Get a Scrunchie Upgrade!

We here at Sew Creative love a scrunchie. We must make 40 of them every week. Since we have had to shut up the shop temporarily, we have been left like we're having scrunchie withdrawal!

Our scrunchie kits have been the most popular of our kids Sewing Survival Kits and we've just released the brand new velvet option to make all of your scrunchie dreams come true!

With teal, black and ruby options, theres a scrunchie for every occasion (even if that's just watching Netflix in your PJ's!. During our extensive time at home browsing the internet, we've been seeing lots of scrunchies with cute little bows attached and it got us thinking, can we do this ourselves? The answer is YES, and it turns out is super easy!

If you've got one of our kits, you can save one of the scrunchie pieces to make into a bow. If you've already whipped up your scrunchies, then any co-ordinating fabric will do. The bow is even removable if you're having a more professional day at home.

To add a bow to your scrunchies, you will need:

- A Sewing Survival Scrunchie Kit with instructions OR your own pre-made scrunchies.

- A rectangle of fabric approx 8 x 25cm.

- Basic sewing supplies

This can all be hand sewn if you don't have a machine. It will take a little longer, but we should all be embracing the SlowSewing Mantra and taking our time...especially we are now all time rich.

So let's see how its done...

Start with your rectangle of fabric. You can use a cutting mat and rotary cutter, but we just used good old scissors. All of the insides are tucked away so it doesn't need to be incredibly neat. Also as the velvet in our new kit is a knit fabric, it doesn't fray, BONUS!

Fold your rectangle in half so that the short ends meet and cut out a pointy oval shape. Use as much of the space on the fabric as you can so that theres plenty to tie around your scrunchies. When its done you should have two shapes like this.

Now over to the machine (or the needle). Starting on one of the long edges, backstitch and sew all the way around your shape, pivoting at the ends to keep your points.... pointy? When you come back round to the start, stop before you reach your stitching, leaving a gap of 2-3 cm. Backstitch again to secure.

Take your shape back to the cutting table and notch the curved edges. This allows the edges to be smooth and not bunch together when its turned the right side out. You'll also want to clip the points, close to but not through your stitching. This keeps them pointy as we said before.

Now you need to turn your bow right sides out. A friend of mine once referred to this process as 'pulling an elephant through a catflap', which made me giggle. Whilst this is often the case with bigger projects, its pretty easy with this one.

Use something long and thin (a pencil is a good option) to poke out the corners, and then hand sew the gap shut. You can do this on the machine but we always find that you get a neater finish by hand sewing.

You can then tie your bow in a know around your favourite scrunchies. The best bit is, as it is made separately, you can mix and match bows to your heart's content. These are some of our fave combinations:

Whilst we love the simplicity of the matching bow and scrunchies, there's something lovely about having endless options. The satin one on the left was made in the same way, just using scraps from a top Alex made. The rectangle she started out with was longer, so the bow is a bit floppier, but that still has it's own charm.

Keep safe and happy sewing,

Kate and the Sew Creative Team xx