Congrats to yesterday’s winner, Katrina E., on winning Day 4’s daily giveaway! We will be in contact so that you can claim your prize.
It’s Day Five of National Sewing Month! Don’t forget to visit Seams and Scissors every day to find daily giveaway opportunities and sewing ideas! To enter today’s daily giveaway, find the contest rules and leave a comment below. Also look out below for details on how to enter our National Sewing Month grand prize that includes a BERNINA 215 Sewing Machine! Too see the daily blog posts, projects of the day, and more National Sewing Month details, click here.
Today’s National Sewing Month post is brought to you by Caroline from Sew Can She!
Hello sewing friends! My name is Caroline and I am a sewaholic, lol. Today I am taking a break from my blog over at SewCanShe so I can do some selfish sewing with you. You sew all the time for other people, so why not spend an hour to make something sweet for yourself? Let’s face it, sometimes moms forget to accessorize. Well, this infinity scarf made with just a yard of soft cotton voile is an easy accessory that you can wear anywhere. And it has fine french seams and a neat 1/4” hem. Lovely!
So let’s get started! You will need:
- 1 yard of 44” wide light-weight cotton or other easy to drape fabric (more about my fabric choice below)
- matching thread
- rotary cutter and mat
- optional – narrow-hem sewing machine foot
The fabric I used is soft organic cotton voile from Birch Fabrics (available at Fabricworm). Voile is like quilting cotton, but more lightweight and suitable for blouses, dresses, and scarves. It’s perfect for this project because the print looks almost the same on both sides, so when your scarf twists and turns, it looks gorgeous all the way around. Many of our favorite quilt fabric manufacturers are also making voile, including Birch Fabrics, Westminster, and Art Gallery Fabrics.
You could also use another lightweight fabric such as linen or rayon. This tutorial is based on 44” wide fabric. If your fabric is wider or narrower, you’ll have to make adjustments.
Cutting Instructions:
1. Cut the selvages from your yard of fabric (see photo above).
2. Then cut the fabric in half making two half-yard pieces (both pieces 18” tall and approximately 42” wide).
Sewing French Seams:
3. Pin the half-yard pieces wrong sides together along one short edge.
4. Stitch the seam with a 1/4” seam allowance. I used my 1/4” quilt piecing foot for this, but you could also follow the guides on your sewing machine.
5. Use a ruler and rotary blade or scissors to trim 1/8” away from the seam allowance.
6. Press the seam to one side, and then press right sides together with the seam along the edge.
7. Sew again with the fabric right side together and again a 1/4” seam allowance.
8. Now press your pretty French seam to one side. 🙂
9. Make two twists in your fabric, and place the remaining short ends wrong sides together. Sew another French seam, making a twisted circle of fabric.
Sewing a narrow 1/4” hem:
10. Sew a line of stitching all around one long side of the scarf, 1/4” from the edge. It doesn’t matter if you sew on the right or wrong side.
11. Press the raw edge to the wrong side along the line of stitching. That line of stitching you just made will make it easy to turn a nice straight hem.
12. Turn the folded edge over one more time and press.
13. Stitch close to the folded edge for a beautiful hem. Repeat on the other long edge and you’re done!
Optional hem technique – if you have a narrow rolled hem foot for your sewing machine, you could use it to sew a pretty hem too. See my tutorial on using a narrow rolled hem foot {here}.
Thanks so much for reading this tutorial! If you love selfish sewing like I do, keep your eye out for my new book coming out this Fall – Just For You: Selfish Sewing With Your Favorite SewCanShe Bloggers. It’s an amazing collection of projects from some very talented bloggers including tote bags, dresses, scarves, belts, and more! You can also keep up with me by visiting SewCanShe.com and signing up for my daily newsletter.
Happy Sewing!
Don’t miss all of Caroline’s amazing projects at SewCanShe!
Also remember to check out the Project of the Day right here!
To enter the daily giveaway, leave a comment below telling us:
Do you wear scarves?
Official Rules for Daily Contest
- There is a maximum of one entry per person. The entry will be based upon a comment left on this blog post. Duplicate comments will be deleted and are not tallied.
- Winner will be selected at random from the comments on this blog post below.
- You have until tonight, September 5th, 2014 at 11:59p EST to leave your comment on this post. Comments posted after that will not be counted.
- Contest open to anyone 18+ in US and/or Canada.
Enter here for the National Sewing Month 2014 Grand Prize Giveaway.
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