This post is a paid collaboration with JOANN. All opinions and ideas are my own.
If you haven’t heard about the Cricut Maker yet, let me be the first to tell you that it’s amazing. Unlike other cutting machines, the Maker is equipped with a tiny rotary blade that allows it to cut fabric. Yes, FABRIC. If you’ve ever spent hours cutting tiny pattern pieces to make doll clothes, or mini hexagons for a quilt, or felt pieces to make animal finger puppets, then you know how tiring cutting by hand can be. In the past, the thought of hand-cutting certain projects has literally prevented me from ever making them.
Enter the Cricut Maker. Not only can it cut, write on, and score paper like the Cricut Explore Air 2, but it can cut fabric with precision and ease. This machine is a dream for any sewist. To prove my point, I showing you how easy it was to make these cute cricut maker headbands using the new Mint Cricut Maker. The new color is available at JOANN.
This project is free is you have Cricut Access. To find it, launch Cricut Design Space and head to Projects>Sewing and search “headband.” The results should look like the image above. I used the project highlighted in the image under the name “Fabric Headband.”
The fabric I used is actually from Cricut as well. At JOANN, you can find precut packets of coordinating fabrics that are already trimmed to fit on your Cricut cutting mat. I’ve had my bundle for a while, so I’m not sure if you can still find it, but there’s plenty of other precut bundles still available at JOANN (here).
DIY Fabric Headbands using the Cricut Maker
Materials:
- fabric cut to 12×24
- Cricut Maker
- Sewing Kit
- Sewing machine, or needle and thread for hand-sewing
- elastic (about 7 inches per headband)
The fabric headband project is ready to be cut as soon as you open it. No alterations were needed. I decided to use three of the fabrics for my headbands. Make sure to remove the selvage edges first so they don’t end up as part of your pattern pieces. Pressing the fabrics with your iron before placing them on your mat is also very helpful.
Once you prep your mat, select “Make” in design space and follow the prompts. I set my material to Fabric / Medium Fabrics.
Design Space will also prompt you to load the correct cutting tools. If you didn’t already have your rotary blade loaded, now would be the time to change it.
And after about one minute of cutting, your headband pieces will be ready to go.
The directions for sewing the headband are included with the project file. Don’t forget to have some elastic on hand. You measure where you want to wear your headband, and subtract 15 inches from that number. That’s how long you want to cut your elastic. Navigate the slider below to see the process photos.
The hardest part was sewing the edges of the headband while having to navigate around the elastic–which was pinned in the middle like a sandwich. It definitely got easier with practice. I decided to slip stitch the open hole closed instead of top stitch the entire thing.
Overall, this is a relatively quick project and a fun way to start using your Cricut Maker.
