Ribbon Headband Tutorial

This morning I wanted to try making a headband with a row of gathered ribbon glued to it, so I cut a couple of yards of a wide ribbon and ran it through the sewing machine with a long basting stitch. When I pulled up the thread to gather the ribbon, it started curling and swirling in such a pretty way, I glued it down just as it was rather than straightening out the gathers as I had planned to do. It was such a happy accident.

I used a fairly soft ribbon with a fairly loose weave and it is about 1-1/2" inches wide. I don't know how it would work with other types of ribbon. If you try it, I'd love to see the results! Since this was so fun to make, I wrote up a tutorial and I listed a DIY kit on etsy. Cool, huh.

The “I Could Make That” Curly Ribbon Headband Kit Tutorial

Kit Supplies:

Headband

2 yards of ribbon (I used 1-1/2" wide, striped ribbon)

Needle

Thread

 This clear and concise list of instructions

Additional Supplies:

Glue gun

Matches

1. Seal the ends of the ribbon with a match by quickly passing the flame along the cut edges.

2. By hand or by machine, do a gathering stitch in the center of the ribbon along the full length of the ribbon. On the machine, use the longest stitch length. By hand, keep the stitches about 1/8” long.

3. Pull the gathering stitch until the length of ribbon measures 12 inches. Do NOT try to flatten out the ribbon as you pull the gathering stitch, rather let the ribbon naturally curl around and onto itself as it pleases. Knot the ends of your gathering thread.

4. Arrange the gathered ribbon evenly.

5. Starting at the top center of the headband and working about 1” at a time, apply hot glue to the top of the headband and gently press the curly, gathered ribbon into place. Continue to glue and press until all of the ribbon is attached.

6. Trim any hanging threads.

7. Put the headband in your hair and go admire your handiwork in the mirror. Aren’t you an amazing crafter!