Upcycled Braided Hair Band Tutorial

When it comes to comfort, I love my old scruffy T-shirts.  The older they are, the scruffier they are, the softer they are.  But when the neckline of one particularly scruffy T-shirt got looser and looser...... it was time to say goodbye to it:

Scruffy old T-shirt

Usually, such T-shirts end up as a rag in my house.  But I wanted to try something different this time and I started to upcycle it into a hair band for myself!

Step 1:
Cut 5 strips of about 1 inch in width.  The T-shirt material doesn't fray, so there's no need to serge the edges.

Cutting strips of T-shirt

 Step 2:
Lay the ends of the 5 strips together and stitch (by hand or machine) them together securely

5 strips stitched together

Step 3:
Stretch each strip lengthwise so that the edges curl up, then proceed to do a 5-strand braid.  See here for instructions and lovely braided hair bands!

5-strand braid

Step 4:
Stitch the ends together after braiding the required length, it doesn't have to be neat as it'll be covered up with another scrap piece of fabric.  Ta-daa!  And here's the completed product:

Upcycled braided hair band

Lessons learnt from my first braided hair band?

1. Measure the length braid smaller as there is some stretch in the braid.  Mine was a little loose.... 
2. Stitches at the start and end of the braid should be secure but need not be neat.  Any ugly stitches will be covered at the end
3. Old T-shirts make really comfy hair bands! :)