Sewing Bandana 2 ways, in Liberty Fabrics!

What could be an easier and rewarding sewing project than making a bandana? I mean, sewing bandana is probably the easiest sewing project possible, even easier than sewing a pillow, which is often what you do in your first sewing class!

Besides, bandanas are quite useful! I mainly use them to jazz up my outfit, like how you use a scarf, and I just love how instantly they add more polish and style to my look. 

Another use is to tie them around my bag handle, often my white canvas tote bag from LL Bean, or my small African woven basket. What’s more, I actually transfer them from my bag to neck when the weather suddenly gets chilly 😛

Liberty of London fabrics

I have been interested in making small scarfs or bandana for myself because I am quite picky about the pattern of bandanas in clothing stores. I want to find bandanas with a few colors in the pattern so they can work for my wardrobe, and realized the easiest and relatively affordable way to do so is by making it myself. 

In my recent trip to London, UK, I made sure to visit the sewing enthusiasts dream place – Liberty London department store. Of course my primary goal of going there is to check out Liberty prints!

Liberty print fabrics are located on the third floor, occupying a large portion of that level. You can find sewing patterns, notions, fat quarters and other fun stuff there. More importantly, buy fabrics by the yard there.

Although most of the fabrics are in cotton, they do offer some other fabrics such as silk which is more pricey. 

Sewing materials and cost

I ended up buying two fabrics, both in ½ meter length, and that cost me about 27 pounds. When you get ½ meter, they generally overcut it so you’ll have a few centimeters extra. 

They are definitely pricier than common fabrics you buy in the US, however, the quality is high and the prints are lovely.

The prints are really high fidelity, and threads are tightly woven. The fabric itself is pretty lightweight, but not see through. I’m quite happy with my purchase 🙂

The top fabric is Strawberry Thief Tana Lawn Cotton. I have a soft spot for anything birdy, and with strawberries? A big yes! Besides, the color is more muted than a lot of other prints, which I often enjoy.

The bottom fabric is Windsor Ribbon Tana Lawn Cotton, and it is a limited edition for Queen Elizabeth’s 70th Jubilee celebration. I love how it resembles a classic grid yet makes it more fun and curvy. How adorable are those crowns!

2 Ways of sewing bandana

To make bandanas, I first cut the fabrics into squares, since bandanas are essential small square scarves. Because I bought ½ meter in length, I just measured what I got and try to cut similarly in width to get the most of the fabric.

Keep in mind, when they cut fabrics for you in store, the lines are not super straight, so make sure to square the edges.

Once I get two large square of fabric, I decided to sew bandanas in two ways to experiment. When talking about sewing bandanas, it is really just about heming the four edges.

Bandana edge finish method #1

The first method I used to hem the bandana is rolled hem. This method is very fast but requires a bit setup. 

First, you need a rolled hem foot. They are readily available and low cost ($5 – $10). The basic steps for me is to fold the beginning of the edge twice, sew a few stitches, feed the remaining fabric inside the rolled hem foot, and let the rolled hem foot do the folding and get sewing. 

My favorite video of rolled hem tutorial is this one (method two featured in the video)

The tricky part of this method is on the corners. Rolled hem is very narrow so definitely not possible to do any mitered corner. So I just finish one edge, and move onto another edge with the corner sewed twice. As a result, the corner is slightly bulkier and not super sharp. However, because the edge is so tiny (1/16”), it looks pretty good.

Bandana edge finish method #2

Method #2 is using the standard heming finish. Because they are used as bandana, I’m keeping the edge very narrow, about ⅛” in this case. I folded all four edges twice, each time ⅛” so ¼” in total. 

Then I unfolded them and trim the excess fabric for the mitered corner, and folded them back and pin. Then just sew all four edges in one continuous line, pivoting the needle at each corner.

The pro of this method is the super tidy pivoted corners, and the sewing part is quite quick. The con of this method is you do have to fold and press the edges twice before sewing, plus the edges are a little wider than rolled hem method.

Liberty prints bandana finished look

I am so thrilled with how they turned out! In fact, I have worn the Winsor Ribbon bandana twice already as neck scarf, with my white T-shirt. 

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