Friday, April 3, 2020

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? I'm Not a Hoarder, I'm Well-Prepared!

Hi, all!

Have you checked your calendar lately?  Yes, it's actually Friday - even though the days seem to run together, don't they!  And that means it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on - are you ready?  Let's get started!!

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First things first - today is this beautiful girl's eighth birthday!  Certainly a strange time to celebrate it, but celebrate it we will. She's got her mom making her homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, Lilli has worked out a special outfit, hair and makeup for her for the day, and Nancy raided my craft stash to get all kinds of things to decorate the house to make it a very special day.  So let's give her a big whoop whoop!

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And next, on the sewing front - Thursday morning a friend texted me this picture and asked if I could make her 35 of them.  Well, ordinarily, no problem - I could go to Walmart, pick up ready-made headbands, and easily add the buttons.  Or I could go to Joann's, buy some knit fabric, make the headbands and add buttons.  But these aren't ordinary times, are they?  So I did some digging around on the internet, found a few video tutorials that I watched, and started looking through the stash.  

One of the many huge tubs I hauled upstairs to my quilt studio contained pieces left over from all the t-shirt quilts I have made in the past few years.  Aha!  T-shirt material is knit fabric!  So I pulled some out and measured - yes!  I can get two headbands out of a wide shirt back.  Hooray!  And here's what I ended up with...


The nurses say that these help them, because their ears are getting raw from the elastic behind them.  This way, all the pressure is on the button and none on their ear!  In case you want to make some of your own, here's a quickie tutorial...


Start with a piece of fabric around 7.5" x 21".  I think you could do it slightly shorter than that, but this is the size I used.  


Fold it in half lengthwise, and starting about 1-1.5" from the end of the strip, stitch the full length, stopping about 1-1.5" from the other end.  I suggest backstitching at beginning and end.


Turn the tube right side out.


Match up the right sides of each end of the tube, and stitch them together all the way across.  (I only pinned here to show you what I was doing - I just held it together and stitched.)  Be sure to backstitch at both ends of your seam.


Here's what it looks like after stitching.  Pull the sides of the hair band and the seam will pull to the inside.


Now take the opening, be sure that there is 1/4" on each edge turned inside, and pin the opening shut.  


Stitch very close to the edge, being sure that you have caught the edges on both sides in the stitching. Backstitch at the beginning and end of your stitching.


You can see the stitching here.  Yes, it shows, but it will be against the head under the hair, so it won't show when worn.


Now take the headband and center the long seam all the way around.  Centering the cross seam, press the headband so that the edges are sharp and so that you have a crease on each end.


Using the crease as a marker, lay a large button (I used 1-inch buttons from my stash) centered on the crease.   You can use the zigzag stitch on your sewing machine to sew the buttons on quickly and securely.  Drop the feed dogs, take off the foot, and roll the needle down by hand into the first hole.  DROP THE PRESSER FOOT!  (It makes a huge mess if you don't - don't ask me how I know...)  Hand crank the needle up and see if the stitch width is correct to move it into the next hole.  If not, adjust it as needed.  Once you have the correct width, hold the button down and stitch across 5-6 times for a 4-hole button, 10-12 times for a 2-hole button.  If you are using a 4-hole button, lift the presser foot, slide the button up slightly, and using the wheel, crank the needle down to be sure it goes into the hole properly.  Repeat the process to sew in those holes.   Repeat on the other side of the headband.


Tie the loose threads top and bottom and cut them off close.  Add a dot of fray check if you want.


And voila!  You have a very comfortable nurse's headband!  Super simple, and they go very quickly in production line fashion.  I cut out 35, stitched all the tubes, then turned them right side out, and then stitched the closure.  Now all I have to do is dig through my button box....


...to find 35 sets of matching 1" buttons.  I don't think I'm likely to run out of buttons, do you?

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

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And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?


What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah



16 comments:

  1. Happy birthday to the beautiful little lady! Clever idea, these headbands

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  2. Phew, I though I had so many buttons but I would be a sad loser in the race if you came first!!! A great way to save all those pressure points, and I do merino neck warmers in a similar way. Great way to use knit fabric too.

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  3. Happy Birthday to a beautiful little lady indeed! Remember when she was born. I am passing your tutorial on to my guild members - the elastic rubbing has been a problem.

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  4. Good idea! We are coming in to new times!

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  5. That headband idea is brilliant, thanks for the tutorial!!

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  6. What a great idea! Thanks for writing up your tutorial. I've already shared your mask tute with several people, including my brother! He's never been a crafter, but he asked for advice on buying a sewing machine to make masks and I'm just SO PROUD of him :)

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  7. I love that mask modification! Thank you so much for the tutorial! My button stash does not match yours, and my headbands likely will not have matching buttons, but like you, I do have more than enough T-shirt quilt leftovers!!! Plus, T-shirts and pillowcases have been shown to block the highest percentage of germs. With a little non-woven interfacing, they block about 99%!!!

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  8. Thank you for the headband tutorial! Many ears will be feeling a lot safer!
    Happy Birthday to Lilli! She is really a lovely girl and I hope her day is full of fun and some delicious things. We are celebrating here as well as my hubby's birthday is today. Mine's in 2 weeks. Tell Lilli that good people were born in April :-)

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  9. This is AWESOME!!! I haven't made masks yet, but it will be nice to have headbands to go with them (once I finally get around to making some.)

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  10. Thanks for the tutorial on headbands. Great idea!

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  11. I love this idea! Thanks for the tutorial!

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  12. Happy birthday to Lilli! Thanks for the headband tutorial. That face mask elastic does rub the ears, especially if you already have glasses arms resting there too. 'Will sew myself a headband for sure.

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  13. I cannot believe the princess is 8 years old. You don't seem to have aged a bit during those years. Thanks for the tutorial on the headband. I never would have thought of it.

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  14. Admin I like this article.I was searching over search engines and found your blog site.I like your good blog site..keep doing it.

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  15. I've been wondering what those headbands people are talking about, look like. Thanks.

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  16. I will definitely make these headbands for the nurses who took care of me recently!!!

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Comments make me smile!! If you want a PDF of a pattern, PLEASE leave your email address in your comment, or email me directly at salliesue57 (at) gmail (dot) com!