Step 4. Sew up elastic covering. With right sides together sew up long side of the 4"x6" piece so you have a tube(with open ends) that is aprox. 2"x6". Now turn tube right side out and set aside for now.



Step 5. Pleat your bandana. Now you need to take your piece that measures aprox. 8"x19" (with hemmed long edges) and pleat or gather the short sides (the unfinished edges). I find that 3 almost even pleats work best for me, but you can gather it or do more pleats. You want the finished height to be about 1.5" so it will fit into your elastic covering. Sew a straight stitch 1/4" in from the edge to secure the pleats in place. Do this for both sides.


Step 6. Attach the elastic to one side. You should now have a 19" wide piece of fabric that is hemmed on the long edges and pleated on both ends. Attach the left side of the piece of elastic elastic to the pleated end of the bandana.


Step 7. Attach elastic covering. Insert elastic and bandana through the elastic covering you made in step 4until the left side of the elastic covering is just past your stay stitching that holds the pleats in place. Sew through all layers to secure it ( I like to sew along the hem I placed on the elastic covering in step 3 so there aren't any extra stitching lines).


Now pull the free end (the right side) of the elastic through the rest of the elastic covering and stitch it down to the other pleated side of the bandana just like you did previously.