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 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

Leggings to Socks!

Remember these leggings I got for $1 at the end of January?

Yeah, they didn't fit so well in the waist...so I started playing around to see what my options could be for a refashion as I don't necessarily need another pair of leggings. The button detail is why I grabbed them in the first place, so I thought, "How about fingerless gloves...or somehow making the legs into sleeves?"

Which led me to try them on as a shrug...then cut out the crotch to see if I'd like it as a cropped sweater...

Not so much (though, I have seen this done and it was super cool!). I decided that I liked the button detail as the top of some boot socks :). So I measured how long I wanted them to be, sewed a sock shape, and cut away the remainder of the leggings...to be used in some future project, perhaps.

And then I got to trying them out as thigh-highs with a dress and oxford heels...or as boot socks over some skinny jeans with riding boots.

And I can even just wear them as I lounge around the house in my p.j. shorts! :) But I'll wear them most often as boot socks. This was crazy easy and quick...just the kind of project I needed today as all of the other sewing I'm doing is mending and alterations. Both of which are necessary, but also really cool because I'm taking things in after both my husband and I have lost some excess weight...and I'm pretty sure the clothes were a bit too big in the first place ;).

One last before and after shot!

Peace,
Andrea