clothing wrap band tutorial

Numerous times now I have packed a bag for my children to take to sleepovers.  I try to keep each days clothes and undies together for each day they are gone.  I know that once they have left my house that they are going to go through their clothes and mess them all up.

And that's fine.  Really.  I like how they have the own sense of style.

The perfectionist in me has a hard time knowing that my children may be out there matching stripes with polka dots or something equally horrendous.

My oldest is about to take a cross country road trip with her Oma and Opa and be gone for several days.  While I was packing her bag that same little nagging thought of miss matched clothing popped in to my head again.   I knew there had to be something I could do to prevent it.

This is where my "clothing wrap bands" (lack of a better name for them) tutorial comes in.

Each band is made with scrap materials that I had in my ever growing sewing stash.

Gather up all of your materials.

*scrap fabric (fat quarters would work great for this)
*elastic
*velcro
*safety pin
*coordinating thread

Measure and cut.
fabric: 20"x3"
elastic: 12" (I used 3/4" elastic)
velcro: 1.5"

(I made these for my 5 year old daughters clothing so I made them a bit smaller than I would for adult clothing.)

Fold your fabric in half right sides facing so that your measurements are now 20"x1.5"

Sew along the 20" side.  You know have a tube.  Turn the tube right side out.  Iron flat.

Top stitch each 20" side.  I used a 1/8" top stitch.

Take your safety pin on one end and feed it through your tube.

Now comes the tricky part.  Pull your elastic through until it is 1/2" or so past the start of the tube.  DO NOT pull the rest of the elastic through.

Now flip over the raw edge that 1/2"-1" where you just pulled the elastic through.  Sew on one side of your velcro.

Now you can pull the elastic through the rest of the tube.

Now do the same thing again with the folding and sewing on the velcro.  Make sure you sew the velcro on to the other side of the band though.  I accidently did not on one and ended up having to twist to velcro it.

Now you are ready keep your child's clothing together in their suitcase!

You can also embroider the days of the week on to them or use some days of the week washi tape on  your bands.

Now my oldest is ready for her long trip!