If you have a kid, then you likely have a pile of outgrown clothing that are too destroyed to gift or donate. Here’s one way you can get a little more utility out of that pile of rags! All you need is an old long-sleeve shirt, two 9″ long pieces of 1/4″ elastic, a needle and some thread. For this quick tutorial, I’m using a 3T knit top from Old Navy.
First step. Cut off those sleeves. Now, you should have two tubes of fabric. Each tube is going to become one scrunchy, but first we need to make the tube longer and skinnier. So to do that, cut each tube open, and then cut that piece of fabric in half. You don’t need to be exact, just eyeball it.
Now we’re going to join those two pieces to make one long piece. Put one piece on top of the other, with pretty sides facing. Then do a quick stitch down the short, raw edge. When you unfold it, you’ll have something that looks like this.
Now, we’re going to fold this longer piece of fabric in half, lengthwise. Again, pretty sides facing each other. Now, stitch down the long, raw edge to make an inside-out tube. The beauty of a scrunchy is that you don’t need to have a perfectly straight seam, so just wing it.
Let’s turn that tube right-side out. Attach a safety pin to one of the tube openings, and start pulling it through on itself.
This is the most frustrating, and most satisfying part of this project for me. You basically want to tuck the safety pin into the tube, and pull it through. Hopefully this picture helps.
Detach that safety pin, because we’re using it again! Attach the safety pin to one end of your elastic. Pull your elastic through the tube.
Knot your elastic.
Last step! Tuck one end of the tube into the other, and stitch straight across the join. Again, you don’t have to be perfectly neat, because the seam will get hidden in one of the scrunchy folds.
And that’s all there is to it! Repeat the same process with your other sleeve, and you’ve got matching mommy and me scrunchies. 🙂 I’d love to see some of your work, share your scrunchies in the comments below!
