DIY Scarf Upcycle

So here I am again, with no make-up, standing in my living room in front of our big picture window trying to take photos of myself. The older gentleman who walks his schnauzer by my house every morning pauses a moment, smiles, subtly shakes his head, and carries on down the street.  I must look pretty silly holding the curtain behind my back and snapping 50 million photos from awkward angles.   Anyway, the photos are done, and despite the crazy points of view, the colors are true and everything is in focus.  

I've had scarves on the brain for a couple months now.  I made a rather extensive Pinterest board full of DIY scarf ideas, and this month's sewing challenge is all about scarves.  I made a few scarf round-up posts as well.  The round-ups were about scarves with pockets, scarves with cut-outs, scarves pretending to be something else, scarves with prints, and scarves with patchwork and quilting.  You'd think with all that research and effort I'd have 20 scarves done by now, but that's not the case.  I made one.  I have lots more ideas rolling around in my brain though.  So hopefully I can crank out a few more this month.  Fingers crossed....

Today I'm sharing with you a simple scarf project that I am super happy with.  I cut the bottom off a thrift store skirt and turned it into a scarf.  I keep wanting to call it an infinity scarf, but I think those scarves have a twist in them--like a mobius strip???  This one is simply one big loop--like a deflated inner tube!  

The scarf was really easy to make, but sometimes even the simplest projects test my ol' brain.  You'll see when you read the instructions how I took a wrong turn and had to get make friends with the seam ripper again.  *sigh*  Ya can't win 'em all!

1. So here's a pic of the skirt I bought at the local Salvation Army thrift store for about $2.  The fabric is a polyester knit with a one-way stretch.  It was a straight skirt, so basically just a perfect tube of fabric with a gathered elastic waistband.  The bottom was not even hemmed.
2. I cut off around 18 inches off the bottom of the skirt.
3. I pinned the edges, right sides together.  
4. I stitched along the edge, leaving a small opening to pull the fabric through.
5. I pulled the fabric through and FAILED!  Ha!  I ended up with a short, fully lined tube of uselessness. After some forehead slapping and colorful language, I pulled everything through the little opening so it was inside out once again.
6. Then I cut the ring of fabric in half effectively making a super long tube.
7. I tuned the tube right side out.  Then I lined up and pinned the edges of the tube together as shown.  As you can imagine, the pinning only goes so far before it becomes impossible.  
8. I did the best I could and stitched as far around as I could until I ended up with what you see in this photo.  I stitched the small opening up by hand and declared my scarf finished!

The scarf ended up being the perfect length to wear long or doubled up.  The fabric is soft and luxurious.  The color seems to go with everything in my wardrobe.  In short, I'm very pleased.

I'm participating in Blooms and Bug's Fall Wardrobe Revamp this month.
Anshu, a.k.a. Mrs. Blooms and Bugs, has this to say about her series:

At Blooms And Bugs, We are gearing up for a new series of tutorials. Fall Wardrobe Revamp 2012. Are you also feeling like you are suddenly short of cold weather clothing? Or maybe you have some basic pieces that you would like to update for the season. Stay with us in November and we will show you how to update some basic pieces and add some fun accessories to you fall wardrobe. Its time we did some selfish sewing.We also have some blogging friends joining in the fun, I will have more updates on that next week. If you would like to join in and do some selfish sewing, don't forget to send us the link/pictures of your creations. If you have done some cool warm refashions earlier that you would like to share, send in the links. I'm going to post multiple roundups of Refashion+ Accessories tutorials throughout the month, so I'm on the lookout for clever refashions right now. And I will be very grateful if you would put our button on your website to help spread the word.

Sometimes we have a difficult time buying things for ourselves.  Refashioning eliminates some of the guilt associated with getting new clothes.  So join in the fun, try out some new refashioning tutorials, and spoil yourself--just a little!

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,