When I was over at Bianca's house and she was showing me all her upcycled clothes, she showed me a headband made out of socks that was just so cute, the idea so terrific and original, that I asked her if she minded if I "stole" the idea and posted it on my blog. Today's post is inspired by Bianca; I took her idea and ran with it! (In case you were wondering, Bianca does plan on starting a blog to share these creations of hers, and when she does, I'll share the link.)
Bianca's headband was made out of loops cut out of old socks, which were then tied together with some strings hanging down and then put onto a string, also made out of loops of old socks, which was then tied on as a headband.
While it looked quite nice on Bianca, in my opinion, tied as an accessory to a scarf... (Yes, that's the famous Bianca, surrounded by some of her upcycled outfits)...
...It looked quite ridiculous on Anneliese. See? Even she agrees.
I decided to take the idea and change it up a bit, using more colorful socks, and making it more bow-like instead of pompom-like, in the hopes that it would look cuter on a little girl. The experiment was a success- I think it looks terrific on a little girl baby like Anneliese.
I borrowed a neighbor's kid to see if this headband would look cute on her as well, even though she was older and had longer hair; it certainly did!
So, how do you make it?
Its very easy.
Takes under 5 minutes.
Seriously.
And the only equipment is scissors and a pair of socks, the more colorful, the better.
Instructions:
1. Lay your socks out.
2. Cut loops about a centimeter wide. Toss any loops that have holes from where the sock was worn through.
3. Stretch your sock loops. They should now look like this.
4. Attach two loops together to start with. To do that, first lay the two loops next to each other.
5. Put the right loop slightly on top of the left loop.
6. Pull the left part of the right loop under the right part of the left loop.
7. Pull the left part of the right loop through the right loop by pulling it over the right side of the right loop.
8. Pull the left loop and the right loop tightly away from each other, until you get something that looks like this. Repeat this to add at least 3, 4, or more loops to this chain of loops.
9. Pile 8-15 loops on top of each other, more or less depending on the thickness of the socks, and how full you want the bow to look. I used 12 for the one pictured, but also made another one for the neighbor with 8.
10. Take your chain of loops and wrap them around the middle of your pile of loops.
11. Make a single knot.
12. Wrap around once or twice more to make the middle of the bow thicker, then tie again.
14. Now you have your bow! To wear it, just tie the strings around your head, or around your kid's head.
Voila!
Variations:
You don't just have to use this as a headband. You can make the bow and then attach it to a pony tail holder or to a barrette. I'm sure you can also use it as an embellishment on clothes, or add them as decoration to the front of plain ballet flats.
If you want to make this more grown up friendly, make this from solid colored socks, and then glue something into the middle, like a button or a rhinestone, as an embellishment.
Have you ever made something out of old socks? Do your kids or you wear headbands? Does this seem like something you can see yourself making or your kids wearing? Does this seem easy enough?
Linking up to Craft Schooling Sunday, Simple Lives Thursday
Tags
babies
clothes
cutting clothing costs
don't throw that out
kids
no sew
recycling
simple solutions
upcycling