Oh, Momma!

This past week I had intended to lay off the crafts and not look at pinterest or any DIY blog I had on my bookmarks because I was trying (operative word: TRYING) to reorganize my stuff/stash/treasure trove and throw out anything that is not useful, only gathering dust, becoming home for insects, or basically decomposing due to neglect. I actually found a colony of tiny ants living underneath a cardboard box that held tubes of tracing paper I used in college. But with Mothers’ Day nearing, I took a little break from “cleaning” and pulled out some materials to make…. Headbands.

A while back I remember my mom was looking for these elastic headbands at the mall but she didn’t find any that she liked so I figured it’d be a nice gift for her. It was also timely that I came across this tutorial of a really simple headband. In the end I made five headbands (only one was made following the tutorial exactly) and I made my mom choose what she liked. She got two, and a bonus necklace which can be seen at the end of the post. I’ll keep one for myself, but the two others are UP FOR SALE! Here’s what they look like:

1. Knit-Sew — this is actually crocheted, not knitted, but “crothet-sew” doesn’t have a catchy ring like the other title. Anyway, all the materials I already had on hand: the tie is a white cord I had lying around, the circles were previous experiments on granny squares, while the band was actually the start of a table runner. It came from way back in the ’90s when I was beginning to like crochet. If you can’t tell yet, I quickly got lazy and stopped at the first inch. It’s amazing that it’s still white. Crocheted band = 40 cm; total lenth (with cord) = 76 cm

PhP 200

2. AquaNautics — (have you guessed by now that I just make those names up as I write?) I learned this beautiful knotted headband from this tutorial. But because my cord was too short, it didn’t go all the way to the back so I had to attach it to a coordinating fabric. The cord was bought a very long time ago (I used it to make a small drawstring bag before, I just kept the remaining material), the fabric is a nice patterned cotton I used in one of the skirt pockets I made, while the elastic inside was the one I took out from the sleeves of the pink blouse/dress here. The seams are done on a machine but the connection between the cord and fabric is hand stitched. Circumference = 53 cm (unstretched) 58 cm (stretched)

PhP 250

Orders can be coursed through email, for now. arkitek [dot] sara [at] gmail [dot] com

 

As for the last one, I’ll keep that one for myself because, despite the prettiness, I don’t think the quality is good enough for selling. I’ll make a better version someday, don’t worry! Here’s a quick (yet oddly lengthy) tutorial on how I made it!

Materials:

Ribbons in coordinating colors, one wider (the base) and one narrower (the accent)

Rubber hair ties/elastic bands (as kids we used to call these “Sanrio”, though I never knew why)

A little fabric tube (I used the hem of a shirt I cut up in a previous project, turned it inside-out to hide the seam)

Scissors and hot glue gun

 

1. Wrap the ribbons around your head to measure the length you need to cut (or use a preset size chart of some sort, which I don’t have). Once you’ve cut out the right length of ribbon, try it on again and mark the spot on your base ribbon (the blue one with the pencil dot) where you want your accent to be. I used a narrower two-colored ribbon (brown/beige) and made a loose single knot as my accent.

2. Attach the accent to the base with hot glue. Make thin lines and flatten the accent on quickly to avoid bumps showing through (as seen below.. LOL. I redid that part). Make sure you align it properly so the knot hits the dot you marked! You could also start by gluing on the knot FIRST then attaching the rest of the ribbon (why I thought of this just now, I don’t really know).

3. For the elastic, I looped together eight elastic bands in pairs. If you’ve ever collected rubber bands or played Chinese garter, you know how to do this. It looks like a reef knot, if that isn’t what it is. Here’s an artistic shot (complete with wood grain and a play of light and shade) of how it looks like after pulling each taut. Alternately, you could just do the same as the first headband tutorial I mentioned and use a proper hair tie (easier).

4. Take one end of the elastic strand and shoot the ribbon through, fold over (I did it twice) then hot glue it all over the place. Try to be as neat as possible, even though this part will go under your hair. Take your inside-out fabric hem (which should be at least the length of the elastic when stretched out) and insert the other end of the elastic inside (with the help of a trusty safety pin). Tuck the ends of the loop in, if you like. They don’t need to be hemmed because the T-shirt fabric won’t fray anyway. Before hot gluing the other end of the ribbon, make another measure check to compensate for added length of the elastic. Trim if necessary, then fold over and glue the other end.

Aaaaaand you’re done! It has some kinks along the length because of the inflexible hot glue, so I should find a better alternative to attaching the accent ribbon. But those imperfections don’t show when you’re wearing this.

 

The ones that my mom got were these:

The only headband which followed the original tutorial. Black 1″ satin ribbon, elastic tie, accented with beads

A simple one (which I originally intended to keep for myself) made with another piece of the shirt hem, another piece of elastic, and printed cotton fabric.

Finally, a knockoff of a knockoff necklace. I didn’t have any chain around so I wove twill tape through aluminum soda can pull tabs (which a friend has collected for me). The beads are actually a separate necklace I made some time ago (I have a bunch of others in the same style… soon to be on sale, too) attached to the ends. You could actually remove the beads and use it separately, or wrap it around the pull tabs to make it a more “put-together” look

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