one of my friends asked for directions for the hair curlers i made this weekend, so here goes…
ingredients for one curler:
a scrap of cotton fabric, at least 4″ X 9″ in size
a small amount of stuffing the curler (i use polyester)
a button
some thread
tools:
a sewing machine, preferably with a zipper foot attachment
a hand-sewing needle
scissors
baking time:
around 10 minutes at intermediate skill level
directions:
first, cut a 4″ X 9″ rectangle from a piece of scrap fabric.
fold it in half lengthwise, right sides together. sew 4″ along long edge using 1/4″ seam.
fold the small end together (the end where you started your stitching).
sew across the end. [alternately, you could hand-sew this end instead, using a running stitch and gathering it by pulling up on the thread]
turn right side out and stuff up to the top of that initial 4″ seam.
once it’s stuffed, sew opening closed as close to the 4″ mark as possible.
using the tail-end of the thread, sew a running stitch over the previous stitches and gather. [alternately, this opening could be sewn shut and gathered by hand]
fold the other short edge over 1/4″, then fold a long side over about an inch.
fold the remaining long edge over, turning its edge under 1/4″ as well.
sew over the last edge you turned over, then along the short edge, then back down the other side.
sew a buttonhole on the end. i like a buttonhole going the length of the curler. YMMV.
cut open the buttonhole.
sew a button to the end of the stuffed portion.
voila! a curler!
special bonus – a messy curler-head:
heh.
life with monkey 
do they work?
What an awesome idea and great tutorial. I’d be wiling to buy some rollers (sewing time is to precious lately). Ever think of selling some?
Great tutorial! I love the idea and the execution. I totally need a set of these.
What are they like to sleep on? They look better than sponge rollers, nice & soft. I’d love to have nice pretty, fluffy curly hair- sigh. This thin hair of mine will curl with something like that, but it would come right back out again without a bunch of hairspray. Unfortuneately my system doesn’t tolerate hairspray one single bit, not even the “natural” ones.
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Aren’t you clever! As many times as I’ve used the foam ones on my daughters, I would have never dreamed this one up. Good thinking out of the box.
seriously, will you sell any?
I would be interested in buying…
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I Love your idea!! I want to make some now!!
I have long hair and these look like they’d be okay to sleep in or at least grab a quick nap!
I used to “rag” roll my hair when I was younger
and when I had 4 daughters they thought rag rolling was cool and did eachother’s hair!!
Now time to try a new idea!!! Thank you for the great tutorial!!
Just wanted to let you know that I made your curlers and posted the results over on Craftster. The ladies over there LOVED your curlers!!! Here’s a link if you’d like to check out all the praise:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=235779.msg2582113;topicseen#msg2582113
I made these just now, and wow! Super easy and super comfy, I’ll never go back to ordinary hard ones!
This is a great tutorial. Thank you! I am going to link to this tutorial from my blog.
I cannot wait to make these. This is the best new idea in hair stuff simce mousse!
I know this is an old post for you, but I had to write you and tell you thank you for this tutorial. I have a fun little hait blog and I have been holding on to this link of yours for a while wanting to make these. I was presented with some time this last week and I made them and totally love them. You are very talented. Thank you for the help making such a fun product. If you want to have a look head over to http://girlydos.blogspot.com/2008/08/curlers.html and thanks again!
Great idea. I made some of these for myself and will be giving some to my Mom and friends as well. I’m still not used to sleeping with them yet but it’s worth it when I see the results in the morning!
Hey! Thanks for the awesome tutorial! I made 12 of these on the weekend, with a matching lined bag for storage. I still need to do the buttonholes, after I learn how. These are going to be a Christmas gift for my neice.
Check it out!
I LOVE IT!
I’ve made 4 so far, and I’m so excited to see how they work with my hair!
Then if they don’t work as well as I’d hoped (my hair is a bit weird), I’m sure my friends would appreciate some colourful curlers 🙂
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing this. I’m headed to the sewing machine. :>)
This ROX!!!!! thanks heaps i love em and they are soooooo easy to make 🙂
Thanks for the brilliant idea! I can’t believe how smart you are coming up with these. I’ve posted a link to this on my blog here
http://wonderwomancreations.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-make-fabric-hair-curlers.html
I also posted a “how to” on my blog showing how to wrap your hair in these curlers. See it here
http://wonderwomancreations.blogspot.com/2009/07/h.html
how big are these in diameter? will u please let me know? thanx. by the way these look super cute.
Thank you sooooo much! I’m a hair & curls lover and I’ve been trying to find something like this for ages. 🙂
Plan to give these a try. I’ll make bigger ones to relax the curls in my very curly hair and smaller ones for my 11YO’s shorter hair…and thanks for this…it’s lovely and such a great idea. And am thinking about using snaps on the ends instead of buttons…although that will distract from the cuteness!