fabric watch bands

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A while back I made the cutest watch ever.  I used the cluck cluck sew tutorial and that watch became my best friend in the whole world.  I loved it with all of me!!  I wore it every day, whether it matched what I was wearing or not.  It had a snap that held it together and after a while, it would just randomly come unsnapped and fall off.  Then one day it was really gone.  Like somewhere on the side of a mountain because I was camping, gone. (I know, who wears an absolutely darling watch camping?? That's the attachment I had...)  I was SO sad. AND mad at the stupid snap for being so unreliable.  Since then, I tried making some new watch bands with buttons instead of snaps, thinking that it would be safer.  They turned out ok, but kind of bleh.  Not quite what my head had in mind. 

 

 So I've been thinking in my head for a while about trying them this way.  It took a few tries to get my hands to be able to see it the way my head did, but I finally figured it out, and they come together in no time at all.

I got some fun watch faces from http://www.ewatchwholesale.com/.  They are pretty large ones which made it all the easier.  The ones I used had 1 inch bars to attach to, so that's how I measured my fabric pieces.  My fabric pieces ended up being a 3 1/2 inch by 12 inch rectangle.  The key is to remember that it has to be enough to fit over your hand to get to your wrist.

After the rectangle was cut, I folded it hot dog, then hamburger.  Then if you notice above, I trimmed off about a half an inch on the raw edge corner, coming up from about an inch and a half.  This is so that it fits nicely underneath the watch face.  Then I sewed it up the hot dog side ,right sides together, all the way from one end to the other.  Then I turned it right-side out.  I use a knitting needle head to do this part.  It's the best use I've ever found for a knitting needle...
It helps to press the tube at this point with the seam in the middle.

 Next, I cut a piece of 1 inch elastic 1/2 inch longer than the diameter of my wrist, which was 6 1/2 inches. Using a large safety pin, I threaded it through the fabric tube.

Then, leaving the pin in one end to hold it, I threaded the other end of the elastic plus the fabric through the bars in the watch face, with the seam of the fabric on the bottom. I had to work the fabric around to get it in a spot where I could pinch both ends of the elastic together.

 Carefully holding the ends together, I sewed the elastic only together. Make sure the band isn't twisted before you stitch it up.  I trimmed the ends of the elastic as small as I dared so there would be less bulk.  I'm thinking now that it would be less bulky to sew the elastic one piece on top of the other instead of ends together, like that makes any sense to anyone's brain but mine...

 Next I folded the raw edges of the fabric under about a fourth of an inch.  Then I overlapped them to finish it off.  I tried to keep it right on top of my elastic seam, once again to avoid bulk.  This would be the part that would be wise to stitch together by hand, but I don't believe in hand sewing unless it is seriously life or death.  You should have seen me squeezing the little band with the big watch face under the needle of my machine.  It's kind of like fitting those last several dishes into the dishwasher, when I should just be washing them by hand. Anyway, make sure that you catch all the edges.

All that's left after the ends of the fabric are stitched together is twisting the band around so that the sewn edge of the band is right underneath the face. You think that baby's gonna fall off? Ah, nope!  And they turned out so fun, I'm already smitten!!

Happy Crafting!