For me, 2018 was all about making pretty Rag Rug Bouquets (seriously, I got well and truly addicted). Well, 2019 is the year of the Rag Rug Headband. I’ve been playing around with making rag rug headbands for quite a few years now (in fact, I think I made my first one in 2006!), but I’ve never truly sat down and explored just how far it can be pushed and what variations can be made. Well, the Ragged Life team and I have been having a real play around and we’re super chuffed with the end result. Here are a few of our creations:

The Original Rag Rug Headband:

This original rag rug headband is only rag rugged in the traditional shaggy technique, using a mixture of plain and patterned cottons. It even has the odd few pieces of beautiful Liberty print included!

Rag Rug Rainbow Headbands:

These jolly rainbow headbands are bound to bring a smile to your face. The astute amongst you may notice that the two headbands are slightly different. The top headband has a longer section of red rag rugging on the far right, where as the second headband is completely rag rugged using the same length pieces. Both look great and I’d be proud to rock either to Pride.

Pink Punk Rag Rug Headband:

After the first couple of headbands, things started to get a little bit more alternative… or in this case… punk vibes. This headband was made using light voile and metallic fabrics. Leaving in the beaded tassles on the edging of the pink scarf worked particularly well for the final design. In the name of getting into character, I even back brushed my hair before photographing this headband. If that ain’t dedication to the cause, then I don’t know what is 🙂

Poinsettia Christmas Headband:

I’m a sucker for a good seasonal make, so it got me thinking whether we could achieve a Christmas-inspired headband. This is the end result. The red flower is supposed to represent a poinsettia, whilst the green is holly with the odd berry in. I was particularly pleased by how the green velour caught the light and tubed up to create gorgeous texture.

Here you can see the little berries in the “holly” of the headband.

My Christmas headband

Rag Rug Flower Crown:

There’s still some work to be done on this one, but we wanted to see whether you could create a sort of bohemian bridal-style flower crown using floaty, longer pieces of fabric. I’m not sure that we quite nailed the colour combo (although it goes quite nicely with my dress), but I think it shows a lot of promise and you can watch this space for further creations.

I don’t know why, but this felt like a lying down photography opportunity.

Here you can see the flower in the centre of the crown a little bit better. We used a little bit of loopy rag rugging in the centre of the flower to create contrast, although it did get a bit swamped by the shaggy pieces.

Pretty in Pink Rag Rug Headband:

This headband is my colleague Sany’s absolute favourite (in fact, she looks much better in it than I do!) The pieces of fabric are about 3cm in length, which creates a wonderfully compact yet full look. So. Much. Fun.

Right, those are a few of the headbands that we’ve made so far, but why have I absolutely fallen in love with this project?

What makes rag rug headbands so great?

• They’re easy to make. All you need to know is the basic shaggy rag rug technique, which is the easiest technique to master. See it in action here.
• They’re quick to make. Like our rag rug bouquets, our rag rug headbands don’t take all that long to make. You can knock one out in an evening, and you can even watch TV while doing it.
• They are guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Whether you’re making one for a wedding (alternative fascinator anyone?), a music festival, just to inject a bit of colour into your outfit or for the love of rag rugging, what we’ve discovered is that rag rug headbands are just SO MUCH FUN!

Right, so how can you make one?

Pre-order the rag rug headband kit or hessian:

As with all our other classic Ragged Life projects, we like to sell new projects as both a kit (with all the tools necessary for a complete rag rug beginner), as well as a hessian pack (with the hessian and project-specific materials, but no general rag rug tools). Click below to pre-order your Rag Rug Headband Kit or Rag Rug Hessian Pack today. Each set makes three rag rug headbands, so you’ll have one for every occasion.

Rag Rug Headband Kit  – £29.99

Rag Rug Headband Hessian Pack – £14.99

Can’t wait to see what you make!!!

Right, that’s it for the time-being where headbands are concerned. Place your pre-order today and be the first to be rocking a snazzy headband like mine. If you’d like to be the first to hear about new rag rug projects, why not join our Rag Rug Community on Facebook or join our fortnightly newsletter here.

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As always, happy rag rugging!

Elspeth x