Bend-tastic // DIY Bendable Wire Headband Tutorial

Alright, you’ve caught me. I thought I could beat the festive season this year and successfully churn out a post a day, but it seems in just 4 days the holidays have gotten the better of me. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been making every chance I get, and to prove it here’s the next post of Merry Making 2014, a DIY bendable wire headband tutorial!

This accessory was all the rage last year (especially amongst twee-loving Asians and Blonde tumblr babes) but it seems to have died down in recent months. That doesn’t mean it’s old news though! In anticipation of all the photo booths (and photobombs) at the parties I’m going to attend this year, I made up a couple of these really fun headbands. In case you haven’t encountered them before, they’re essentially a fabric headband with a wire down the middle that lets it be bent into any shape you desire – think Rosie the Riveter but better!. It also facilitates dorky Teletubbies impersonations (between those things and Furbies, I had a very traumatic childhood indeed).

These headbands are great as simple DIY Christmas gifts for groups of girlfriends (or boyfriends if they’re up for it) and are fantastic stash busters! The red polka dot fabric you see in the pictures below are from my Minnie Mouse costume that I blogged about here, and the blue fabric is from this kimono make. Each required only 2.5″ by 42″ of fabric and even then I lobbed off about an inch off the length because it was a little too long. If you want to get in on the action and make one of these beauties then read on below!

DIY Bendable Wire Headband Tutorial 

Materials needed:

Scrap fabric – if you don’t have a single piece of fabric measuring 2.5″ by 42″, simply sew together a few lengths of your scrap fabric, right sides together, to meet the required dimensions (I did this on the red headband which can be seen in the pictures below)

Matching thread

Bendable wire (I got mine from a florist supplies shop)

Directions:

1. Cut your fabric to the required dimensions (2.5″ by 42″). Do cut a longer length if that is your preference.

2. Fold the fabric in half, right sides together, and press.  Cut to taper the ends as shown below.

3. Pin together the raw edges and sew up the sides of the headband using a 5/8″ seam allowance and leaving a gap of about 2″ in the middle of the headband. You can do this by starting at either end of the headband and working towards the middle. This is to facilitate turning the headband right side out later on.

4. Snip horizontally across the tip of the tapered point and trim down the seam allowances to reduce bulk.

5. Turn the headband inside out, using a chopstick or a point turner to get the tapered ends nice and pointy.

6. Press.

7. Insert the wire into the headband through the gap you left in the stitching at the middle of the headband, as shown below.

8. Close up the gap by stitching on the top of the headband.

And tadaaaaa! Your headband is ready to go. What do you guys think? Love it, hate it? I’d love to know!

P.S. Well done if you could match the Teletubbies to the impersonations! Clearly, like me, you are still suffering the lingering effects of Post-Teletubbies Stress Disorder.