Catchy name, eh? If you are scratching your head right now don't worry. The name will make sense by the end.
I found this pretty, colorful chiffon on clearance recently and thought it would make a beautiful lightweight scarf. The colors will give my outfits a nice pop that I often lack.
Quick projects can be so gratifying. This whole scarf only took me 10-15 minutes (minus the picture taking), so I thought I would share.
To start I measured out 24" for the width. My fabric is 44" wide, which will be my scarf length. The width and length are totally up to you. I only wanted a single loop so this was enough for me.
This kind of fabric can be a bit slippery when cutting...even if you use a rotary cutter. The trick to get a nice even piece is to tear it. That's right, I said tear it. Just cut a little at your mark like I did above.
Then grab it on each side of your cut and let it rip!
When you have your piece of fabric at the desired dimension fold it in half qwith right sides together, matching up the long sides. My fabric here is the same on both sides.
Sew, or serge, your long sides together and attach elastic along the seam.
I don't usually measure my elastic for stuff like this. I just grab the raw end of my roll and go to town. The amount of elastic needed will vary based on the type of elastic you use, the weight of your fabric, and the amount of gathering you want. I used Lastin, clear elastic, and needed about 30" total.
You can either sew first, then attach your elastic, or do it all in one step as I have done here. Just make sure that you give yourself a little tail to start with (see above picture).
Sew a few stitches, then grab that tail in one hand and your unsewn end of elastic in the other and give it a stretch as you sew. It was hard to demonstrate while trying to hold the camera. So in these pictures you see my same hand on each end of the elastic, but in real life they would each be in different hands. If you havent used elastic for gathering then it may take a bit to get used to. just try to keep that elastic aligned with the sewn edge so that the stitches grab it.
Here is my seam part way through stitching. See on the left how the elastic has made some nice gathers? On the right is the the raw edged part of the side I am still stitching.
When you are done sewing the long sides together you will have a tube of fabric with gathers on one side along the seam.
Turn your fabric tube right side out. this is what the gathers look like from the right side. Not bad :)
This part was also difficult to capture with the camera in one hand. That is my arm sticking through the tube of fabric.
If you do it like me, you will grab your raw end of the fabric tube at the top of your arm. Fold it down over itsself, lining it up with the raw ends at your hand. Your tube will now be folded over on itsself with right sides togther.
When your raw ends are aligned grab your top layer and give it a twist. This will offset your center seam and give your scarf a little twist (pun intended!) from the regular infinity scarf. You can twist it a little or twist it a lot; it is up to you. So...how twisted are you? ;) Haha, i am having too much fun with the puns. I twisted mine a full 360 degrees and then some; probably about 450 degrees total.
You can see how my center seams are offset in the picture below.
Sew your short raw end of the tube togther (now that your all twisted up!), making sure to leave an opening for turning. My fabric is pretty thin so I was able to get away with only leaving a 1-2" opening. If you are working with heavier fabric you will need a larger opening.
I zoomed out in the picture above so that you can see what your twisted up scarf should be looking like. The edge along the bottom there is my short ends of the tube with my opening.
Turn your scarf right side out through the opening.
Fold the raw edges of your opening down to the inside, aligning it with your seam alloawance. Hand stitch your opening closed and you are all done!
Now...hold on to your seats because I am about to hit you with some awesome modeling shots!!!
Here I am with my sad, boring wardrobe. :(
And here I am with my sweet new scarf!!!
Hahahahaha! Okay, so my son was the one taking these pictures. You do the best you can with what you got!
The truth is, I am not completely sold on this scarf. I love the idea/twisted technique, I just think it didn't turn out the way I had envisioned due to the fabric I used. It may take while to grow on me, or it may be considered a fail. I had fun playing around anyways. And you bet I will be trying this again with a different fabric!
Thanks for playing with me!
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