The Giveaway Scarf

Yay! I finally finished the giveaway scarf for Lauren :). She initially said that she loved the combination of the mustard yellow scarf with a braided scarf over top. When I asked what type of color combo she'd like, she asked for gray and mustard...but I had a hard time finding mustard! So, upon asking for other colors to go with the gray, she said Tiffany blue or greens. Well, that's more like it! I had the perfect Tiffany blue knit fabric that I'd thrifted 3 years back (I found a huge length at a large thrift store where textile companies donated fabrics and unfinished/damaged new garments).

So, I got started! I had this pair of leggings that I'd found (tagged/brand new) at the thrift store but they were too big and instead of taking them in I figured I'd hold out for the perfect project to remake them. Unfortunately I got excited and took them apart before taking a picture, but leggings are leggings. The only thing 'special' about these is that they had a stretchy lace waistband that I'll be able to use later on :). So, I deconstructed them and opened up each leg along the inner seam.

Now, I wanted to recreate the same shape and drape of the mustard scarf. It used to be a tank top with a drapey front (I basically cut off the top and rounded the drapey part). Laying the legs out I started to work out how I could make this work. I folded the end of the legs over by about 6 inches and cut along the fold.

I flipped the cut bottom portion of the legs so that the angles mirrored the angles of the top portions. I've folded over the edges to meet the smaller pieces here to show where the seams will be.

I just used a straight stitch to sew up each seam, trimmed the raw edges so that they were even and then turned it right side out.

Next I needed to get the shape cut out. I folded the scarf in half and cut a curve leaving as little scrap as possible.

This is what's left! Most of it usable and therefore heading to my stash :). And all I need to do to wear this is to fold the top inward and draping does the rest. No need to finish off raw edges; a good basic lightweight scarf.

Now, to make the braid, I cut the blue knit fabric into long strips and braided them into a plait long enough to wrap around twice. I sewed the ends together and wrapped with more 'yarn' to finish off. The two are separate from one another so that Lauren can adjust and wear them as she wants. Here's how the final product looks!

Anyone else wondering what happened to the other leg (since it only took one to make this scarf)? Well, now I have my own gray scarf to use as a base for all of my different braided scarves :). So, thank you Lauren for liking the scarf you did which prompted me to recreate it and afforded me my own version of your scarf! Oh, and to complete this post, a couple of 'outtakes' so to speak...my husband was talking to me as I got these shots and I just had to share how I look mid-word and mid-blink ;). Enjoy!

Peace,
Andrea

Giveaway Winner

Between FB and the blog, there were 5 entries to win the giveaway scarf...so your chances were good!!! :) In the end Lauren was the winner. She said, "I love all of them but especially the mustard yellow and braid accent. So pretty!!" Well, now we get to work on recreating something like this for you...Congrats!

The good news for those that didn't win, is that I'll be having another giveaway next month! So, stay tuned, and feel free to send me your ideas for things you'd like to see me do. 

Spring Scarf Tutorial: The Finale

Update: The Giveaway is now closed!

Yeah, you read right, a giveaway! I totally missed February's giveaway, so I'll make this month a good one :). But first, let's get down to business with all of these scarves! What on earth am I going to do with so many? Well, I'd planned on spending the morning going 'style' crazy, but plans came up (yay for time spent with other adults!!!) and my time got cut short. So, here are a few of the looks I came up with for some of these scarves, and a round of mixing and matching.

Let's start with the mix-n-match, shall we? I started out with this gray silk (thrifted) top as a base. Basic, easy, perfect for brightening up. I threw on a mustard 'scarf' that I'd made by cutting off the neck and armholes of an old top, and paired it with the sweater turned scarf. I love this, and will wear this combo in the fall.

Then I got going with my braided/t-shirt yarn scarves. I love the lavender and pale pink together (so pretty) as well as the two floral silk scarves! Another fave combo is the lavender braid over this purple scarf seen on the right...

Or is it a scarf? Nope! I thrifted this nightgown brand new but never wear it...though I'm liking it belted and bloused. I think I love it more as a scarf, though ;).

