Sunday, December 09, 2012

How to Make a Hair Scrunchie and Hair Band To Match Your Home Sewn Dress


Roses by E. Kruger



Take a scrap of fabric from the selvage and even it out on the crooked side,  with scissors. You will need a length of elastic that wraps at least three times around your hand when stretched because that is how many times you will wind the scrunchy around your pony tail or bun or "messy updo."  Lay the strip of elastic on the strip of fabric, and cut the fabric two times longer than the piece of elastic. If you want the scrunchy or headband to be more gathered, make the fabric three times as long.   To measure for the headband, just wrap elastic around your head to determine the length.  Then cut the fabric 2 or three times longer.

Iron a 5/8 inch or half inch fold at each end of the strip of fabric, and then fold the fabric in half, the right side on the inside, and the wrong side facing you. Press it.  The long strip is now folded in half, making it thinner.   Click on for more detailed view of that folded end.

How long or wide you make the strip is up to you. Experiment to see what kind of shapes and gathers longer, shorter, or wider fabric makes.



This is what those pressed folds look like. 

With the presser foot on the edge of the fabric, and a regular size stitch, sew the entire length of the fabric strip, including the folded edges. You see the wrong side or under side of the fabric is facing you, for sewing the seam. That will all be turned to the inside when the project is finished.


Attach a large safety pin or quilting pin to one layer of the strip,

and turn the pin around to push the head of it through the inside. It will turn it inside out.



Now attached your pin to the elastic.

You might consider putting another large safety pin on the other end of the elastic, just to prevent it from pulling too far and losing that end.

Start pushing the pin through the tube of fabric and when you get to the other end, pull the fabric completely through, so that the right side of the fabric is on the outside, and the seam is on the inside of the tube.




 I pull the pin through til I can see the other end, and then I stitch that end on the machine, reversing and then once again.  Then, finish pulling the pin with the remaining elastic through the opposite end.

With the pin still attached, and well out of the way of the needle, stitch the other end of the elastic securely , by backstitching several times.


Remove the pin and clip excess elastic, if any.



Take the two ends and tuck one into the other, pressing it flat with your fingers.

Stitch it together.

Pull all the gathers around so that the stitched area is hidden.


This is the headband. Pull the gathers to the top, leaving the sides and end smooth, and stitch the flat areas just below the gathers.





Here is a pictures of the dress in the previous post, which goes with the scrunchie which is wrapped around my hair in back.  One suggestion I have, now that I have worn the dress: if you have trouble zipping up the back, and you are a fairly experienced home sewer, I would recommend putting the zip in the side seam. Do that for little girls too, and they'll appreciate being able to zip their own dresses. The next dress I sew will have a side zip, or front buttons. 

The one below is the dress I showed, with the cumberband,  on the article, "The Importance of Feminine Dress"

I do like colors other than pink or red, so I hope to get some of my other garments completed. I am liking the new patterns a lot better than I have liked patterns in years and years, so I will try to show some of them and suggest what to do with them if you want changes made.






It will be a lot easier to find these hair bands and scrunchies if you will hang then on the hanger with the dress.


Here is a cylinder of shatter proof ornaments from Walmart that I am using. It is hard to find them in these colors.



I have some of them in a punch bowl.






16 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:30 PM

    I enjoyed your post on the hair accessories to match your dress. Very pretty dress and you look lovely in it.

    I like to purchase those suspender jaw clips and add them to a self- fabric scrunchie then gather up the back of a loose top or dress for a more shapely fit.

    Love the print on your fabric too!

    Mrs. J.

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  2. The dress is lovely and as I said previously the fabric is beautiful. Very clever with the scrunchie - I don't wear them, but if I did, they don't look to hard to make!

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  3. Anonymous3:41 AM

    I love the dress and hair scrunchy, but I really love the ornaments ideas. I have been trying to decorate the house a little more for the season.

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  4. Thank you for posting this. It's such a good idea to have a matching scrunchie, and knowing how much elastic and how long a fabric to use is very helpful. I will be able to have one to match the summer dress I've just begun. Oh, and it's a good hint to put it on the same hanger.

    Lesley x

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  5. Glad you mentioned putting zippers in the side. The same goes for slacks. Before clothing became unisex, women's slacks had zippers in the side or back. Watch old reruns of the Dick Van Dyke show and look at Laura Petrie's slacks. They were womanly feminine articles with side zippers that enhanced her figure and femininity like no unisex jeans ever could.
    Side zippers are SO much easier to put in because you don't have to contend with the crotch area where there are more than one seam coming together.
    Side zippers are on a straight seam and easy to install. They also help to fit the body better.
    Front zippers were made originally for men for obvious reasons. They are a development of men's trousers of earlier times where there was a buttoned panel. Women don't need front zippers. If they would switch to a side zipper, the slacks would be easier to sew, easier to repair, fit more smoothly and look more feminine.
    Back zippers on dresses are a natural outgrowth of when women's clothing buttoned up the back. The reason being is that women usually had someone to help them dress and a back opening presents a prettier and streamlined front, so openings were located on the back. Women don't have help to get dressed anymore and back zippers can be moved to the side. Side zippers allow a prettier presentation in front and back and the arm naturally hides the zipper.

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  6. You look lovely in the dress. Roses against the fall leaves.

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  7. Sometimes back zippers take an acrobatic effort to pull up, and if you do not have anyone to pull up the zipper for you, it can be a pain. Yes, side zippers were always in women's jeans. When they began to use the front zipper a lot of the women of the time did not like them and chose to go with stretch pants instead. The side zip gave a much smoother look to the garments. Even skirts had side zippers. I will have to do a tutorial on how to put in a side zip. With a side zip, the dress has to be pulled over the head. WIth the back zip, you can step into the dress. So there are advantages both ways and disadvantages both ways . But if you are not able to get help pulling up a back zip, the side zip gives you more independence, especially as you get older or if you are living alone.

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  8. Liora2:02 PM

    The dress you're wearing is beautiful! I wish I had your talent!

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  9. You look lovely in the dress! Thank you for the tutorial on the scrunchie!

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  10. I always love to see the dresses you sew, and this one is so pretty. With that beautiful view behind you it looks like a painting.Thanks so much for the tutorial, another good one for my granddaughters homemaking book.

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  11. The dresses are lovely.
    I paticularly like the matching scrunchies that go with them.
    Thanks for the instructions.
    Brenda

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  12. Anonymous11:29 AM

    The dresses look so nice on you! Several years ago I would make and sell scrunchies for extra money. I wish more people still wore them, I would still do that!

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  13. Anonymous1:02 PM

    You're so beautiful, Lydia! I see that you are wearing boots with your dresses. I always have trouble wearing dresses in the fall because I don't know what shoes to wear. It seems like boots are too hot on days that are just cool, but it's too cool to wear sandals like I do during the summer. So, many times I end up wearing pants (and socks and shoes) and hating it!! Dresses are so much easier to wear and so much more comfortable.

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  14. Beautiful dresses! I like the idea of changing the back zipper to the side. I remember Mother's dresses on the side. Even then, sometimes, Daddy had to help her with it, probably because of her, ahem, ample figure. And, here's something I didn't know - I thought you were in England! Unless, they have WalMarts in England. You're in America??

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  15. Anonymous6:52 PM

    Just beautiful, Lydia, it's amazing. Thank you for your inspiring post.

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  16. I made my sister a skirt out of this fabric!!

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