Friday, January 6, 2012

Dec Roses Scarf Tutorial

Ruffled Scarf Sewing Tutorial





Winter means a lot of accessories, and among all those...scarves is my favorite. They can perk up any plain outfit, come in bazzillion styles and colors and are so easy to make. And if something is easy to make, I have to make it. So I did. This super soft bunch of ruffles. I love it and I thought you would like it too so I'm sharing with you how to make one.


Supplies:

Knit Jersey Fabric : 15 inches ( length) x 60 inches ( width)
Elastic thread
Matching thread


Construction:

1. Cut two strips from the fabric of 7.5 inches X 60 inches. If your fabric is not 60 inches wide than just cut multiple strips to make that length. Don't worry about cutting the strips evenly, since it will all get ruffled eventually a little variation in width won't be noticeable and most probably look good.

2.


Now take one strip and shir it in the center. To do this you need to fill your bobbin with elastic thread and use the regular matching thread on top. I did two rows but since all the fabrics shir differently you will need to vary the number of rows based on when you get a decent ruffle in the fabric. If you don't have any experience with shirring here's an excellent shirring tutorial to jumpstart you.

If you cut two smaller strips instead of a 60 inch wide single you need to join them before you shir. The good news is that you don't need to do anything special for that. Just overlap the two strips 1 inch and continue shirring like it was a continuous piece. Because the final piece would be very ruffled, the join would be invisible. Since the knits don't fray, it would be okay in the wash too.

3.
Repeat the above step for both the strips.

4.



Now place one strip over the other ( Wrong sides together). The wrong side is where the white elastic thread is showing. Our goal is to hide this thread, so it doesn't show up whatever way you wear your scarf.

5.

Sew a seam of half inch at the starting point ( shown by the arrow), go back and forth 2-3 times. Trim the extra thread.

6.

Sew a half inch seam every 5 inches. Go back and forth like you did in step 5. Trim any excess thread. What these small 'tacks' do is hold the two layers together so the elastic thread won't show. But sewing these only at the intervals would maintain the stretch in the scarf that was given to it by shirring.
7.




Sometimes, due to unpredictable nature of shirring, your strips may turn out to be different lengths. If that happens, just turn the extra part from the longer strip over the smaller ( As I did in the image above - look right above the arrow) and sew a tack at this point.

8.

The scarf is ready! wear it, gift it, show it off!

Variations:

You could do a number of things with this basic idea. Here're a couple that I could think of.

1. Use strips of different widths

2. Cut fringes after shirring

3. Use different colors for both the strips

4. Use 4 strips instead of 2 and shir 2 layers together.

5. Join different colored small strips instead of making a single long one


I may try some of these ideas myself at some point...but for now, ball is in your court. Go wild!




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13 comments:

  1. so pretty and I love the color you choose. Perfect! Thanks so much for linking up and sharing!

    www.blissfulanddomestic.blogspot.com

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  2. that's so pretty I love the color! just came from Friday Fun Party!!

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  3. I love it! New Follower! You can visit me at http://raisingdieter.blogspot.com/ Thanks, Shay

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  4. Love the color and the tutorial.. Thanks for sharing..
    be sure to check out friday features..
    Following you now..:)
    Love
    Hani

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  5. YOUR WORK IS VERY GOOD.I LIKE VERY MUCH.!!!!!!

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  6. Love the colour of this scarf! and great tutorial!


    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a fabulous week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  7. Love this! I am thinking that this would be a great Mother's Day present. (Say your post on Round Tuit)

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  8. Your tutorial was great and just in time to help me solve a dilemna! I have a friend who has done so very much for me and I want to thank her with a special gift. I read your tut and there was the answer! She donates old clothes for my projects, too. One dress didn't fit right (never had) but she adores the sheer and "rumpily" coverup with beautiful, multi-hued purple 6"x3" flowers sprinkled around depicting 3 stages of blooming. I thought I could make something with it but I couldn't think of anything worthy. Now I know what!! It's polyester but would look great with a sort-of shirring; maybe just tucks the full length.
    So thanks a heap for your generosity! This will be a great gift for a great person! So glad I found your site! :-)

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  9. Very cute! We could use your knowledge in our brand new discussion group on LinkedIn. Experience and new patternmakers are welcome! Please join us! http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Patternmakers-Graders-4355152?gid=4355152&trk=hb_side_g

    Chele

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  10. Thanks for the great idea. For us fabric-folding crafters, this offers lots of specialty-fold embellishment opportunity (remember the '60s tuck-pleated throw pillows?) Thanks also for your added Shirring edu-link!

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  11. Thanks for the great idea. For us fabric-folding crafters, this offers lots of specialty-fold embellishment opportunity (remember the '60s tuck-pleated throw pillows?) Thanks also for your added Shirring edu-link!

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  12. I bet you could use clear elastic for similar results. This is very pretty.

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  13. @Dodo: Thanks...Hmm...clear elastic, now that's an idea. Do you know where to find clear elastic thread? I have seen 1/4 inch elastic but not the elastic thread.

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Leave some sugar :)