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A easy way to elegantly finish your casual ponytail is to slip your custom-made hair scrunchie over your hair elastic. Hair scrunchies can be easily measured and sewn with just a straight stitch sewing machine, common sewing tools, elastic, and a fabric remnant.
(1) Choosing Fabric
A pre-washed cotton or poly-cotton fabric is easiest to sew: it will not stretch as you go, it is easy to iron, and you can use a cotton weave needle in your machine.
(2) Measuring your Elastic
It might be simplest to base your elastic length on the length of your favorite commercially-purchased hair elastic. Simply cut through an extra, and measure its length. For your scrunchie, this will be the elastic length as well. Be sure to measure and cut elastic in its relaxed state. Choose an elastic width again based on your individual desire, anywhere from a shoestring width to probably no wider than 1/4 inch. This is your elastic width for future measurements.
(3) Measuring your Fabric
Your ready-to-sew fabric piece will end up being a simple rectangle. The decisions you will make involve what size of rectangle with which you will end up before sewing. Your fabric width should be the same as your elastic length. Your fabric length will be a little more complicated. Begin with one inch for both hems. Then, add on double your elastic width and double the amount your would like your ruffle to extend. These measurements together will make up your fabric length.
Iron your fabric, measure and cut your rectangle, and iron it again for more accurate sewing. To prepare for sewing instructions, place your rectangle with its width from left to right and its length top to bottom, with the wrong side of the pattern down.
(4) Sewing
First, fold and iron, baste, hem or serge your ½ inch hem onto the wrong side of the upper and lower ends of your fabric, leaving the right and left width ends unfinished. Next, fold your fabric downwards so the hemmed edges are lined up, with the wrong sides of the fabric together. Re-iron, paying careful attention to the fold edge and hemmed edge. Your next step is to sew the hem edge with a narrow 1/4 inch edge. The key here is to sew only the middle, leaving a wide, unsewn margin at either end of the edges: this will provide flexibility to sew your width edges together. Now, place your width edges right sides together, and carefully sew and edge, or serge them together with your usual 5/8 of an inch seam. Your scrunchie fabric will now have a circular appearance. Iron your new seam carefully, re-ironing the fold line through it.
(5) Finishing
To complete your scrunchie, thread your elastic through the your sewn fabric, sew the ends with a 5/8 inch seam, trim, and let the elastic settle back within the fabric. For the rest of your stitching, be sure to carefully stretch your elastic as you go, so your fabric will remain flat as you sew. Sew the hem edge closed that you had previously left open, sewing over your side seam and overlapping your previous stitching to make your seam strong. Sew some topstitching near the inner edge of your elastic, to create a pocket where your elastic will remain firm. Do not catch the elastic in your stitching. Depending on the width of your elastic, you may want to stitch in various places along your elastic pocket to ensure that your elastic stays flat, as you would for an elastic waistband. You may also want to topstitch along your fabric fold, depending on the look you want to create.
Your fabric scrunchie is now complete. Twist it over your hair-do as you would your regular hair elastic, and enjoy this accessory that will be sure to complement and complete your outfit. Try this process again and again; you will find that making a scrunchie will become a simple task that is rewarding in its completion and use.
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