A few weeks ago I made a bunch of these ruffled scarves.  As I was cutting them out I thought it might be nice to do a quick tutorial for those of you who would like to make your own.

 Ruffled Scarf Tutorial

This fabric is already ruffled and can be purchased here.

You will want both edges cut straight between 2 ruffles.  Sometimes I have to straighten one edge because I’ve made leggings or something else from some of the fabric.  If you purchase one yard of fabric to make a scarf you should already have your edges straight along a ruffle.

When working with one yard of fabric I measure the width and divide by 6 to determine how wide each piece I cut should be.  You will need 2 strips for each scarf so 1 yard of fabric will make 3 scarves if you figure right!

Most often my measurement is around 8 or 9 inches per piece.  You will be cutting across the ruffles at this point.  Measure from the selvage which should be straight.  Occasionally I will get a piece of fabric that is obviously not straight so I will straighten it before cutting the scarf pieces out.

You can chalk a line on your fabric if you prefer – I just lay my ruler a few inches ahead of my scissors and cut as I eyeball it and then move the ruler forward as I reach it.

Usually you can tell which way the ruffles are supposed to lay but once you have strips cut that have no selvage it can be more difficult to tell.  Some pieces the ruffles will go easily either way.  The area between ruffles is two different thicknesses.  The proper way for the ruffles to lay is for the thicker part of the in-between area to be at the bottom of the ruffle.  If you look closely at this photo you can see that the upper area is thinner.

Place two pieces of ruffled fabric strips together at the short end with the ruffles laying down on each piece – you want the ruffles to hang towards the floor on each piece when you have it around your neck so when you put the pieces together to sew they need to lay opposite directions.  See how the raw edges are the in-between part and the ruffles all lay down.

Sew that seam using a 1/4 to 3/8 seam allowance – whatever works with the ruffles you have.

Now fold the long strip in half lengthwise – you will have a 4 inch wide tube when you are finished.  Begin stitching in the center at the seam where you sewed the first 2 strips together.  You will sew from the center to the end and then turn it over and stitch from the center to the edge on the other side.  This way you are always sewing over ruffles that are turned down instead of up and it is much easier and you end up with a much nicer finished scarf.

Sew to the ends and leave the ends open – do not sew across them.

Trim your threads and clip the seam at an angle at both ends.

Turn scarf right side out – press if necessary!  Make several and hand them out for Christmas this year.

And once again – if you don’t want to sew your own you can always purchase one here!

Jill

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