Ruffled Linen Scarf

Ruffled_Linen_Scarf
I’m a scarf girl. In winter, spring and fall I wear one every single day. But when summer rolls around, most of my scarves are way, way too hot for daily, or even once in a while, wear. One of my favorites is a slightly ruffled woven wool scarf that makes an appearance in my cool weather wardrobe at least once a week. And missing that scarf lately, I decided to make a light summer version of it.

Linen is another staple of my wardrobe. My summers are filled with linen skirts and pants and capris, it’s perfect for the hot weather where I live and looks great with just about anything. So when it came time to choose a fabric for a new ruffle scarf, linen was an obvious choice, but you could make this out of any light weight summer fabric.

The style of this is highly alterable. Change the width, the length, the number of rows of shirring to suit your style. And of course, it’s great for winter fabrics as well!

A note about the elastic thread. Sewing with elastic thread in your bobbin and standard thread through your needle creates and effect known as shirring. It is often used to make the bodices of dresses stretchy by sewing row after horizontal row. Depending on your machine, you may need to hand wind the bobbin. It will take a few minutes but no longer than that. Make sure you wind the bobbin with some tension, pulling on the elastic thread as you wind. It will loosen some when you insert it into your machine, but that’s ok, it’ll retain some of that tension, which you’ll need to create the gathered look.

Things you need:
1/4 yard of linen
Matching Thread
Elastic Thread
Sewing Machine
Scissors

Things to do:
1. Hem each side of the scarf by folding over 1/4″, and then 1/4″ again and sewing a straight seam along the fold.
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2. Load the elastic thread into your bobbin and place your fabric, just slightly off center, under the foot of your machine. Lock your stitches and sew on your longest stitch length to the other end. If you don’t fee comfortable eye-balling the center-line of the scarf, measure and mark down the length of the scarf with pins to help you keep along the center. You’ll want to stitch about 1/4″ to one side of that center mark.
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3. Sew another line, this one on the other side of the center-line, down to the end again, locking your stitches at each end as before.
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4. Two lines of shirring should give you plenty of pucker but if you want it to have a tighter gather; continue to add lines of shirring equal distances from the center line.

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1 Comment

  1. Oh my heavens – a girl after my own heart. I am in love with scarves…in fact, I’m pretty sure my husband would go as far to say I’m a scarf junkie. I just can’t get enough of them, especially the cozy fall/winter kinds!

    But this…this is PERFECT. I have been searching high and low for something to wear in the warmer months, and I think I might have to try my hand at making one of these! The best part of this tutorial is that it can be customized to suit any style – short scarves, long scarves, wide/narrow, simple/embellished…

    Thank you for sharing!!!