convertible bow headband

my baby just turned 2 & still barely has enough hair for a hairbow to stay clipped in- and trust me i have tried lots of different kinds of clips! so i came up with a little headband that bows can be clipped to so that she can still wear them! here's how to make it:

convertible bow headband

you will need:
-a strip of elastic band that fits the child's head [measure it around your kiddo]
-a strip of fabric 2 or 3 inches wide and roughly twice as long as your elastic
-a 2" piece of grosgrain ribbon

step 1:
cut out all your pieces. take your strip of fabric & iron down a little seam on each side of the fabric.

step 2:

fold the fabric in half so that the folds are touching wrong side to wrong side, & iron it again so you have a long tube.

step 3:

sew down the 2 folds together so that there is one long seam [sew as close to the edge as you can without falling off!]

step 4:

use a safety pin to guide your elastic through the fabric tube. holding onto one end of the elastic, scrunch up the tube onto the elastic- so that you can hold both ends. this definitely takes 2 hands & was impossible to get a picture of! here is the sewn fabric 'tube' & the elastic ready to go in:

step 5:

sew the two ends of the elastic together [it helps to keep using that safety pin! careful not to let your tube slip away from you]. then fold under one end of the fabric tube, place the other end inside it, and stitch that fold down. you want the elastic to stay in the tube without showing!

step 6:

fold the ribbon around the headband right side to right side & stitch the ends together. then gently flip it over so that it makes a nice looking loop around your headband [a crochet hook helps with this part!]

and presto!

now you have a headband with a loop that all your hairbows can clip into! almost anything will clip right onto the little loop: big hairclips, little tiny bow clippies, hair flowers, even anything on a bobby pin!

here's my sassy little stinker wearing hers at christmas with a cream bow clipped on:

and since it was red & white, we totally will be re-using it for valentine's!