DIY Fold Over Elastic Hair Ties & Headbands

I met Janine a couple of years ago.  She runs a lovely online ribbon & craft store called Sarah Lauren. I said to Janine one time, “You should do tutorials!” And here we are. She is sharing how to make your own fold over elastic hair ties. These particular hair bands are the best and hold the hair tight.   They also don’t damage the hair.   With three girls in my house who often misplace hairbands, having a big stash available is essential. 

Tutorial by Janine from Sarah Lauren

You may notice Fold Over Elastic (FOE) Hair ties popping up in a lot of department stores.   They are expensive to buy but are very cheap and easy to make yourself.  I’ll show you how to make make them so you always have an ample supply available.

Materials

Fold Over Elastic (check out a great range of plain and decorative fold over elastic here)
Scissors
Tape measure
Tealight candle or lighter

Sizes

• For a small fold over elastic hair tie you will need approximately 23cm
• For a medium fold over elastic hair tie you will need approximately 26cm
• For a fold over elastic youth headband you will need approximately 40cm
• For a fold over elastic adult headband you will need approximately 46cm

Instructions

There are only two steps to do here:

1. Take the 2 ends of your elastic and match the edges together.  Tie the ends in a side knot as close to the end as possible. A side knot is essentially tying a simple knot with both ends together (as shown below). You can also vary the knots to give a different look. An overhand knot (the knot most people use all the time: tying the two sides of the elastic together) also works well.

Note: Hair ties made using an overhand knot will be approximately 1cm larger when folded.

Tip: Pull the knot tight and it’s not likely to come undone.

2. Trim the edges to neaten if they are not even. Then run the cut edges past the tealight candle flame to heat seal them. This melts the elastic, just enough to prevent fraying.

Cardboard Display

If you wish to make cardboard display cards for your FOE hair ties use the following measurements:

• Small hair tie 7.5cm x 10 cm
• Medium hair tie 8.5 x 10cm
• Youth Headband 15cm x 4cm
• Adult Headband 19cm x 4cm

The hair tie cards will hold 4 FOE hair ties and the headband cards will hold 1.

And done! So quick and easy.

Use for 

These hair ties are great for:

• Personal use
• Sporing teams (they hold hair firmly and you can match them with the uniform)
• End of year gifts
• School fetes
• Fundraising
• Teacher gifts
• Craft stalls
• Christmas concert or theme
• A child can even start a business making them for family, friends and neighbours 

About Janine

Janine is mother to 2 daughters and loves all things crafty and ribbons.  See more of her wonderful craft supplies at Sarah Lauren.