a few more

I think my girl should be set for a while... I'm no expert, but for those of you who asked, here are my tips if your going to make your own:

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1. Don't use the lightweight clear plastic elastic.

Although it seems like a great option, the benefits of the lightweight quality don't outweigh the PAIN IN THE NECK it is to work with. There's probably a special way to use it, but despite all my various attempts, I gave up on it. It tears really easy when you stretch it while you're sewing it on. In the end, I stuck with regular elastic. It's more bulky, but much easier to use.

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2. Make a template

I just put an inch long piece of elastic in the back of the headband because I like the smooth look around the rest of the headband. Because of that, there's not a lot of stretch in the headband. I had to be pretty exact on the length the ribbon, the length of the elastic, and how much I stretched the elastic when I sewed it otherwise it was either too big or too tight on her head. I had a ribbon that measured the circumference of her head, and then cut each ribbon I was going to use one inch longer. The elastic was one inch long, and I stretched it to double it's size when I sewed it on.

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3. Use Fray Check

Before I sewed the two ends of the ribbon together to make the headband, I used fray check on the ends so that I didn't have to sew seams or have fraying edges. Since I was sewing the elastic over the seam, the fray check was sufficient.

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Nancy, I found an easy way to make my own headbands. I put fray check on the ends of the ribbon, and sewed two pieces cut from a flat hair elastic that I bought at Target. They're just regular hair elastics, but they're flat. You could probably just do the same thing with regular elastic, but I think these look nicer. They work well for the headbands, and make it super easy to do. This took me 5 minutes- tops.

One of the pieces is shorter than the other. When I wear the headband, the longer side is closer to the back of my neck. That helps the headband lay flat on my head. Good luck!