style me #3 sew your own scarf

A while back, like last October, we went to my in-laws for a weekend trip. My mother-in-law loves wearing scarves and thought it would be fun to try and sew our own. Needless to say, it was a success. I don't think I'll ever buy another scarf again. This was before I had Bobbie (my sewing machine), but my mother-in-law also has a good sewing machine and we were both able to make 3-4 in one night.  

When you see all of the cute scarves at the store, they're easily at least twenty dollars. I know there are some of those soft cashmere scarves with beautiful designs that you really can't make on your own, but for the most part, you can make the rest.

Pictured above are the scarves I made with my mother-in-law. The blue plaid one is a simple scarf made from 100% cotton. All we had to do was cut it to the right size and then throw it in the washer. No sewing required. The beige one is an infinity scarf (basically a loop), and the other two are tubular infinity scarves. For each scarf, you really only need half a yard of fabric. And half a yard of fabric is around $4-$5 or less. Like I said, I probably won't go out and buy another scarf ever again. What I love about this project is that you can choose whatever fabric design you want to create your own unique style.   

The beige one. All you need to do is lay the fabric down flat, right side up, fold it hamburger style (is there a non-childish way to say that?) and then sew the two edges together. It's really that simple. The important thing about making this kind of scarf is to choose a fabric that does not fray. The material we used was a knit fabric. You should probably stay away from woven fabrics. Also, I would try to find a fabric that looks almost the same on both sides. There will always be a definite front and back, but some are hard to distinguish. You want to find that kind of fabric. 

The tubular infinity scarves. On that evening with my mother-in-law, we only made the darker one a tubular infinity scarf. It wasn't until much later I converted the brighter one into a tubular scarf as well. With tubular scarves, you can be more lenient on the fabric you choose. I'm not going to give pics of a step-by-step tutorial, but it's so easy I'll just type the steps. 

1. Lay fabric right side up.
2. fold lengthwise (hot dog style)
3. Sew lengthwise edges together. Now you have a "tube" with only the wrong side (back) of the fabric showing.
4. Pull the tube inside out so that you now see the right side of the fabric. At this point you may want to hold the ends with one hand and wear the scarf to make sure you like the length.
5. Here's the tricky part. Lay your tube down flat. Fold in half so both ends/openings are lined up. Line up the seams from both ends and then carefully sew the edges together from the inside of the tube. Be careful not to get any other part of the scarf under the sewing foot or else you'll sew one end shut. You won't be able to sew the scarf all the way shut this way, so just go until you can go no further. I left a 2-3 inches opening.
6. If you want to sew the little opening in a way that you can't see any stitches, hand sew it using a ladder stitch. Learn how to do a ladder stitch here.   OR if you are lazy like me, then just sew it shut with your sewing machine. A small seam will show, but is rarely noticed when wearing the scarf. 

And you have a beautiful scarf!

happy sewing,

Jessie