Oct 2, 2012

Voila! Two easy to make voile scarves.

I love wearing scarves and am so happy that they are in vogue. I have knitted several beautiful ones from baby alpaca and I always seem to find a new one while shopping at some of my favorite stores. Someday I’ll have to count how many I have, or perhaps I really don’t want to know!

Now that our big show is over…more later on that, I felt I needed a creative play day. I brought out the stack of beautifully printed voile fabrics given to us by the generous people at Amy Butler Designs. If you want just a pop of color without adding warmth around your neck, these fabrics are the perfect choice. In fact, they just feel like butter and are much easier to work with than one might imagine.

Beautiful voiles by Amy Butler Designs.

I like the look and feel of both the fluffy scarves and the popular infinity designs so I decided to play with some ideas I’ve had brewing for awhile.

This first one is just a simple infinity scarf (think tube) that is made with two fabrics. I’m planning to make another using four different fabrics. I think it will be so lovely as the different colors and designs twist around my neck.

Choose two fabrics. Then cut two 10-1/2” x 36-1/2” pieces from each one.

With the right sides together, join two pieces of different fabrics together along a short end. Press the seam open. Repeat for the other two pieces.

Next, place the long strips together, right sides facing and stitch together along both edges, starting and stopping 4” from each end.

Note that the edges are offset to indicate that there are two layers. Align edges when stitching.

Turn the tube of fabric right side facing out. With right sides together, stitch one of the short ends together, folding the other short edge out of the way.

Next, stitch the other end. Then turn the tube wrong side out and stitch one of the side openings closed. Turn right side out again and hand stitch the final opening closed.

Voila – ready to wear. You have the choice of leaving it full or pressing flat. Since, as I said earlier, I like the fluffy look, I tend not to press the seams flat.

Here’s a second version, again using voile fabrics.

For this scarf, I cut two 10-1/2″ x 36″ pieces of fabric. I joined the short ends together with a flat fell seam to make one long piece. Here’s a quick tutorial on flat fell seams in case you need a refresher.

Lay the two ends wrong sides together, placing the top piece 1/4″ down from the underneath piece. Stitch 1/4″ from the edge of the top piece.

Next, open the fabrics, press the seam flat and then turn the 1/4″ extension of the back fabric over the edge of the shorter end. Press firmly and then pin to hold the crease. Finally, stitch close to the folded edge to complete the seam.

I found two options for finishing the edges of the fabric. The first one creates a narrow hem all the way around. I hemmed the short ends first. Stitch 1/4″ from the edges. Use the stitching line as a guide while turning and pressing a narrow folded hem. Stitch close to the folded edge. Repeat for the other sides of the scarf.

The second option creates a rolled hem that is often found on lightweight fabrics. I used perle cotton thread. The thread is placed about 1/8″ from the edge of the fabric. I set both my stitch width and length at 2. The needle will catch the edge of the fabric and bring it back over the edge of the perle cotton. This takes a bit of practice but well worth the time.

Perle cotton 1/8″ away from the raw edge of the fabric.

Finished edge of rolled hem. Even the yellow thread used for this tutorial is hidden in the roll.

Here’s the fun part. I used elastic thread to make it “fluffy”. Again, with the machine set on zig zag, and the wrong side of the fabric facing up, stitch over the elastic thread. Gently pull along the thread as you sew. The amount of stretch will determine the amount of gathers. You can adjust as desired.