Pleated Headband Tutorial

Today I want to show you how to make a pleated headband like the one shown above!  This will be my first tutorial so please let me know if you have questions!  So many of the bloggers out there do such a good job at detailed tutorials and I hope I can live up to them! 

First you want to cut out a piece of fabric measuring 16 X 4.5 inches.  This is a great project to use up any of the scrap fabric you have laying around! 

Next, cut out a piece of fusible interfacing.  I used Pellon Wonder Under. (this step isn't a must, but it makes the headband more stable)  The pellon should be about 1/2 in smaller on each side than the fabric.  Now you want to iron the interfacing onto the back side of your fabric.

Once the interfacing is ironed on securely, peel of the paper backing.  Now you want to fold over the short edges of your fabric and iron those flat to make sewing them down easier.

Now, sew a straight line across the edge that you folded over.

Then fold your piece of fabric in half lengthwise where the two front sides are touching and sew a straight line down the side.

Once you have done this, your piece of fabric should look like this:

Now, you want to turn it inside out so the front side of the fabric is facing out.  Use either your fingers or a safety pin to do this.

Once you have turned it all the way inside out, iron it flat and the fusible interfacing will fuse together and give you a nice sturdy piece of fabric.

Now, you are ready for the pleats!  Starting at one end about 2 inches in, lift up the fabric and fold it towards the end you are closest too.  Depending on how many pleats you want you can adjust the measurements accordingly.  I just kind of eyeball it to make the pleats even.  Continue folding these pleats until you reach the end of your fabric.

Once you have all of them folded, iron over the whole thing so it will hold in place better while you are sewing it together.



Now you are ready to sew.  I like to use the zigzag stitch on mine to give it a little something extra, but feel free to use any stitch you may want!  Simply sew right down the middle of the pleated fabric making sure to sew where the pleat flaps are facing you so they don't get caught up in the needle.



It will look like this:

You are almost done!  Now you just need to sew or hot glue on some buttons on one of the ends, and hot glue a thin elastic headband to the back.  (Note: don't stretch out the headband to glue and I usually glue mine over to the side so it can be worn on your head off to the side.)

And now you are ready to wear your fabulous handmade headband!



If you aren't into the whole crafting thing, I will be adding some of these to my Etsy shop soon!

Happy Sewing!

Ashley