Headband For Face Mask Sewing Tutorial

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I hope one day this will just be a cute headband tutorial, but for the foreseeable future, mask seem to be our way of life. I know that many are required to wear mask for most of their day, so I’ll show you how to make this headband for face mask, which I hope will make your mask wearing time much more comfortable.

I love that sewing gives me a way to help my family and others creatively. When my husband mentioned something in passing about the ladies at his work would love something to help make wearing their mask a little more comfortable, I was excited to find a way to help. I got to work and came up with this pattern/ tutorial. Since I knew I had several to make, I tried to keep the pattern simple while still wanting it to look as nice and professional as possible. As a result, I hope this tutorial will be an easy sewing project for beginners.

I tried to take lots of pictures to explain along the way and even did a video on making the pleat, something that I know that I haven’t done a lot either. If you have any questions aboutthe process please let me know. I know a lot of people are sewing for the first time these days, so I’m glad to share what I know and help.

Just as a note since I was making these for a group of people I had to guess at the size and tried to go with a measurement I felt would be a safe guess for everyone. It turned out that these did fit everyone ok, but feel free to adjust the pattern to fit you more comfortably by changing the length of your fabric. You will still be able to use the same method for putting it together.

What You Need:

• One Fat Quarter or 1/4 of a yard of fabric
• 2 buttons
• 1 inch elastic
• Sewing machine
• Erasable fabric pen
• Needle, Thread and basic sewing supplies

Directions:

Cut your fabric into 1- 18in x 6.5in, 1- 10in x 3in pieces and your elastic to 5 in.

Press the short end of your 10in x 3in piece to the inside by 1/2in (wrong sides will be touching.)

This next part is optional, but I like to press all of my pieces the way they need to be sewn. When I first started learning how to sew I remember how frustrated I would get trying to sew something like a hem or match up two sides of the fabric. My folded fabric, despite my best effort and a million pins, would continue to twist and my stitches wouldn’t necessarily catch all the fabric it was supposed too. My Mother in Law wisely instructed me to go iron it first. Having everything in place before I went to sew made a world of difference. So, on projects like this, instead of pinning, I usually just iron it where I want it to be. But, this is just what works for me, feel free to pin in place.

With both rectangle pieces of fabric folded in half, right sides together, sew 1/4in from the edge on the long size.

Now there is no easy way to do this next step, you need to turn your fabric to the right side. It is a delicate balance of push, pull and tug to get it flipped, but you can do it!

I hate to iron, hate, hate, but when it comes to sewing or quilting I actually enjoy it. Doing a little pressing helps a project come to life. I feel like it gives much more professional looking results. So, if you are meticulous like me, happily press your little rectangular tubes after flipping. If I sound annoying skip this and move to the next step.

Feed your elastic through your smaller tube. I use a safety pin to help feed it through, and then pin it in place on both ends, leaving the elastic sticking out an inch on each side.

For your larger piece to fit inside your smaller band piece, we need to get it down to one inch in width. You could gather it and do that if want, but I found it easier just to make a pleat.

To do this I folded my fabric in half and marked it. I made a mark one inch from the center mark on each side. To form the pleat, I folded the fabric so that my side lines matched up with my center line, pinned and pressed, then I did the same thing to the other side. I also made a video of me showing how to make a pleat for this specific headband.

Once you have your pleat formed you can attach it to the elastic. I marked the elastic one inch from the edge and lined the end of my fabric up with that line. Then I marked my fabric 1/2 inch from the fabric edge as my sewing line. Marking it is an extra step that might make it easier for beginners, but you don’t have to do that. You can just pin your fabric to the elastic. I used the generous seam allowances (1 inch of fabric, sewn 1/2 inch down) because it gave me room to attach the elastic to the fabric in two place, it would allow me to adjust if it didn’t fit the recipient quite right and as a bonus if you are new to sewing is having a bonus is helpful.

Sew 1/2 from the edge attaching the elastic and fabric. Sew back and forth over your line several times to make sure it is good and secure.

Once you have it attached, slide the smaller tube over the ends of the larger piece covering the elastic. I just barely covered the elastic though, because I wanted to stitch the elastic into my top stitching as an extra way to secure it.

Once you have everything lined up, sew (top stitch) to secure all of the layers together. Again sew several times over this line to make sure it is secured.

To add your button, you need to do is mark 1 1/2 inches from where the two pieces are sewn together to attach your button. Sew your button on each side of the headband.

You want the buttons to be a little loose, so that the mask can attach to it. I do this by tucking a toothpick between my button and fabric to space it out a little. After I have sewn through the button holes, I come back up through my fabric, remove the toothpick and use my needle to wrap my thread around the threads that attach my button, the thread part underneath the button. I then run the needle through the center of that wrap and come back out the underside of the fabric and knot my thread to secure. Now that I’m typing it, it sounds clear as mud, so please let me know if you have any questions or if I should do a video showing my technique for sewing on a button.

Your headband is finished!

Maybe one day these buttons with just be a decorative touch, but until then I hope this makes your mask wearing a little more stylish and comfortable.

If you decide to make this headband for a face mask I would love to see it or hear what you thought. Leave a comment or join my Facebook group: Life After Laundry- Creative Ideas for DIY Living. I regularly share more tips and tricks for sewing and DIY Living on there and would love to have you join the conversation.

Is there something you would like to learn how to sew? Let me know I would love to come up with a project or tutorial to help.

Additional Sewing Tutorials:

Here are some other tutorials you might find helpful during this new time in our lives: 3 Ways to Take in the Waist of Pants, Make a Cute Skirt Out of Kids Old Jeans, Easy Unpaper Towels.