Strawberry Roan: Infiniti Scarf Tutorial

If you've had an opportunity to read around the ol' blog here, there's a good chance you've heard me go off about one obsession or another. Mid-century furniture, chairs in need of re-upholstery, bags in a rainbow of colours, black and white photos, scarves...

That last one is new, at least newer than the rest. And Etsy is feeding my obsession. Honestly, if I'm caught hiding in the bushes outside the sewing room of one of their many talented scarf creators, drooling over printed fabrics, that site will be 78% to blame.

I may or may not have an entire pin-board of scarves - and a real-life closet of a dozen or so... but I find that nowadays, when I find a gorgeous new scarf online, I don't rush to see how much it is, or if they ship to Canada, because I know I really don't need it. And if I bought all the scarfs that I really really wanted my family would have to contemplate an intervention.

Think I'm being dramatic? Don't feel bad, it's been known to happen from time-to-time. Check out these posts I've written recently, here, here, and here. - Yes, 3 in a month and a half, this one makes 4. It's a sickness really...

Anyways, onto the tutorial...

On Saturday I was able to slip in a little thrift shopping. In addition to a great striped skirt (floor length for the summer) I found some beautiful gray plaid fabric. $3.99 for 2+ meters (80ish inches) - I knew immediately that I wanted to do something with it, my mind went to upholstery first, as always, but then it hit me, infinity scarf all the way!

*Note, I'd never made an infinity scarf before.

Step 1: Wash and dry the fabric. Iron if needed.

Even if your fabric isn't from a thrift store it's always a good idea to wash and dry it to save a lot of headaches later on. No one likes shrinkage.

Step 2: Cut the fabric to size.

The fabric was quite wide (52 centimeters, 20.5 inches) so I cut it in half length wise. That made the piece I was working with about 2 meters long (80 inches) and 27 centimeters (10 inches) wide.

Step 3: Sew

I folded the fabric in half lengthwise, good sides facing each other, and made a stitch along the raw edge. This left me with a long fabric tube.

After turning the fabric good side out, I turned my attention to the ends.

Take one end of the scarf and turn the raw edge in on itself - like a hem. Stitch the end, be careful not to sew the end closed!

At this point, I put a twist in the scarf before stitching it all closed - it gives the scarf some extra oomph when worn. The easiest way I could find to do this, without enlisting a friend to help, was to hold the hemmed end under my chin, take the raw edge and twist it once, then place the ends together on a flat surface.