Headbands

My little ape baby is our last. When I found out she was a girl I was thrilled. We did everything girly! She had her first manicure at 8days old. She never went without a headband until she was old enough to rip it off. I love having a girl to spoil again!

When ape baby was first born I had a hard time finding headbands that fit her. Even the smallest ones I could find at the stores were too big. They were always falling into her face.

Heaven forbid she be without a headband and cute bow! So I went on a search for the perfect headband. Someone told me to try nylon. Now I going to admit something very embarrassing...I couldn't find any! I went to Joann's fabric and asked the lady if they carried nylon. It never occurred to me in reference to "nylon" she meant nylons you wear to church. LOL The very nice lady at Joann's must have had a good chuckle over that one! After asking what I needed it for she explained what I needed and directed me across town to Wal-mart.

So for all those new moms out there (thinking of you Maureen), I thought I would explain how to make the ultimate newborn headband.

Buy some good quality nylons. I like the microfiber tights, they are thicker and don't pell.

You start by cutting a 3-5 inch strip then a smaller 0.5-1 inch strip off one leg. The 3-5inch strip will roll up as you stretch it out shrinking the size of the band.

Then you take the smaller strip and wrap it around the large band adhering the ends of the little strip with a dab of hot glue or E-6000, or you can hand stitch it. You want to be able to stick no more than a pinky finger in the little band so you may have to wrap in around it self a bit (this is to help provide a gathering point on the band so make sure it isn't too loose). Then you are left with the perfect headband for tiny heads! Plus you have plenty more material to make them for all your friends or have a back up or ten.

These are my most recent faves! My husband thinks they look slightly like a garter, but I personally love them.

I found some of this stuff in the fabric department at Hobby Lobby. It has an elastic middle.

I measure it directly around my babies head and cut it. I have also recently made one for an order that I had measurements for the babies head and subtracted an inch which work perfectly.

You can hand sew it together but I had my machine out so I just did a few stitches as seen here on the lower right side of the picture.

You can finish these off with a little ribbon to clip your bows/flowers on to hide your seam, but I am lazy and hide the seam with the flower clipped directly over the seem.
Hope this is comprehensive. Happy crafting!