How to Make a Bandana

Rachel Manring

A bandana is a simple cotton cloth square, a very versatile item that you can learn to make. They are great travel and camp accessories because they are easy to pack and have so many uses. You may want to make many of them and give them away to your traveling friends, or for any occasion. Everyone can use a bandana, and it is a simple and satisfying small project to make.

The traditional size of a bandana is 22 inches square. There is a narrow hem around the edge, which is a little fiddly to do, but if you make one bandana, you will have a new sewing skill that you can use repeatedly.

A collection of bandanas

Materials

You will need a 22 1/2" square of cotton fabric. It is important that the fabric be 100% cotton because cotton will hold a pressed fold, which we need when we sew the hem.

The hem is so narrow that pins get in the way more than they help. The hem is held by the fold made with a hot iron and steam. You can use cotton fabric that is used to make quilts. Go into a quilt shop and let yourself be submerged in the huge variety of fabric options. You can find a fabric print to suite any personality. You will need 24 inches of fabric for each bandana. You should launder and iron the fabric before you cut it.

Thread
Sewing machine
An iron - most of the work on this project is done with an iron.

I suggest that you make a practice piece first. You can make a smaller square out of scrap material to practice the hem and corners.

Cut out a square

Cut out a 22 1/2" square. I use quilting rulers and a rotary cutter to cut out an accurate square, but if I didn't have these tools, I would make a 22 1/2" square from cardboard, place it on my fabric, trace around the square with a pen or pencil, then cut it out with scissors. Make as straight and smooth a cut as you can. Save the cardboard square for the next time you make a bandana. Cutting a perfect square seems harder than it should be. Take your time and get it as close to a perfect square as you can. No one will check your work.

Pressing the hem

Hemming the bandana is challenging because it's a very narrow hem. Often a hem like this can be made using a sewing machine foot called a rolled hem foot. This won't work in this project because a rolled hem foot doesn't work on corners. So we have to do a rolled hem without the assistance of a rolled hem foot. We can do this.

With a hot iron and steam, press a 1/4 inch hem all the way around the square, straight across each entire edge, folding the corners as shown in the photo below. All of the folding takes place on the ironing board so the folds can immediately be pressed into place. As you will see, the cotton fabric holds the pressed folds well. Use lots of heat and steam.

Unfold the corners and mark the fold lines, as shown below. Don't mark the entire fold, just the few inches around the corners. You can use an ordinary pen or pencil for this.

Cut the top of the small square off, corner to corner, as shown in the photo below.

Draw a line through the intersection of the marked fold lines, as shown below.

You will fold along the line you just marked, but the line will be inside the fold. You marked it to show yourself exactly where the fold should be, but you won't be able to see the line while you are folding. Press the fold with heat and steam, as shown below.

Refold and press the 1/4 inch hem, straight across, keeping the corner folded. This will make a mitered corner. Press and steam. This is a single fold hem.

Now for the fiddly part. You will make a rolled hem, working a few inches at a time, pressing as you go, around the entire square. Start in the middle of a side, getting used to rolling the edge under, before you try working on a corner. Roll the edge 1/8 inch under and press, shown below. This is a double fold, mitered corner. Since this is such a narrow hem, it is hard to get the corner perfect, so don't worry about perfect. Just do the best you can.