Want to learn how to make your own DIY scrunchies? Then you came to the right post, in this sewing tutorial I’ll show you my favorite way to make one of my favorite hair accessories, custom hair scrunchies.
Scrunchies make a easy sewing project, plus they’re so cute and useful. Scrunchies are great for ponytails, messy buns and can be worn around your wrist as a bracelet. They’re also great for long hair or medium length hair, as well as thick hair, curly hair, straight hair, or fine hair.
They also make great gifts for you to make and scrunchies really don’t take that much fabric or other supplies, and just the basic sewing skills. All you need is a strip of fabric, a little bit of elastic, and a couple of safety pins.
I actually will sometimes use fat quarters to make scrunchies. The best fabric you can use to make scrunchies is cotton fabric, but they can also be made out of a wide variety of fabrics like, silk, satin, velvet, knit and ribbed knit fabric.
I have only made scrunchies out of cotton fabric, but I think that using another type of fabric would be a great idea. And in this scrunchie tutorial I didn’t include a PDF pattern, because you just need a long rectangle of fabric.
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Supplies
- 4″ x 22″ strip of fabric
- 9″ piece of 1/4″ knit elastic
- 2 safety pins
- 2 straight pins
And of course you’ll need your sewing machine. The only stitch you’ll need for these DIY scrunchies is the straight stitch.
I like using a 4″ x 22″ piece of fabric, but you can adjust the size of fabric. So, if you want more ruffle you can use a longer piece of fabric. Or, use a wider piece of fabric for jumbo scrunchies.
If you’ve looked up scrunchies, you’ve probably seen an oversized scrunchie. Those are just made by using an long piece of fabric that is really wide.
And there are lots of ways to make scrunchies. I’m going to show you in the step-by-step tutorial below the best way I’ve found to make scrunchies.
Go!
Here are the sewing instructions for this scrunchie pattern.
The first thing you do is to cut out your strip of fabric. I like to use a rotary cutter, cutting mat and acrylic ruler to cut my fabric.
Next, you need to sew the two short ends together right sides facing. For the seam allowance I just use the edge of my zigzag presser foot as a guideline. But, if you want to have a more exact seam allowance, then use a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Press the seam open, you can use a iron to press your seam or you can just finger press.
Lay your wide fabric tube on the table with the seam facing up, like in the picture below. And the seam needs to be a little closer to the left, not right in the middle.
Flip the fabric upside down, so now that the seam is up against the table and that the side with no seam is facing upward.
Fold the top layer of fabric like the picture below shows.
Now, you need to fold the bottom layer over the folded fabric. So, that the right sides of fabric are facing, lining up the raw edges.
Pin the seam allowance together with the two straight pins, making sure to match the seams as closely as you can.
Now, start sewing the raw edges together, starting a couple inches away from the seam. Being careful not to sew the inside folded fabric. And you’ll use the same seam allowance as before.
Sew until you’re about 2 inches from the end and stop with the needle down.
Pull some of the inside fabric out of the fabric tube, line up the raw edges and continue sewing. Still making sure not to sew the inside fabric.
Keep doing this until you’re about a inch or 2 away from where you started sewing. Now backstitch to finish sewing and cut the thread.
Pull the inside tube of fabric out through the opening.
Press the fabric tube. If you don’t want to do this step that’s fine you don’t have to press the fabric. But, it will lay better if you press it.
Using one of the safety pins, take one of the ends of the 1/4″ wide elastic and pin it to the side of the small opening.
Place the other safety pin of the other end of the elastic and run the elastic through the scrunchie. (I use smaller safety pins, but a large safety pin might work better for this step.)
Now that you have ran the elastic through the scrunchie tie the ends of the elastic together.
The next step is to close the opening. Pin the opening of the scrunchie close.
Now take the scrunchie back over to the sewing machine and sew the opening close.
There is your finished scrunchie. Making your own scrunchies is a great way to practice your sewing skills.
Extra
And you can use fabric scraps to make your DIY scrunchies. As long as your rectangle of fabric is close to the size you need or want. Because there is no right or wrong in scrunchie sizes, just whatever the size of your scrunchie you want.
I like to use a 4″ x 22″ piece of fabric, so that’s the size I suggested in this free sewing pattern.
You could use a hand sewing needle and do the ladder stitch to close the opening on the scrunchie. Or, if you’re really adventurous you could hand sew the whole thing. But, I like to go the easy way and use a sewing machine.
I hope that you enjoyed this easy pattern for sewing your own DIY scrunchies.
