I had a bit of leftover rainbow fabric from the skort and decided to make some matching scrunchies. I have never sewn scrunchies before, so I searched for instructions online. There are lots of instructions available and I found two that looked reasonable and gave them a try. The first one involved sewing the long end, threading in the elastic, and then layering the shorts together and sewing the loop closed with a sewing machine. This resulted in an ugly and not quite aligned seam, especially with the slippery stretch fabric I was using. The second technique called for hand sewing the end, which worked, but took more time.

I decided to look further and found a video and instructions for the burrito method, which allows you to make scrunchies with perfectly aligned seams and no hand stitching. This involves a bit of a geometry trick, as you need to make a donut and then turn it inside out. In the burrito method you cut your rectangle (I used a piece 4″ by 23″) and sew the short ends together to form a loop. You fold your loop in half, right sides together, folding in parallel to the seam. Then you fold the top layer in on itself and bring the bottom layer sides up around the folded in part and carefully stitch the long edge without catching the top layer. As you go you pull the top layer through until you have stitched almost all the way around the (inside-out) donut. You leave a small gap and then turn the whole thing rightside out. Then you thread the elastic in (I used 8 inches of .5″ elastic), sew it into a loop, and then close the hole in the seam. I did all the stitching on my serger except the final hole closing. I didn’t press or pin anything and it was super fast to make!