If you are not familiar with the game Elastics and are wondering what it is, Elastics a classic schoolyard game that is often played by girls. It is played using a long elastic band that has the ends tied together forming a big loop. Two players stand in the middle of the elastic loop and hold it around their ankles, standing opposite each other wide enough that the elastic hold straight but still able to further stretch. A third player then jumps in a particular pattern in and out of the loop, sometimes over it, sometimes crossing it over and other times deliberately stepping on it. Once the player jumping makes a mistake, for example, either getting tangled in the elastic or not jumping over it correctly, then that player takes an end and the next has a turn to jump. Often the jumping actions are accompanied by rhymes or songs. As you complete the pattern at the first level, which is ankles, the elastic is then hitched up to knees, then under bums, hips, waist, underarms, neck and sky. As a kid I was only ever good enough to jump as high as waist.
When I first introduced my little one to the game I just simply got a long piece of elastic and tied it at the ends. It was a thin piece of elastic, around a quarter of an inch or 0.5cm and I found it hurt their skin a little when they would run into it stretching it to full capacity. It was also a little difficult to see when jumping on concrete surfaces as the white of the elastic blended a little with the colour of the concrete. So with this in mind I thought about how I could make the elastic more colourful and 'softer' for the children to play with After some thought I came up with the idea of turning the elastic into a giant scrunchie, an easy way to make the elastic more colourful, thicker and a bit softer for the kids. Below are instructions so you too can make your own Elastics scrunchie
What you will need
- Fabric/s non-stretch
- Scissors
- Sewing machine
- Rotary cutter
- Quilters ruler
- Cutting board
- Sewing thread
- Quarter inch thick elastic
- Safety pins x2
First cut a long piece of elastic measuring around 14.8 feet. Doesn't matter if it is larger but I wouldn't recommend smaller. Once you have cut your piece then get someone to help you stretch it as far as it goes and then remeasure it. You need your fabric to be just a bit longer than the elastic at full stretch.
Once you have those figures, cut out your fabric at 3 inches wide and in pieces that add to your required length plus seam allowances. So if you are using various fabrics and have pieces say 3inch wide and 10 inches long, then cut your length at 10.5 inches long as you need to add half an inch to every piece to accommodate for an 1/4 inch seam on either side.
Once you have done that simply sew the ends together, right sides facing. If you are using different coloured fabrics don't forget to have the two end pieces different colours so that you don't have two of the same when you join them at the end.
After you have sewn the pieces all together, fold over the 3 inch width and sew an 1/8 of an inch from the edge. See photo below.
Once you have done that you should have a long 1.5 inch wide and 17.8 feet long snake of a thing. Unfortunately that was the end of the easy part of this project, now comes the part where you have to turn it all inside out! In order to do that get hold of a safety pin that is not going to open as you thread it through. I used one that is for baby cloth nappies to make sure it wouldn't open. See photo below.
With a bit of fiddling, get the pin to go through the tube by scrunching the fabric over it with your thumbs. Here is a quick YouTube video I found that shows you how to do it. This is not my video so I can't take credit for it, but I still don't know how to load videos on my blog so sorry.
Once you have conquered the turning of the giant scrunchie, you then need to thread the elastic through. Take two safety pins now. Using one of the safety pins, attach one end of the elastic to one end of the tube, securing it so that it doesn't go into the tube while you push the other end through. With the other end, hook the other safety pin onto the end of it and push it through the tube like you did before. Don't worry this time it is easier!
After that is finished, take both end of the elastic, and using the sewing machine and a zig zag stitch, sew the pieces together. Push one fabric end into the other and the raw edge of that side under and simply sew the opening shut using a straight stitch. See photo below.
And there you have it, your very own soft and scrunchie elastic to play with! Or perhaps you've just made the world's biggest scrunchie ready for the Guinness Book of World Records? Next time I'll have to post about playing Elastics and other games that your kids can play with their giant scrunchie!
Until then happy sewing and happy playing.
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