Scrap busting: vintage-style headscarf tutorial

I've got a great scrap-busting project to share with you today! It's to make these vintage style headscarves/headbands - they're the kind with wire inside them which makes them stay in place nicely.

I've been meaning to make one for ages because I had an old shop-bought one that I wear all the time, but I couldn't work out what kind of wire to use - nothing seemed quite right. Then recently I saw a similar project in a magazine that used garden wire so I decided to give that a go. I was a bit skeptical because the wire didn't seem like it would be bendy enough, but it actually worked really well and now I'm slightly obsessed with making these headbands. They're really simple, so much so in fact that I almost thought it didn't warrant a tutorial, but it's always good to share ideas so I'm doing it anyway! Here we go...

You will need:
- Long, thin fabric scraps
- Garden wire (mine is 1.2 mm thick, and does the job nicely!)
- Insulating tape
- Sewing supplies

Cut 2 strips of fabric. The length/width/shape is up to you really, but as a guide I cut my strips to be 85 cm at the longest point, and 8 cm wide. I curve the ends of the strips slightly as you can see in the photo above.

Put your 2 strips right sides together and sew (I use a 1 cm seam allowance) around the edge, leaving a gap of around 10 cm in one of the long sides for turning. Don't forget to secure the threads at both ends!

Turn the fabric right side out and press

Take your wire, bend the end over and wrap it back around the wire to create a loop roughly 5 cm long - this doesn't need to be too precise, the loop just helps the ends of the headband keep their shape.

Wrap insulating tape around the wire at the bottom of the loop to hold in place and make sure there are no sharp ends.

Hold this loop at one end of your fabric strip and stretch the wire out so it is roughly the same length as the strip, allowing enough extra wire at the other end to make a second loop. Cut the wire at this point and then make a second loop in the same way as the first.

Put the wire into the fabric tube through the turning hole, feeding the loops to either end.

Sew up the turning hole by hand using your preferred method. I love the ladder stitch which Flossie Teacakes shows in this tutorial.

And you're done!

These headbands are a great way to use up fabric scraps and such a quick project. I only wish more of my friends and family were fans of headbands like this, because they'd be great to make for presents. As it is, I'll just have to make lots of myself instead - I'm sure I'll cope with that! I hope the tutorial all makes sense - if anything's not clear let me know and I'll try to sort it. I hope you enjoy making them as much as I do!

Scrap stash busting: fabric-covered elastic waspie belt tutorial

Much as I love sewing, it's causing me an increasing problem: scraps! I have an ever-growing fabric stash, but it's pretty much all scraps of many and varying sizes. I decided that it was time to do something about them before they actually take over my entire flat, and with that in mind I'm starting an occasional series of scrap stash busting posts using patterns and tutorials that I've found, or ideas I've come up with myself - mainly to make myself put at least some of that lovely fabric to good use, but if I manage to give anyone else some ideas along the way then that would be great! I'm kicking off the series today with a tutorial I've come up with for this fabric-covered elastic waspie belt (you might have caught a sneak peek of it in my post on my denim Lilou!).

There are many great belt tutorials out there already (such as Tilly's bow belt and A Beautiful Mess's fabric belts), but I have a RTW belt (you can see it in my post about my Winifred dress) that I wanted to recreate and I couldn't find any tutorials that were quite what I wanted, so I decided to make my own. This is a great project for using up long, thin pieces of material (as a guide, the piece I used was 105 cm long x 12 cm wide), and the finished belts are a brilliant way to jazz up a plain outfit.

To make the belt, you'll need basic sewing kit, your material, a belt buckle and elastic the same width as your belt buckle. I got both my buckle and elastic from Tailor Mouse (belt buckle here and elastic here), but there are plenty of other places you can find them.

First, you need to cut your elastic and fabric to size. The best way to do this is to put your elastic round your waist so that it fits snugly but is still comfortable - cut it at this point and measure.

For the fabric, you'll need 1.5 times the length of your fabric (this creates the slightly gathered effect and allows the fabric to move when the elastic stretches), and the width will need to be twice the width of the elastic plus twice the seam allowance you want to use. For example, I cut my elastic at 70 cm, it was 5 cm wide, and I used a 1 cm seam allowance, so my fabric was 105 cm (70 x 1.5) long by 12 cm wide ((5 x 2) + (1 x 2)). If that all sounds a bit complicated, don't worry - it's very simple from here on in!

Once you've cut your fabric, fold it in half, right sides together, so that the two long edges match up and pin in place.

Sew along the long edge using your chosen seam allowance, remembering to back stitch at either end to secure.

Turn the fabric tube right sides out. You might find using a chop stick helpful here.

Press the fabric tube, and at the same time press about 1 cm at either open end under to the inside of the tube.

Put one end of the elastic into the middle of the fabric tube at one open end, and start pushing it through.

When the other end of the elastic reaches the start of the fabric, use a pin to secure it in place underneath the pressed-under edge of the fabric. Then continue pulling the elastic through the tube until it reaches the other end and secure that in the same way.

Take one half of the belt clasp. Pass one end of the fabric/elastic tube through the front of the clasp...