Then I got to styling. I started with the lavender and polka-dot mix and decided I should throw another print in there with this thrifted floral maxi. An army green jacket tones it down for cool days, or I can go bare arms in the summer and let the scarves stand out!

Next, I put on this thrifted silk dress...in my favorite color!!!! But, I didn't love the scarves as much with this one. I threw on the cobalt blue, which was fine, another bold silk scarf layered with polka-dots, and then the mustard and blue floral braid. Meh. I think I'd love the floral silk scarves with this, but I didn't try that combo.

This next scarf will be less conducive for the mix-n-match aspect as it already has so much going on. And I like it just as it is with this silk coral top (thrifted and refashioned).

As I ran out of time, I threw on a pair of jeans I'd bleach tie-dyed, a blush sweater that I thrifted this week, and the sweater/braid/lace scarf, then the tribal/lace infinity scarf. I'm kind of in love with this sweater...the loose knit makes it perfect for the days that are cool but warming up, the color is just so pretty and scarves bring it all to life :).

And now, for the giveaway!!! Ok, so all you need to do is leave a comment letting me know what you liked, didn't like, whatever (though, make it constructive, please) ;) and you will be entered to win your very own scarf! You can pick a certain style, or mix-n-match a couple of pieces that you like and give me specifics on colors/patterns/prints that you like. And I'll custom make a scarf for ya! This is only open to readers in the U.S. (for now, I'll go international eventually, promise!) and you have until Tuesday, March 18th at 9 a.m. EST to enter. Good luck!

Peace,
Andrea

Spring Scarf Tutorial: Part VI

Did ya miss me yesterday? I had a job to finish for a client...my first! Simple panels of fabric to be placed over a ceiling. Seemed simple, anyhow, but I had my share of mishaps and learned A LOT! But on to the tutorial that I missed posting yesterday!

I started out with a thrifted t-shirt that had some tiny holes here and there but was a pretty color. It also just so happened to coordinate with two pieces of silk fabric that I'd thrifted several months back.  Now, I had different ideas on how to make these scarves but in the end I went the easy and safe route. 

I started by making my t-shirt into yarn. I did not pull it, but instead folded the entire length in half, then in half again, and then into thirds. Each 'strand' of my braid would therefore have four strands of yarn. I braided up the length which turned out to be long enough to double over. I used scraps to tie over where I'd sewn the two ends of the braid together. If you want it to be absolutely no-sew, just tie the ends of the braid together nice and tight or use some strong fabric glue before wrapping.

Now, here's where I balked a bit on my original plans. I had thought to make an actually infinity scarf with each of these pieces of fabric, but in the end couldn't do it! So, I decided I'd go the route of knots. The piece on the right was folded in half and where the corners met, I tied double knots. The bottom piece was closer to a square shape so I folded it into two triangles; the outer corners will be tied together.

Once I'd tied each one up, I looped the first around my neck just once, laying the braided scarf over the top! Again, I put on the second, looped twice around, and layered the braid over it. Two looks, and I didn't make any 'permanent' changes to the silk so that if I want to do something else with them later on, I can :). And I probably will.

Leaving the raw edges of the t-shirt yarn and the silk remnants visible may not be to everyone's taste, so feel free to do more finishing work if your fabrics require it. Otherwise, be creative with what you have and feel free to play with scarves you already own, and layer them with some of these simple braided ones.

One last look at the before and after:

Because I'm a day late, I'll do the post with all of the styling shots and mixing and matching tomorrow. Happy Saturday!

Peace,
Andrea

Spring Scarf Tutorial: Part V

We are nearing the end of the week, and today you get two for the price of one! And that's because I didn't do a 'real' tutorial for either one....oops! But I'll talk ya through it, k? Cool. First things first, grab some old t-shirts, tank tops, scraps, whatever! Make tubes...you can either do this by taking a squarish shaped piece and fold it over, sewing along the long open side and then invert (make sure you are sewing right sides together); or, you can cut two long rectangles, sew up the two long sides and invert. To make a long chain of these tubes, you turn one inside out, slide it over another and line up the ends and sew around the edge...and continue to add another length until you have a scarf long enough to wrap as many times as you want.

