Hair Scrunchies Tutorial | easy DIY

Love them or hate them, scrunchies are back!

As I child I never understood the dislike for scrunchies. They were always colourful, hard to lose and gentle on my curly hair, unlike other bands. Yes. they were a big part of the 80s-90s culture, and yes they look weird at times but they were much easier to wear than just simple hair bands. So when they made their comeback last year (I think), I welcomed them with open arms.

Now that the scrunchie has officially made a comeback I realized that they could be used as accessory statement pieces and I wanted to try my hand at making some that would match my outfit.

And so I did.

The idea of this craft not only came because I thought I could make some myself but also because I have lots of leftover fabric.

After I finish a sewing project I’m usually left with lots of fabric scrap pieces and the idea of throwing them out is unthinkable to me so this DIY is a perfect scrap fabric buster.

Since each scrunchie doesn’t require a lot of material, you can make almost 11 scrunchies with a yard long piece of fabric (45inch wide)! Perfect for gift-giving for birthdays or Christmas.So now on to the craft!

Hair Scrunchies DIY Tutorial

Materials needed:

• fabric cut into 16 x 4-inch strips

• 1/4 inch elastic 6-8 inches long

• scissors

• pins (to hold together)

• safety pins or straw to turn it inside out

   

This DIY can either be done with a sewing machine or by hand using a thread and needle. In the end, there will be some hand-sewing to finish the scrunchie properly.

Tutorial

Fold back one of the short ends of the fabric and sew a straight stitch down the middle or you could just press (iron it down) if desired for a cleaner look.

• this will make the scrunchie look better in the end.

Now take the strip of fabric and fold it lengthwise, right (printed) sides together. Sew a straight line, the seam allowance for this project is 1/4 inch. 

• the seam allowance is how far from the edge to sew. 

There are many ways to turn a project inside out but this is the one I commonly use. Take one safety pin and pin it to one end and then try to push the pin inside until it comes out on the other end. Pull the rest of the fabric through it. Hopefully, the picture will clear up the confusion.

• I’ve heard of this method but have not tried it: the straw method is similar, pin the straw to one end and pull down the fabric so the straw will come through the other end of the tube.

• The method does not really matter as long as the fabric is right side/inside out.

• This is optional, but I find that it helps make the project look cleaner and professional-looking.

Related post: Hot & Cold Packs DIY

Pin a safety pin to one end of the elastic and stick it inside one end of the tube. The other end of the elastic, pin it to the fabric. At this point, the elastic should be inside the fabric tube.

 

Now push the safety pin end of the elastic to the other opening of the tube. At that point, be careful and try to take both ends (as seen in the picture below) and try to pin together with a safety pin.

At this point, you will sew the ends of the elastic together. If doing with machine use a zigzag stitch or a 3 line stitch. In my expereinece, it is sometimes easier to do it by ha.nd, my machine did not enjoy sewing thin elastic. Sew about 1/4inch from the edge.

 

The elastic is now sewn, the next part is joining the tube. I tried two methods, one by machine and the other by hand. Each will do the same job but it will look different in the end. Depends on personal preferences, abilities and time.

• Machine method: Remember when we folded the edge? Now the unfolded/frayed end will go inside the folded one. In the picture above you can see both ends. With one end tucked into the other sew a straight line through all layers of the fabric and elastic. Will look like the picture below.

• Hand stitch method: Just like aforementioned, tuck in the frayed edge into the folded edge. Now do a whipstitch/invisible stitch joining the material going all around the circle, or just do small normal stitches that will do the same. 

  • The difference between the two methods is that in the second one, the seam will not be as obvious or as obtrusive like the machine one (see below). The hand stitch makes it look more like a retail scrunchie and lets it keep that neverending circle shape.

 

Related post: Plans for this summer

For most of the scrunchies I did, I took some leftover fabric cut it into long (2x8inches, more or less, depends) strips and tied it to the scrunchie. Since one of them was joined using the machine method, I warped a strip of fabric right on the edge to hide the bulkiness and the distortion of the circle

That’s it! You now have a unique, handmade scrunchie. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial/DIY post, this is my first DIY this year and my second hair accessory one. First, one being the Knit Knot headband that I also made from scrap fabric.

After making the first one, it is extremely easy to get the hang of it and making the second one becomes much easier and faster to make.

 

Do you love scrunchies or do you find them to be an eyesore? What other DIY would you like to see next?

Til next time

Loren Camila.