DIY Jersey Headbands and Scarves {Guest Blogger Jennifer Winston}

 

 

I’m finally taking a little vacation and a break from blogging but I have some amazing and talented friends that are helping me out this week with some fabulous guest posts.   Jennifer, Amy and Denise have some great projects and ideas to share with you! I’ll be back next Monday, refreshed, relaxed and recharged!

First up is my creative friend Jennifer Winston

Some of you may remember my creative friend Jennifer from last year when she guest posted on the blog and shared her tutorial for making a beautiful book page wreath:

 

 

Jennifer is back today with another amazing DIY tutorial for a DIY jersey headband and scarves.  I am so excited for you guys to see this and Jennifer has made it so easy for us to learn how to make these and give them as gifts as well!

Have a great week friends and now on to Jennifer’s tutorial!

DIY Jersey Headbands and Scarves:

I am always looking for cute ideas for homemade gifts for friends and family. If I cannot find what I am looking for on Pinterest or the blogs of a few talented friends, I usually go shopping. You can get a ton of inspiration while shopping. Looking is free- so get out there and shop for shoes! Um, I mean, look for inspiration (and grab a fabulous pair of shoes should you not be able to resist). This whole post came about one day when I was boutique shopping. I saw this headband/necklace.

 

 

 

I had to buy it….even though it was $12—WHAT?  I was too embarrassed to remove it from the package and measure it…under the watchful eye of the blonde sorority girl working the cash register. And for those of you who know that my cheapness knows few bounds, you may not know that I do, on occasion, get embarrassed of that trait.

I brought it home with full intentions of duplicating this little gem for my daughter and my friends. Oh and myself-of course.

Here is what to do—either raid your t-shirt giveaway pile or run up to Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart and buy some knit fabric

 

 

I did my cutting with a rotary cutter and board. If you don’t do much sewing, you can easily do this with regular scissors. Knit is beautiful because you don’t have to worry about it fraying.

 

 

You do want to make sure that your knit has a fair amount of stretch. I am not going to get into percentages here, but tug it one direction and see how far it stretches and then try the other direction. The one that stretches the most is going to dictate what is usually called “Direction of Stretch”. You want to cut going with the direction of stretch. If you don’t the band will not stretch enough!

 

 

Cut strips of fabric. The total length of the sewn strips needs to be about 144”. If you buy a yard of fabric you will have 36” of length (DUH). The knit fabric I purchased was 60” in width. Knit fabric is doubled on the bolt so you really have 72” when you cut a strip. Cut 2- 72” strips for one necklace/headband. The strips can be ½” – 1” or so in width. I found (after trial and error) that cutting them about an inch wide is best. The smaller pieces are harder to match up and harder to sew; plus the knit will roll a little on the edges.

 

 

 

a little help with the cutting

 

It cost $6.99 per yard; you can make approximately 18 necklace/headband(s) per yard of fabric. The cost to make these is approximately $0.38 each! Beats the heck out of $12, right? If anyone wants to purchase one of my amazing works for $12 I will gladly sell it to you…PLEASE….help me support my Starbucks Latte habit!

You can (as I mentioned previously) do this with an old t-shirt. The measurements stay the same.

 

 

I cut my shirt in the middle because I wanted to use all of the colors on the headband. It left me with a great bottom piece that I sliced to form an eternity scarf. The top piece of shirt I kept to make my daughter a cropped cover-up for her leotards.

 

 

 

 

Simply stitch all of the strips together to form one contiguous loop. If you do not have a sewing machine this can easily be done by hand.

 

 

 

Double the loop (like you would to double a long necklace) until the right size for your necklace or headband. I only have one kiddo, but I am so lucky to know tons of cuties willing to model.

 

 

Seriously, are all of these girls not beautiful??

I am a bit of a packaging/presentation nerd so I made a few up for inspiration. I hope you enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is a little yummy shot of what goes on behind the scenes of my photo staging.

 

 

Thanks, Cyndy, for the opportunity to guest post here! It is so much fun and such an honor to be included with so many talented crafters!

XOXO

Jennifer

Thank you so much Jennifer!  I can’t wait to try these and I’m afraid once I get started, I won’t be able to stop!

I hope you guys have a great week and next up on Wednesday is my friend Amy jumping in with some great tips for us!

Cheers!

Cyndy