Sewalong to the Made for Mermaids Heatless Curlers & Spa Headband
Designer: Catherine Holbrook
YouTube: @bringingsewingback
-----------------------------------------------
Category: Sewing
Size or Dimensions: Scrap Fabric
Skill Level: Beginner Friendly
Description: As we enter into the Holiday season, “what can I make as a gift this year?” is a common question we seamstresses ask ourselves. So, I pulled together a couple of patterns that would make for an excellent gift for the beauty lover in your life! Bonus: the patterns are FREE, they use scrap fabric AND they take only one nap time to sew up. A win all around!
In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through how to sew up both the Heatless Curlers and the Spa Headband from Made for Mermaids. When paired together, these pattens make for a great start to a “Spa Day” themed gift for your loved one. Imagine putting them in a gift basket alongside your favorite face wash, body wash, and aromatherapy candle. Any beauty lover would be ecstatic to receive this! Grab your Frosted Acrylic Rulers and let’s get started!
Tool & Supplies needed:
OLFA Products:
OLFA RM-CLIPS/3-01 35” x 70” Continuous Grid, Double-Sided, Self-Healing Rotary Mat Set
OLFA RTY-2DX/MAG 45mm Ergonomic Rotary Cutter
OLFA 5-Inch SCS-4 Precision Appliqué Scissors
OLFA QR-6x24 6" X 24" Frosted Acrylic Ruler
Additionally, you’ll need:
3” of Velcro
1 yard of 1” Fold Over Elastic (FOE)
Stuffing like Polyfill, foam, batting, scrap fabric.
Turning Device like a bodkin
Fabric:
These patterns only require scrap fabric.
Ideal Fabrics for the Heatless Curlers: Satin, Silk, Soft woven fabrics
Ideal Fabrics for the Spa Headband: French Terry or another medium weight fabric.
Pattern Downloads:
For the Heatless Curlers, cut the following pattern pieces:
*Choose which style and length - this tutorial uses the Larger Rod Style*
Large Rod Style (cut 1 on the fold, 1 Main)
For the Spa Headband, cut the following pattern pieces:
*Choose the size needed - this tutorial is using the Adult Size*
Spa Headband (cut 1 on the fold - 1 Main)
FOE Elastic or Binding (cut 1 on the fold)
The Frosted Acrylic Rulers make cutting these pattern pieces a breeze! You can see through the rulers to know exactly where you are cutting. This is especially helpful when cutting patterns from a Projector File.
Heatless Curlers Tutorial:
Locate your pattern piece. Press in half widthwise (longways), right sides together.
Using a 1/4” seam allowance, stitch along the raw edges starting from one short edge. When you near the center, back stitch and skip over a 2” opening. Continue sewing to the end of the other short side.
The raw edges will now be sewn with a 2” opening in the center of the pattern piece.
Clip the corners with your Precision Appliqué Scissors.
Using a turning device, turn the pattern piece right side out through the 2” opening at the center.
Press flat. Make sure to press the seam allowance of the 2” opening back to the inside of the pattern piece. This opening will be hand stitched in a future step.
Stuff the entire rod with your preferred filling until dense. You may need the help of a chopstick to get the filling down to the bottom of the rod.
Once fully stuffed, close the center opening with some hand stitching. I prefer using a ladder stitch. If you’ve never tried this stitch, here’s a quick tutorial on the ladder stitch!
Your heatless curl rod is ready to use! If you’d like to make matching scrunchies, here is a link to the FREE scrunchies pattern by Made for Mermaids.
Spa Headband Tutorial:
Before beginning, ensure that the Velcro Placement Markings have been transferred to the pattern piece.
Locate the FOE. Folding right sides together, align the short ends and sew together with a 1/4” seam allowance.
Press seam allowance open.
Locate the headband piece and place right sides up.
Align the FOE along the edges of the headband and wrap around, sandwiching the headband between the FOE.
The raw edge of the headband should be touching the center fold of the FOE.
Using a stretch stitch, attach the FOE to the headband along the entire outer edge. A zig zag stitch or a straight stitch with a twin needle is recommended. This tutorial is using a twin needle.
Using the Velcro Placement Markings as a guide, attach the 3” of Velcro to both sides of the headband. One side of the Velcro will be placed on the right sides of one end of the headband. The other side of the Velcro will be place on the wrong sides of the other end of the headband.
The two ends will be overlapped during wear.
How to Use Heatless Curlers:
Now that you have the cutest Spa set created, I wanted to briefly give some tips on how to use Heatless Curlers if you are new to them.
First, though many tutorials will suggest this, *do not* use these curlers on damp hair. Dry hair is preferred. Hair that is slightly damp runs a greater risk of breakage during sleeping than dry hair.
Secondly, it’s helpful to use a hair clip to hold the heatless curler in place on the top of your head while wrapping the hair around the rod. This can be removed once the hair has been fulled wrapped in place.
Thirdly, no products are needed on the hair *before* wrapping. Products are best used after removing the heatless curlers for styling purposes.
Fourthly, here is a great Youtube Tutorial explaining how to wrap the hair around the Heatless Curler Rod. I use this method when doing my own hair.
Fifthly, the next morning when you are ready to remove the heatless curlers, do not unwind the hair from the bottom. Instead, grab the center point of the rod that’s at the very top of your head and gently tug it free from the head. The curls will drop gently from the rod while being pulled away.
My favorite styling trick is to use some hair oil starting on the ends and working it’s way up. This will help with any fly aways.
Now you’re all set to give these away as gifts this Holiday season! Or to keep for yourself :)