Now, at this point you need to do something to join the ends, and I chose lace. Similar to the first scarf, I'm wrapping a section of lace around the raw edges of the jersey knit and sewing it in place. You can go a step further and finish off the edges of the lace, or make another tube as with the other pieces of fabric and then topstitch it over the scarf ends as shown below. 

And there you have it! I chose a mix of mustard, blush, and tribal print along with the white lace, so that I could add interest to a basic outfit (which most days my style is pretty simple). Easy to throw on for a bit of color or print and can be easier and cozier than jewelry :). Though, I love jewelry, so this can just be another layer to your accessorizing!

This next scarf/necklace is one that uses a common finger-weaving technique. A great tutorial for learning how to do this (if you don't already know) can be found here. I made this t-shirt yarn from an old stretched out top that I wore through/after my pregnancy. I loved the floral print and combination of rich colors, but it had seen better days as a top (it was thrifted and already slightly worn). This is also another example of a fabric that, when stretched, covers the print and so I weaved it trying to keep the outside of the fabric visible. Once I'd reached a length that I liked, I simply knotted the ends together and trimmed them to be the same length. I like all of the colors and raw edges (a minor obsession of mine).

And paired over a simple top it really stands out. I definitely see this as more of a necklace than a scarf, but it could also be layered over another scarf to create a different look. And, the fact that it's no-sew makes this such a quick project! Love it :).

One last day for scarves and I'm thinking this final one will be my favorite! Stick around to see how it turns out...

Peace,
Andrea

Spring Scarf Tutorial: Part IV

Midweek already and on to scarf #4! This one is a happy scarf. Bright. Bold. I love it! I started out making t-shirt yarn with a top my mom had donated to my stash. This yarn required the fold-over-zigzag-and-invert method so as not to lose the multi-colored print. I then grabbed two different widths of cobalt blue jersey knit that were offcuts from a thrifted remnant I turned into a skirt. Finally, I grabbed the cutoff cuffs-turned straps that I'd originally thought to use on my green granny silk top found here.

I looped the braids around and sewed the ends together, then sewed the braids together at the ends. All of the raw edges and stitching will be covered up in the end.

Next step was to convert the two lengths of cobalt jersey knit into tubes by sewing up each side, inverting and then sewing the ends together. I lined up the braided knit so that all of the seams were in the same spot.

Finally, I grabbed my straps and buttoned the two together to make one long strap. This I wrapped around and around joining at the front with the button closure effectively hiding the seams! Now you can tack this in place with hand stitches to ensure that the strap doesn't slide down revealing the seams, or if your what you use is tight enough, you may not need to.

Here's the final product! I cut everything to be long enough to just hang at the perfect length without having to wrap a second time. There's no need for adjusting it to make it lay just so...its just so easy to throw on and it completely amps up a basic outfit. Can't wait to style this one :). My favorite color is green and my second favorite is blue, so this color combo is right up my alley!

You could definitely make this longer if you wanted to be able to wrap it, and any color/pattern/print combo will completely change the feel to the one you're after. So far, these scarves have been great stash busters. I'm finally finding use for some pieces that've just been sitting for a loooong time! And hopefully this convinces you that having at least a small stash of scraps and such really can be useful when looking for a quick project to brighten up your wardrobe.

Just a couple of quick alternatives on making this one 'less-sewing' or potentially no-sew. You can absolutely just tie your braids ends together or glue them with fabric glue (making sure to glue each strand together). I'd suggest glueing so as to avoid a lot of bulk where everything connects. You don't have to create tubes with your base fabric if you have wide enough strips of jersey knit that can be pulled and curled over. Also, if you want to use a cotton, silk, or other fabric for the yarn or the base, you can! Don't be afraid of raw edges (as long as its not fraying to the point of falling apart). Cotton strips can be braided and look so cute with raw edges and a mix of patterns and colors. Oh, and pinking shears can help to check any fraying as well as add a pretty detail. I've got a couple of silk remnants that I thrifted that'll be showing up in a later scarf to help illustrate the use of raw/frayed edges as a feature instead of a flaw...so stay tuned!

