three minute bangles

I had a little frenzy of bangle making after breakfast this morning using the four kinds of vintage knit fabric I showed you in yesterday's post. This is what the finished bangles look like when worn.

When we were little we used to walk home from our local swimming pool wearing head-dresses made from our rolled up towels. These bangles are made the same way. They are so quick and easy that I thought I'd show you how they're done in case you want to make a bunch of them yourself.

Step one: Measure your wrist and cut a piece of non-fraying stretch knit fabric with an extra seam allowance of 1.5cm. My fabric pieces measured 27cm square.

Step 2: Sew a straight seam and then trim close to the stitching. With the fabric tube turned inside out place it on your arm and fold back to the desired width making sure that the fold is even all the way round.

Step 3: Continue folding the bangle on your arm, but before you make the last fold, tuck the edge of the fabric under as shown above.

Step 4:  Fold the final flap of the bangle and adjust to make sure that you have a neat edge. Don't worry that the fabric on the inside of the bangles goes a bit wavy - you can't see that when you're wearing it.

And that's all there is to it. You can vary the width and thickness of the bangles to create extra drama and make dynamic pairs using contrasting fabrics.
In my experience, speed crafting very seldom works out, but these three minute fabric bangles are an exception - fast, thrifty and snazzy to boot. I hope you enjoy making some of your own.