Two Old Shirts = Two New Headbands

I'm sure a lot of you have a BUNCH of old t-shirts sitting in the depths of your closet. I know I have a ton from soccer tournaments, summer camps (these are really old), volunteering, and all of that good stuff. Recently, I made a basket of clothes from my closet that have been sitting there for a while and there were a few of these t-shirts in there. I was trying to think of a DIY idea for this post because I haven't had very many ideas lately and had to find something that I could make from things at home. Speaking of which, sorry to those of you who wanted to see the Sharpie mug process. I was did some research and found that sometimes these do not work. I also found some tips that would help them turn out right, but again, I wanted to make this without going to get things and the tips required me to do so.

If you want to try making a Sharpie mug on your own, a blog called Brit + Co. has a very easy tutorial. They have the simple version without the special tips, but it might work. Maybe I will actually end up trying it sometime. If I do, I will be sure to write about it.

Anyways, I remembered seeing ways to make headbands out of old t-shirts on Pinterest and it was the perfect time to make them- I was stuck at home, it was cold and snowy outside (It still is!), and I already had t-shirts to use!

I found an easy no sew headband tutorial online and decided to try it out, along with another one of my own. You need the same things for both- a t-shirt, a hot glue gun, and sharp scissors. Sounds easy, huh? Right! There are a lot of pictures, by the way. Personally, I think they make a tutorial easier to follow.



HEADBAND #1: The Celtic Knot

Take your shirt and cut the hem at the bottom off. Now, cut a loop off from the bottom of the shirt. Mine were about an inch and a half wide, if I remember right.

Pull the loop to stretch it out. This makes it thinner (KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN CUTTING THE LOOP!) and much longer.

If your shirt has a hem along the side, cut that off of each end. You should have two clean strips when you are done.

Take your first string and make a loop.

Take your second string and make a "U" over the looped one. Right now, the "U" should be over both strings of the loop, if that makes sense.

Now take the right strand of the looped string and put it over top of the right side of the "U" string.

Take the left end of your "U" strand and put it behind the loop.

Now, take the right end of your "U" string and put it over the first part of the loop, under the other end of your "U" and over the other side fo the loop.

Tighten the knot you made and turn the good side of each of the strands so they all face the same way. It will look much better when finished.

Put the headband around your head and mark where it fits comfortably with a marker. Cut the strands in half up to your marks.

Tie each of the corresponding strands into knots.

Now, take a square that you cut from the shirt and glue it over the knot to give the headband a clean, finished look. I don't have a picture of this step for this headband, but there is one on the next one if you are stumped.

 And you're all done!

HEADBAND #2: The Four-Strand Braid

Cut two loops from the bottom of your t-shirt this time. I used a new t-shirt to make sure that it would fit around my head, but I ended up cutting a little extra off anyways, so you will probably be fine if your use the same t-shirt as the first headband (if you made it already). Stretch them out, just like the other headband.

Cut the loops into four strands. Glue the ends together with your glue gun.

Now it's time to braid! Separate all four of your strands. If you've never done a four-strand braid before, don't fret! It's super easy once you get the hang of it. Let's say we numbered them 1-4 from left to right.

Take string 1 and 3 and cross them over strings 2 and 4. You should have two separate crosses.

Now, take string 3 and cross it over string 2 (these are the two middle ones).

Repeat the above steps to finish your braid. Make sure you tighten it, or it will look pretty bad. Also, it's much easier to keep the good side facing up while braiding, instead of after. Once you finish the braid, glue the ends together. I put a dot on each strand and did one more step of the braid to finish it off. Also, the very beginning of the braid was super loose, so I cut it off and did the same thing.

Just like on the last headband, measure around your head and mark if you need to. Mine was actually a little bit too short, so I didn't mark it. Now take a square from the t-shirt and glue it on the ends of the braid to finish the headband.

You're done! Now you have two snazzy headbands that are super comfy and cute!

I hope the pictures helped you in the process, even if they are kind of funky because of my phone's camera. I wasn't lying when I said there would be a lot! Sorry about the length of this post. I figured you wouldn't bother to read it all unless you wanted to make the headbands, in which case, you need the instructions. Have fun gettin' crafty!