Let’s make some DIY scrunchies!
Scrunchies are such an easy and simple at-home sewing project that can add a lot of fun and color to your hair.
What is a ‘Scrunchie’, you ask?
We’re making fabric-covered elastic hair bands that give you a much more colorful, gentle-on-the-hair alternative to traditional hair ties. Fun tip! Try sewing scrunchies with leftover ends from your other sewing projects to complete the look!
What You’ll Need
Materials & Tools
- A few different cotton fabrics cut into 10x45cm (4×18”) strips
- 0.5cm (0.2”) elastic strips in 10cm (4”) or 18cm (7”) pieces
- The length depends on how many times you want to wrap the scrunchie around your hair, or how much hair you have
- A sewing machine
- An iron and ironing board
- Sewing thread (cotton or polyester)
- Measuring tape, scissors, safety pins, fabric clamps or fabric pins
We’re using some odds and ends from a previous project – any non-stretch fabric will do! (if you’re experienced in sewing stretch, that could also be an option, but for rookies we recommend a nice basic cotton)
Do-It-Yourself Scrunchies!
You’ll need a strip of 10x40cm (4-18”) fabric for every scrunchie you want to make, we went ahead and cut out a few in advance so we could batch-sew them for all our friends as well 🙂
Step 1: The Ironing
- Iron all your strips so they’re nice and smooth
- Then fold a small section of each end inwards and iron the crease
Step 2: The Sewing
- Flip the fabric so the right sides are folded together and sew along the long raw edge with a seam allowance of roughly 1cm or 0.4” (making sure to leave the folded smaller ends as they are so there are no raw edges! Check the photos) to form a long fabric tube with open ends
- Attach a safety-pin to one of the edges
- The safety-pin makes it so you easily turn the fabric tubes back the right-way out
- Repeat the above steps with all your fabric strips
- Then iron the tubes flat with the seam positioned in the middle of the tube
Step 3: The Elastic
- Decide on your elastic length (the shorter length creates a standard size scrunchie, the longer size is for people with a LOT of hair – we’re jealous! – or people who just want their scrunchie to make a big statement!)
- Use a safety-pin to fix one end of the elastic to one end of the fabric tube
- Use another safety pin on the opposite end to pull the elastic out the opposite end of the fabric tube
Step 4: A Little More Sewing!
- Sew the two ends of the elastic together to form a loop
- Push one end of the fabric tube about 1cm (¼”) inside the opposite end
- Use a needle and thread to hand-sew the two layers of fabric together
- We’ve used a mattress stitch to make sure the join is invisible, but any hand-stitch will do, and the ruffles of the scrunchie fabric will make sure your seam is virtually unseen anyway
Step 5: You’re Done! Enjoy Your Scrunchies!
Be sure to tag us on Instagram if you post your creations! We love seeing what you’re making 😎. And stay tuned for more DIY tutorials coming in the future!