Peace,
Andrea

Spring Scarf Tutorial: Part III

Day three is here and spring is in the air! I'm waking up to songbirds and warmer temperatures...and then I checked the weather and Thursday it'll be 35 degrees colder with a possibility of snow. :-/ Meh. Anywho, I am a little partial to how today's scarf turned out :). I started out with this stretched out bird print top that I never really wore. My husband quickly made me aware of the fact that he didn't like it, and so it sat. It really wasn't very flattering on me, but I still liked the print. So, I found some scraps that would work with the red and blue scheme. The blue and white striped fabric are sleeves from an early refashion of a top turned skirt and the coral/red strips are from an XL mini skirt taken down to a size M mini skirt. They are all jersey knits, lightweight and perfect for scarves.

I started by gathering up the front of the top up to the neckline. Then I pulled the wide coral strips so that they rolled in on themselves and then braided them along with the front of the shirt (the back of the top, being longer, will become the front of the scarf). I then took the two sleeve ends, turned them inside out and slid them over the ends of the coral fabric at each end of the braid. I lined them up, pinned the fabric in place and sewed around the edges to create a tube.

Backtracking just a tiny bit: before the braiding, I had turned the top inside out, sewed the sleeves shut and turned it right side out again as you see in the photo on the left. When I tried the 'scarf' on to see how it would hang with the sleeves closed up, I realized that by sewing them straight up and down instead of angling towards the neck, they hung weird. They either pushed out at awkward angles or I could push them in and they'd still end up hanging out. So, I ended up opening the sleeves by about two inches for this next step. I pushed the blue and white sleeve ends through the newly opened holes on each side from front to back.

Once pushed through, I sewed them together and they hang behind the bird fabric. This took care of the weirdness that the sewed up sleeves created when I hung it around my neck initially. I just took an awkward moment and made it work for me! And I'm kind of in love with the outcome! My husband still doesn't like the bird print and color combo :).  Oh well, I think it's cute! It has a little bit of a nautical flavor, I feel, and I'm good with that.

This scarf is a prime example of trial and error (leading eventually to success). The process seems short when looking at the steps in the photos, but this required a lot of playing around with the pieces to get them to come to this conclusion. I had no clear vision of how it would turn out and essentially let the creative process lead me to the decisions I made as I went along! I tried having the striped sleeves hanging around in front by themselves, with another striped scrap to connect them, more coral fabric to connect them....none of them really worked for me. And that happens A LOT in refashioning. Even if you begin with a clear vision of what you want the outcome to be, it can sometimes all go south pretty quickly (unless the refashioning gods are smiling upon you and you never encounter a single hitch!) and you just have to roll with it. Its all about flexibility: having a flexible process and being flexible with what the outcome will be. And it usually surprises me :) in a good way!

I've already had a chance to wear this one and it just felt so bright and cheerful...which may have been partly due to the fact that it was the sunniest, warmest day we've experienced in five months (until today)...but I think the scarf has that feeling on its own. Tomorrow we've got another scarf lined up and ready for its reveal! Come back to check it out, pretty please ;).

Peace,
Andrea

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

Spring Scarf Tutorials: Part I

Let the spring scarf madness begin! I got so inspired by 'recreating' the above scarf that I went a bit overboard and made lots of scarves...they are all unique but also quite easy to make. I'll be taking this week before the official start of spring (Mar. 20) to show you how you can freshen up your scarf stash!

To start, I put together a really quick tutorial on how to make t-shirt yarn as it is a big part of most of the scarves I made. You'll find it here. If you don't need it, no need to click over! You can skip down to the next step :)

Before you get into cutting and braiding and the like you need to determine how long you want your finished scarf to be. Do you want it to wrap around once, twice? Do you want the braids to be different/graduated lengths? Once you decide, get to braiding your yarn! There are so many options on how to do this, but I went with a basic braid.

Ok, now let's get down to it! You've got your yarn all braided up. You've got the lengths and thicknesses that you want. Next you need a length of lace. It can be a wide lace trim, it can be a remnant of stretch lace...be creative :). And some other fabric as a background to the braids (preferably jersey knit so that you don't need to worry about finishing raw edges). If you choose a solid colored braid, go with a patterned/printed under fabric. Or go with 2-3 different colors. this is all up to your personal tastes. Here's some great news...you can hand sew this scarf. I hand sewed the original because I didn't have my machine yet and it was the easiest thing ever. (Though you'll see that my stitching was far from perfect!)

