DIY, lovely hair-things, Part I: braided headband

Well, all is not going as planned for the chictopia adventure. I can't seem to figure out how I'm going to take pictures of my outfits. Ah, well, I'll figure it out. By the way, I'm laying in bed and my beagle girl is under the covers, two blankets, and a pillow. I don't know how she got there, but she managed it pretty well.

Okay, now to what this blog's really about! I have a couple hair clip/headband ideas I'd like to throw out there to the world! The first part of this 3 part series is one that I figured out on my own; there was a girl I know that was trying to raise money so she could go to Nicaragua on a mission trip with our church, so she sold these cute little braided headbands to the girls in our church. I personally didn't buy one (I sort of feel bad for stealing the idea and not helping her out, but.. she still got to go and plenty of girls bought some anyway!), but I did figure out how to make them. Its really simple, and takes about 20 minutes to do. Here's a picture of the finished product, modeled by my awesome friend, Denise!

Items needed for braided headband:

• 1/2 a yard of fabric (it'll be more than enough, but you'll have lots of extra fabric to make more things!) 
• Woven elastic (its generally sold at any crafts store near the fabric section)
• Scissors
• Pins
• A needle
• Thread 

1. For these, you'll need about a 1/2 a yard of fabric, choose any color you'd like, any pattern, anything will look awesome! Then, cut three strips about half an inch thick.
2. Pin the three strips together with one of the two pins at one end of all of the fabric, one on top of the other.
3. You might need someone else's assistance for this next part, or a very heavy book; braid the three pieces of fabric together until you reach the end, then pin the other end of the fabric together with the second pin.
4. Thread the needle with the thread and tie the thread so that it won't slip off of the needle while you are sewing, and then take the strip of woven elastic and place it onto of one end of the pinned together fabric.
5. Start sewing the fabric and elastic together; I like to make lots of loops around the outside of both sides to make sure the fabric and elastic are sewn together well. Also, make sure to get all of the fabric sewn onto the elastic. Then, cut the thread that is connected to the needle (leave enough so that you can tie it in a few knots), and then cut the thread that is still connected to the spool, then tie those two strings together in about four knots.
6. Next, place the braided fabric around the top of your head, like you would a headband, and measure how much elastic you are going to need for the back of the headband around the back of your head. I like to pull it tight so that I know the headband is going to stay on my head while I'm wearing it. Hold the place where you've measured with your finger, and then cut the elastic.
7. Repeat step five on the other side of the fabric.
8. Cut off any excess fabric that may be on the ends after you've sewn on the elastic, and you are good to go! :)

xoxo,
Kristina