You’ve probably noticed lately scrunchies have made a huge comeback. Unlike in the 90’s though, they’re not being used as a fashion statement. As our knowledge about hair care grows we realized how bad regular elastics can be for hair growth. Using fabric as a barrier between the elastic and your hair helps cut down on breakage and general damage.
The method that I came up with is really easy, and doesn’t require stringing the elastic through any channels, and leaves you with a really professional looking end result.
The scrunchies that I am making are on the larger size. I have really thick hair, that I like to wear pretty long and honestly it was an easier to demonstrate with a larger size. I am going to include measurements for other sizes in step 1.
Children’s size – 15”x2” fabric 5″ elastic
Small Size – 18”x2.5” fabric 6″ elastic
Medium Size – 20”x3” fabric 7″ elastic
Large Size – 22”x4” fabric 7″ elastic (what I made in this tutorial)
For each scrunchie you will need to cut out a 22”x4” piece of fabric.
You will also need to cut a 7” piece of elastic for each scrunchie.
You can make scrunchies out of TONS of different types of materials, so today I am going to be using stretch velvet, peachskin, taffeta, and gingham. Any apparel weight fabric will work well.
If you are looking to make these in bulk, really break down every step and build them all up at the same time as opposed to finishing one at a time. It’s a huge time saver.
Attach the elastic to the fabric by sewing it to the direct center of the short edge on the wrong side of the fabric. Sew the elastic to both ends.
Sew up this edge leaving two inches unsewn at the beginning and the end. Just ignore the elastic here, and make sure that the edges are matched up evenly.
Find the elastic and pin it so that it is lying flat on both ends. The elastic will bunch up the fabric on the inside of your pins, but you want the unsewn ends to be smoothed out.
Fold in the opening so that the raw edge is hidden and the seams match up. Sew right along the edge.
You could use your machine to do a simple top stitch, or if you don’t want a visible stitch line, you could hand sew this opening closed using an invisible stitch. If you don’t know how to hand sew an invisible stitch, you can find the tutorial here.