How to: Sew a Wire Headband

As you might have guessed, I'm still trying to find ways to use up my stash of fabric remnants. It's pretty hard to come up with ways to use oddly shaped remnants - especially those really long, thin pieces that you end up with at the end of pretty much every sewing project. Yet, when it's a fabric I love, I'll still find myself holding onto any remnant, no matter how big or small. This is a great stash buster for long, thin remnants, and is also super fun to wear!

You might recognise the fabric I used here. It's my vintage white and navy check that I have been obsessed with. I'm trying to make the most out of all of my remnants, because this fabric was truly one of a kind. You can use any type of fabric for this project, as long as it has zero stretch. I recommend cotton and linen, although you could try other types of non stretch fabric.

You'll need to cut your fabric into a long, thin rectangle, which comfortably fits around your head (think about how you want it to lie). Remember that you'll also need to add a few centimetres of extra length so that you can tie your headband. My rectangle measured 85cm (33.5") long, and was 8cm (3.2") wide.

Fold your rectangle in half (right sides facing), so that the long sides meet. Press along this fold. To give your headband pointed ends, cut a 45 degree angle at both ends of the folded fabric.

*At this point your fabric should be right sides together, the opposite of this*

Leaving a 1cm seam allowance, sew along the open side of your fabric, leaving one of the pointed ends open for turning out. Turning out will be quite fiddly, so take your time, and use a long knitting needle to help you.

Now you can insert your wire inside your headband. You can use craft wire, but garden wire is just as good. I picked up 20m for just over £2, which works out at a lot of these headbands. Cut your wire to size, and then wrap the ends in masking tape, or washi tape, to prevent it from poking through your fabric, or from rubbing against your head. Thread the wire through the gap in your fabric, and feed it all the way around.

Close up your hole by folding the edges in and stitching over the top of them. At this point, I decided to add a top stitch around my headband - I like top stitching as it adds a neat finish to any project, and is a nice handmade touch. If you decide to do so, be careful not to stitch into the wire inside your headband - your sewing machine won't thank you for that!

When you've finished sewing, take a gratuitous selfie. Et Voila! C'est fini!

I actually used to wear a lot more headbands when I had shorter hair, but since growing it out, I find hair accessories harder to wear in general. However, anything that keeps my hair out of my face in this sweltering weather is much appreciated. The fact that I get a 50's vibe from this headband is a nice added bonus.

Let me know if you try this! Do you have any ways of using up odd shaped remnants?