How to sew a silk scrunchie from upcycled neckties – a beginner sewing tutorial.
I see pretty silk neckties in the Goodwill Outlet bins (where you pay by the pound) all the time and have been determined to rescue some of them and come up with creative ways to reuse them. First up is a really quick one, scrunchies! This tutorial uses similar instructions as these upcycled scrunchies I shared made from old leggings! That post has a smaller size as well – here I only have the ‘standard’ adult size. I did tweak several steps to account for how much thinner silk is than typical quilting cotton or knit fabric; these are extra gentle on hair and really soft to wear on your wrist!
You can easily get one scrunchie out of one tie, with sizable scraps left over. Haven’t brainstormed what to do with those yet!
Aren’t they cute! The fun part about ties is that they’re easy to find, cheap, and come in a wide variety of colors and styles – perfect for a group craft night!
If you like this project, you need to check out these posts too
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Pin this tutorial for how to sew a silk scrunchie from upcycled neckties:
How to sew a silk scrunchie from upcycled neckties
Supplies
- 1/4 yard of of 1/4″ wide elastic
- Iron
- Bodkin
- 1 silk tie
- Seam ripper
- Coordinating thread
- Sewing machine
- Hand sewing needle
- Pins or clips
Steps
Step 1- Seam rip the tie apart!
Step 2- Use an iron to press it all out nice and flat.
Step 3- Cut a piece of fabric 3.5″ wide X 26″ long. As you can see up at the top right, for this tie it meant catching a small bias seam, dont’t worry about that! The fabric is so fine and thin it won’t be a big deal.
Step 4- Use the iron and press a small hem on one short end of the rectangle and then open it back up.
Step 5- Fold the rectangle in half length wise, right-sides together, and pin or clip.
Step 6- Sew down the long, open end with 1/4″ seam allowance. Since the fabric is thin and slippery, I wouldn’t start at the very end – start 1 inch down and reverse sew up to the top, then sew down as normal.
Step 7- Gently turn your tube right side out! The silk is thin enough this is easy to do without any specialty tools.
Step 8- Cut 1 piece of elastic roughly 8.5″ long. If you’re worried about the elastic twisting, you can put a dot to show which ends should be up before sewing.
Step 9- Use your bodkin to thread it through, holding on to the very end before shuffling the fabric out of your way.
Step 10- Overlap the elastic by 1/2″ and sew several times back and forth to secure. A tip is to hold the pieces together with one finger pressed down and then hand-crank the needle down to hold them in place before setting the presser foot down.
Step 11- Tuck in the hem that you previously pressed and then push the raw-edge-end into the tube. There should be no raw edges showing. While you can machine sew this shut, with the thin silk it makes it feel rather stiff. I am showing using a ladder stitch to secure the closing, sewing all the way around on a single layer (either the top or bottom, not through all 4 layers at once).
You’re done! Pull up your hair or your kid’s hair in style.
