https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/old-t-shirts-become-new-scarf • Posted by J. Pario
Instructions for T-shirt Scarf Problem: I love both my orange sunglasses and my red coat. But they don't really match. Solution: a red and orange scarf, all from recycled materials. I was originally inspired by Sew Wild by Alisa Burke, but I didn't follow her instructions or even check out the book again when I started to work on my scarf. Still, I wanted to give credit where credit is due, and it is a cool book if you like to sew with recycled materials.
Instructions for T-shirt Scarf Problem: I love both my orange sunglasses and my red coat. But they don't really match. Solution: a red and orange scarf, all from recycled materials. I was originally inspired by Sew Wild by Alisa Burke, but I didn't follow her instructions or even check out the book again when I started to work on my scarf. Still, I wanted to give credit where credit is due, and it is a cool book if you like to sew with recycled materials.
First, find a scarf that you like the length of and measure it. I was aiming for about 60 inches long, roughly, and I decided to make it 12 inches wide, in part because I could use my 12-inch ruler to measure quickly and easily.
Next, raid your stash old T-shirts, or hit the thrift store. I decided to include fall colors in mine because I wanted something a little more wild and out there.
Start cutting rectangles, keeping the width consistent (12 inches, in my case), but varying the height. Of course, that depends on the look you want. If you would like your scarf to be more uniform than mine, a consistent height would definitely move it in that direction.
Embellish some of the rectangles. I probably did about one-third of mine. You can do all, a few, or none, depending on your taste. One thing I would recommend is to create images that don't have an upside down or a right side up. For example, I wrote the word "love" and now it is upside down or right side up, depending on how I wear the scarf. I blogged about the embellishments here: http://paintingontheceiling.blogspot.com/2015/01/five-options-for-embellishing-fabric.html
Plan the order of the segments in your scarf. Remember, the ones you put on the ends will be seen more often than the ones in the middle where they will be wrapped around your neck. You will also probably want to balance colors and patterns versus non-patterned segments. I decided that I wanted to avoid having the same color on both sides of the ends.
Sew the segments of the front together. Repeat for the back.
Lay them side by side and realize that they don’t match. Add onto the shorter side because the longer side is too cool to cut up.
Iron down the seams in one direction so that when you sew them, the foot of the machine will push them down in the same direction as you are ironing them. This helps the finished scarf be less bumpy.
Sew the front and the back together along one side. (Don’t sew the other side yet!) You now have a scarf the right length, but one that is much too wide and has seams showing—never fear, that will change!
In preparation for adding the fringe, fold over at least half an inch of fabric at the two ends. Iron (or iron and sew) in place. You are creating a nice edge for your fringe to jut out between. Think of these like two lips and the fringe is the tongue that will stick out between them.
Make the fringe. This part took a lot of time, so if you are ok with fringe that is all one color, just make your scarf slightly longer and then cut the last (oversized) segment into strips.
Sew one piece of fringe at one end and the other at the other.
Next sew the other loooong side of the scarf together, with the right sides together. You now have a tube that is open at both fringed ends.
Turn your tube right-side out.
Pin and sew the ends so you have three layers all caught up in one stitch—the top, the anchor of the fringe, and the bottom. You’ve now closed off your scarf.
You are done!