...fold it back on itself to enclose the clasp, then pin to the fabric on the side of the back of the clasp. Making sure that the fabric/elastic isn't twisted, repeat these steps using the other half of the belt clasp and the other end of the fabric/elastic.

Sew the two ends in place - use a zig zag or lightning bolt stitch, and sew a couple of lines close together to secure.

And you're done!

If you've got any questions about making the belt, or anything in the tutorial isn't clear, just ask and I'll try to help. And if you make a belt, I'd love to see it! How's your fabric scrap collection? Have you got any recommendations for my scrap busting project?

How to make a knitted headband

Today I thought I'd share a tutorial of how to make a knitted headband - I improvised the "pattern" myself so, given my limited knitting abilities, it must be simple and it was really quick (this is the project I mentioned in my post about my polo neck top the other week) so it would make a great addition to your winter accessories or with (dare I say it?) Christmas rapidly approaching, it would also be a lovely handmade gift. I added a bow to mine, just because I quite like bows, but you could easily make a plain version too - which would make it even easier and quicker. Here's a photo of the finished headband...

Want to know how I made it? Here we go...

First up, supplies! I used Stylecraft Swift Knit in Viola (I needed less than one skein) and 10 mm needles. You'll also need a darning needle later on.

Cast on 10 stitches, then knit in stocking (stockinette) stitch until the band fits around your head, I knit mine to be 65 cm, but as I've said before, I do have a massive head so don't necessarily use that as a guide!

Cast off, leaving a long end. 

If you want to add the bow, you'll need to knit 2 other pieces...

For the first, cast on 8 stitches and work in stocking stitch until the piece measures about 10 cm - this will be the main part of the bow. For the second, cast on 4 stitches and again work in stocking stitch until the piece measures about 10 cm - this will be the middle piece of the bow. Once you've cast off, weave in the loose ends on these two pieces.

Now to make up the headband! 

Take the main piece of the headband and, using a darning needle, thread the loose end through all of the cast off stitches. Pull the wool through so that the end of the headband gathers up.

Repeat on the other end of the headband, then join the two gathered ends together.

Find the middle of the bow piece and, thread the wool (still attached to the main headband) through to gather up, then match the gathered middle to the gathered join on the headband and secure the two together.

Take the short piece, wrap it round the bow piece and the headband, and secure together at the back. Weave in the loose end.

And you're done!

Depending on how you want your headband to look, you may also want to stitch down the ends of the bow so they don't stick out too much. 

Here's one last picture of me modelling it for you...

I'd love to see any versions that you may make for yourself - happy knitting!

How to make a bow fascinator

One of my favourite things about going to a wedding, aside from getting to catch up with friends or family and generally celebrating the happy occasion of course, is the chance to get dressed up - and for me that has to include some kind of head-wear. I don't know whether it's because I have short hair so can't really experiment with different hairstyles for special occasions, or just because I want to be a bit theatrical sometimes, but a wedding outfit just wouldn't be quite right without a fascinator or hat. They tend to be expensive though, so I've taken to making them myself for the last couple of weddings I've been to, and today I thought I'd share with you how I made this pretty bow fascinator/headband for a wedding that I was at on Friday...

There are probably already other tutorials online for making something similar, but sometimes I find it helps to read things written in a different way, so here's my version:

Start out with 3 rectangles of fabric, one for each bow and one for the 'knot' in the middle. 

My large bow piece measured 35 x 15 cm, the small bow measured 22 x 13 cm, and I ended up cutting the 'knot' down after taking this photo, so in the end it was about 4.5 x 10 cm.

Fold the large bow piece in half, right sides together, and sew down one short edge and down the long edge, then turn right sides out. 

Repeat with the other bow piece and the knot piece.

Take the large bow piece, and fold the ends over so that they meet in the middle, with the finished edge on top:

By hand, sew a loose running stitch down where the two ends join...

Then pull the thread through to gather the material up into a bow shape.

Secure the end of the thread, then repeat the whole process with the smaller bow piece.

Place the two bows on top of each other and secure together with a couple of stitches - this is just to hold them together while you add the 'knot'.

Wrap the 'knot' piece around the middle of the two bows, with the two ends meeting at the back with the finished end on top. You will probably need to cut some length off the raw edge - I prefer to have too much and have to cut some off than not have enough!

Sew the ends of the knot together by hand, and that's the bow finished! Ta da!

Now all you need to do is attach some elastic. I find it's best to just tie the elastic to the right length on your head - that way you can work out just how tight you would like it (and I have a massive head, so if I gave you a measurement based on what I used, it would probably be too big for most people!).

Tie the elastic into a knot, and sew the knot onto the back of the knot on the bow. This doesn't need to be too neat (as you can see, mine definitely isn't!) because you're about to cover it up.

Cut a small piece of felt (other fabric would be fine too, just with felt you don't have to worry about edges fraying) to cover the elastic on the knot and glue on (I used Gutermann creativ HT2)

And you're done!

Here's a picture of me wearing mine at my friend's wedding this weekend.

If you make your own versions, I'd love to see them!