knit Headbands from tshirts

Have you made headbands from t shirts yet?  It’s one of my most popular posts and so I thought I’d crank out a few more different varieties – I love them all.  A knit headband is so easy to make and wear – it’s perfect all-around.

I thought I’d go over  a few ways to make them in this post, so it’s your go-to source for all things about tshirts into headbands.  You will love how simple these are to make.   Here we go…
First up, the Pinched Bow.  This one is just basically a fat headband – then you pinch it in to create a bow effect from the band itself.  I made a baby version in gray and an older girl version in the patterned turquoise.    Here is what it looks like on:

For the Pinched Bow Headband, the main construction is for the band.  Start with a large rectangle of fabric/old tshirt – it will be the width of your headband times two, by the circumference (going around) the head.  For the baby one, mine was 15 inches long.  Then you will fold it in half lengthwise and sew all the way down that long edge, as shown:

Then turn the tube of fabric right-side out.  Instead of having the seam on the edge, lay it out so that the seam is in the middle and iron into place:

With this headband, the seam that will connect the headband around will not show – it will be inside the pinched part.  So you don’t need to worry about raw edges – just sew the two ends together.  I used a zig-zag stitch:

Prepare the piece that you will tie around the pinch by using a skinny strip of fabric with the edges ironed in:

Now, pinch the seam so that it forms a sort of “bow” out of the band:

Then secure that with a few handstitches.

The hand stitching is what holds the pinch area.  The wrap around it is just for looks.  So you wrap that strip of fabric around and secure it in the back.

And that’s it for the Pinched Bow Headband!
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For the Big Bow Headband, you start just like you’re making a Pinched Bow.  But right before you finish it off with the skinny strip, you attach a big bow.  Here is how I made that — a rectangle of fabric, folded in half – then sew the edges, leaving an opening – turn it right-side out – and pinch in the middle – secure the pinch with handsewing – see pictures below for clarification:

Then you’ll just attach the Big Bow to the headband on top of the pinched area with a few stitches and wrap the skinny strip around all of it.  That’s it for that one!
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Next up, the Ruffled Flower Knit Headband – it’s my niece’s favorite headband!

Start by making a band as shown above in the Pinched Bow instructions.  Only when you sew the ends together, make it look nice (tuck one end inside the other, etc) because this time the seam will show in the back.

From that point, with the seam in the back, determine the front of the band.  That is where you will attach the Ruffled Flower.  To make the flower, you will need 4 large circles and 5 medium circles.  Use 1 meduim circle as your base.  Fold all the other circles into fourths (in half and then in half again).

Lay the 4 large circle fourths on the base and machine stitch into place with an “x”, as shown:

I forgot to take a picture of the next step, but you’ll lay the 4 smaller circle fourths on top of these and stitch them into place.  Then you will attach it to the headband (I think I hot glued it on – I can’t remember for sure!) and fluff it up by pulling out the insides of the fourths.  Use hot glue if you need to secure some pulled-out pieces.  So you will get this in the end:

It’s a fun one for all ages!
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Next up the easiest one – and it’s no-sew!  The Braided Tshirt Headband – – I LOVE this one for myself – it’s the perfect fun way to spice up a ponytail:

I didn’t take tutorial pictures because it was too easy.  With three strips of tshirt, tie a knot in one end.  Then braid the strips.  When you get the end, tie another knot.  Then tie the two ends together – that’s it!!
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While I was in the tshirt headband-making mood, I cranked out a Knotted Tshirt Headband for a doll:

I used my previous tutorial (for the gray one I’m wearing) found here: Knotted Tshirt Headband Tutorial  and just made it doll-size.
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And in the past I’ve made Twisted Head Wrap Headbands from old tshirts:

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Enjoy the fun of making use of all those old tshirts!  Look at garage sales and thrift stores for t shirts with fun fabric – you can make them into headbands.  You can also buy knit fabric for these projects, but really, it’s cheaper to find old shirts that are begging for a new life.

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