Hair Towel Wrap Tutorial

Today’s project is quick and easy.  For a while I have been wanting a new hair towel wrap, the kind that are held in place in the back with a button.  If you don’t know what I mean, one of these bad boys:

Lovely bathroom shot.

I have a towel wrap that I’ve had for over 13 years.  And it was a hand-me-down from my sister, so who knows how old it actually is.  It still works just fine, but the fabric is pretty worn and getting that weird crunchy-towel feeling that doesn’t go away when you wash it.  Gross.

I’ve never actually seen one of these things in a store though, so I knew I had to make one myself.  (Although they probably sell these in beauty supply stores, which I never go to.  But it’s more fun to make something than buy it anyway!)  I had some bright yellow towel fabric that I got a Joann’s a long time ago for another project, so I pulled it out and whipped this up in less than an hour!

Want to make your own?  Here’s what you need:

Towel Fabric:  You can use an old towel or buy fabric at Joann’s.  Or find some clearance towels on a Target end cap.  You just need to have enough fabric to make two pieces that are 27” long and 9 ¾” wide.  (So if you are using old towels that are standard size, you will probably need two.)

Cord:  Or sturdy yarn.  You will need 6 ½”.

Button:  Dig through your stash and find an awesome button to add some flair to your head wrap.

Okay, let’s get started!

First you need to make a pattern for your head wrap.  I used my old one and drew out a pattern on paper, but it is an easy enough shape that you can recreate it on your own.  Here’s what it should look like:

To make your own, draw a straight line that is 27” long.  From the center of that line measure down 9 ¾” and make a mark.  Then draw a curve from that center point up to each end of the long line.  In the picture you can see that the left side is a narrow curve, while the right side is a wide curve, so make sure you draw it out like that.

Once you your pattern cut out, use it to cut out two pieces from your fabric.  Lay your fabric together and pin along the curved side of the fabric.

Then just sew along that curve leaving a ¼" margin.  I sewed a straight line, then went back and sewed a zig-zag in the margin, just to keep it from unraveling and spitting out little towel bits.  Which, by the way, you will get all over the place while you are making this, especially noticeable if you are wearing black sweatpants.

Once you are done with that, lay the wrap down on your work table and open it up, wrong side facing you.  Take your piece of cord, fold it in half and pin it to the narrow point of the wrap.  (Remember, one end has a narrow curve, the other end a wide curve.  Pin it to the narrow end.)

Make sure you pin it right where the two sides meet.  Sew that down.

Next you need to hem the whole outer edge.  To make sure you don’t have any loose ends showing, fold the edge over slightly, then fold it again and pin it down.

Pin the whole way around and then sew it down.  I used the zig-zag stitch again so that the edge would lay nice and flat.  The cord should also be folded down, just sew right on over that.

Then just fold it back up and stitch it in place.

And just ignore the wonkiness, it looks fine even if it isn't perfectly straight.  The finished end should look like this:

Almost done!  Just take your button and hand stitch to the other end of the towel, on the wide curved end right where the two fabric’s meet.

And that’s it! 

You are done and ready to rock that head wrap!

Yes I know I’m awesome.  Here’s a shot of the back:

Now I have nice soft and fluffy new hair wrap!  This is a great project for beginner sewers, nice and easy!  I hope you try it out!  Thanks for reading!