The Best Scrunchie

My hair is thick and wild and prone to tangles and usually long, like really long, down to my waist. When I was a little girl, my mum didn’t let me wear it down very often because the result of that was often a painful evening as she tried to brush conditioner through the thick matts of hair that seemed to appear in a day of running through fields and climbing up trees, for the wind to reach his fingers through my golden locks and twist them into an unsolveable puzzle.

As a result of living in a house with two girls who would daily insist on bunches, plaits, plaited bunches, ponytails and pigtails (graduating to Bjork style space buns by our teens), hair bands were at a premium. A common argument would be that the hairband in one sisters’ hair might belong to the other.

I remember how much I loved my burgundy velvet scrunchie, some time in the late 80s or early 90s. I thought it the epitome of chic, and my sister certainly couldn’t borrow it! The elastic wasn’t great and it couldn’t hold my thick hair in a ponytail so I had to put it over the top of a normal hairband. It was way too big to finish off a plait and I guess that they didn’t come in different sizes back then!

Anyway, my general superwoman of a mum wasn’t going to fork out endlessly for trendy hair accessories that she could whip up herself! Out came the sewing machine (truth be told this was around the time she had to try to wrangle her machine out of my hands every time she wanted a go on it, before I got my own aged 8 ½) and the scraps of fabric from her sewing box were transformed with a little elastic into an array of scrunchies!

I remember well the tartan from a maternity dress my mum had made for her pregnancy with my brother, a floral from one of my sisters dresses and a scrap of precious silk, and how proud I was to wear them to school. I was rarely on-trend, so it was a revelatory experience! In my eyes, I had the best scrunchie!

Of course, all the other mums loved them and she was pressed to run a table selling them for the next PTA fair! My brother was so very jealous of our hair pretties that she made him little matching bow ties which also sold like hot cakes, flooding the town of Whitby with very well-dressed little boys for a while (it’s an oft-ignored fashion of the early 90s that little boys wore waistcoats and bow ties haha).

My sister and I in mum-made scrunchies c.1990

I love making scrunchies. It’s a great way of using up smaller pieces of fabric, making them a sustainable choice, and often they match with something else I have made. Often, when I reclaim fabric from pre-loved garments, the area of fabric reclaimed doesn’t allow for very large items, and scrunchies are the ideal choice. I make several sizes, from tiny ones perfect for the end of a plait or a little ones fine hair, to ridiculously oversized silk organza, perfect to wear to a big event.

I was lucky enough to source a lot of off-cuts of silk from a historical costume maker which were the perfect size. I love making sure as little as possible goes to waste, whether it’s the offcuts from my own large creations, or from other makers.

To add a touch of luxury to my larger scrunchies, I add a leather tag stamped with HMT (for Holly Made This) which is also a waste material from a local shoe maker or bookbinder, both of whom sell me their small off-cuts.

These days I use very strong elastic that will easily hold my hair in its usual top knot while I’m working, and make sure those ruffles are really generous. I love that it doesn’t snag or break my hair and that I can make one in any design for any occasion!

If you’d like to have a go at making your own, pop back for my tutorial in a fortnights time, and if you’d rather buy one ready made, head over to my Etsy shop – and remember, if you need a certain colour to add that flare to your special outfit, just give me a shout and I’ll have a look through my extensive fabric collection for you – I’ll even turn your worn out favourite garment into a scrunchie or two for you!