Now, in recreating this scarf I took the liberty of not doing an exact copy...because that wouldn't be much fun, would it! ;) But I'm including close-ups of the original so that you can see the parallels and differences as we go.

Okay, so the original scarf has this length of lace which was an old tank top I cut up. Because it is a stretch lace it doesn't unravel and so I treated it like jersey knit. I rolled it over on itself, wrapping it around the jersey knit and braids before hand stitching it in place.

The jersey knit is a mint green $1 scarf that I grabbed at a Marshall's. It was actually an infinity scarf that I simply took apart at the seam. I did this because as an infinity scarf I couldn't wrap it around twice comfortably, but hanging on my neck it was a little too long. Adding the length of lace made it just long enough to wrap twice and hang to my liking. As you can see, I was very professional here and just gathered it up in my fist before sewing it in place inside of the lace ;).

The braids, as I mentioned above, do show some raw edges (which I like), and are slightly varying in thickness. I simply tacked the ends so they wouldn't come undone then also sewed them in place wrapped up in the jersey knit and lace. And that's it! I can pin a brooch on the hand stitched area to add another touch of spring (a butterfly attracted to the flowers!) or you could add buttons, notions, etc.

Now, let's take a look at the new scarf. I started with this sweater that I thrifted with a refashion in mind. I loved the colors, stripes and the beautiful lace knit patterns. I paired it with a length of crocheted lace that I'd salvaged from another top and some pink braided jersey knit (from a remnant of thrifted fabric). Oh, and for this one I'm doing a bit more sewing, so I grabbed some matching thread from my grandma's old stash :).

I removed the bottom from the sweater, and then tied it around my neck with the back at the front to see how it would drape and it's perfect!

How about that early morning mug! ;)

All I need to do is get rid of the sleeves...I turned it inside out, sewed along the edge of the sleeve slanting towards the neck (roughly along the line of the scissors) and then trimmed them off making sure to leave the actual sleeve intact for future use. I zigzagged the cut edges to keep them from fraying and turned the sweater right side out.

Next step was to zigzag the bottom edge of the sweater where I'd removed the wide ribbed knit waist. Then, I crisscrossed the two bottom corners, sewed them in place and tacked them in together where I'm pointing to keep the new front of the scarf from hanging too low. This is now the portion of the scarf that will lay at the back of my neck.

Now, for the crocheted lace. I cut it to length (layed it across the back of my neck and eyeballed where I'd want it to hang), folded over the edge and sewed it down, wrapped it around the braids and sewed straight across once. I repeated this for both ends of the braids, one hanging just slightly longer than the other.

Here, I'm demonstrating what the options could be if you are including another layer of fabric as in the original. You could wrap said fabric around to the front for a cool effect, around to the back, or scrunch (gather) it up before sewing it in place.

And that's it! I decided not to attach these two together as it gives me more options for layering my scarves (something I'm getting more and more into). I love the lace and braids on their own as simple comfy jewelry (great for anyone working with youngsters and/or who have some of their own). Also, great jewelry for winter where I tend to stop wearing necklaces as they take on the cold of outdoors and I just don't want to wear cold jewelry as I'm walking around town running errands.

So, what do you think? One option is almost no-sew (and I'm sure you could find a way to do it with just some fabric glue), and the second includes just a bit more sewing simply for the use of a knit sweater that would easily fray. I feel like I've created another favorite that is warm enough if there's a chill, but also nice and light for the warmer spring days that are sure to come ...eventually ...someday ...maybe. I WON'T LOSE HOPE! lol!

Hopefully, this gives you enough of a starting point to start playing around with ideas of your own. Be creative with what you already have on hand and if you need to go on the hunt for 'materials', try to keep an open mind (and eyes) on what you can make of things.

Be ready for another tutorial on the way tomorrow! AND I'll do a final post on styling all of the scarves I've made next weekend :). Oh, and there'll be a surprise in that post, so make sure you keep coming back to find out what it will be. Happy Refashioning!

Peace,
Andrea