Quick Crafts: Knotted Hair Ties

Sometimes you just want to sew, yet don't want to embark on a massive project that will probably end up unfinished in a pile with all of your other WIP's when you've run out of momentum. That was my mood when I sat down to make these cute little hair ties. With a box full of scraps that also needed using up, I decided to start with a small, manageable project. The fact that these hair ties are also useful is a huge bonus.

To make these hair ties, you will need: a sewing machine, an iron, pins, a pencil, scissors, a hair tie and two pieces of fabric approx 4.5" x 2".

To begin, take your two strips of fabric and place them right sides together, pinning them in place. You should have the reverse of one of the fabric pieces facing you. On this, draw with your pencil an elongated, squashed 8 shape with the middle slightly flattened out. This will become the part you tie on to your hair band, so make sure this middle part is about an inch long.

Once you have your shape, cut both pieces out and sew them together with the right sides still facing together with a 1/4" seam allowance, making sure you leave a gap of about an inch to turn it right side out.

Once you've finished sewing, cut notches into the excess seam allowance to reduce bulk and help shape the curves when you turn the fabric right sides out.

Pulling the fabric through the hole you left when sewing, turn the fabric right side out. Use your iron to press this in place, taking care to smooth out your curves.

Now that you have your shape, you need to top stitch along the outer edge of your squashed 8 shape, closing the gap in the process. Once you've finished, simply tie it on to your hairband.

The finished knotted bow is approx 4" x 4" and can be attached to whatever sized elastic hairband you wish.

We had great fun making these and the results are so pretty. We managed reduce my scrap pile quite a lot, which, coupled with the fact that these are so useful was doubly satisfying.

I hope you have lots of fun making these and I'd love to see your variations. Please tag me in any photos on Facebook and Instagram using #CassandraConnolly or @cass_connolly