Spring Scarf Tutorials: Part II

Happy Monday :) This next scarf is one that only requires t-shirt yarn and a scrap of extra fabric (unless you want to add to it). I'll start by sharing how to make t-shirt yarn with something that's not a t-shirt (but similar) and requires extra work. :-/ The reason I include it here instead of referring you back to the t-shirt yarn tutorial I posted yesterday is because its a contrary fabric with a pattern that gets a little bit tricky.

Here goes! I started with a strapless top that I wore often before and through my pregnancy and couldn't get rid of even though I stopped wearing it. I cut it just below the bust line, leaving me with the bottom to be transformed into yarn. The top part I trimmed nice and close to the seam and can now wear it as a bandeau top under tanks and backless tops. Bonus!

These next steps are exactly the same as what you'd do with a t-shirt: cut across at even intervals, stopping about an inch from the edge.

Open up the 'spine' and cut from the top of one side down at a diagonal to the opposite side one line below (and so on and so on) until you have one continuous piece.

Now, with a regular t-shirt you would start pulling the yarn to make it curl up on itself and be done with the 'making' of the yarn. But this has a print on the outside and the fabric curls in on itself completely hiding this. So, this is where the extra work comes in. Essentially, you fold the fabric over so that the right sides are together and zigzag along the raw edges, creating a very long skinny tube.

To turn this tube right side out, I used a safety pin attached to one end and then pushed it inside working it through to the other end. This (as well as the previous step) can take a looooong time. Sit and watch a show or put on some tunes to help pass the time.

Now, my yarn is ready! At this point you can do so many different things: braid it, finger weave it (4-sided braid), or simply loop it around and around. I went for the latter, layering it from shorter to longer loops for a graduated 'necklace' look. I wanted to add a little something to it, though, and grabbed a scrap of black and white striped t-shirt material.

This piece will cover the knots that I made to secure the scarf and the ends. I sewed around three sides, turned it right side out, then wrapped it to cover the knots and hand stitched in place. (If you want to make this no-sew, use a typical t-shirt yarn and fabric glue to attach the piece that hides the knots!)

And that's that! Polka dots and stripes are a great pattern combination, and using the same color palette for both makes this a very versatile piece that can be worn as jewelry or layered with a bold solid colored scarf for more warmth. Again, your final outcome depends entirely on what you have available to you and can be embellished upon in so many ways.

As I mentioned yesterday, I'll do an end of the week round-up styling these scarves in different ways to give you a better idea of how they can be mixed up and layered with different pieces. And don't forget to come back tomorrow for yet another scarf!

Peace,
Andrea