Tutorial: Sweater Scarf

For my mother-in-law's birthday I made her a scarf from one of my husband's old sweaters and one of his old t-shirts.  We thought she would enjoy the sentimental value of a "hug" from 5 hours away!

I considered making an infinity scarf using this tutorial from Vixen Made, but ended up just using the idea of a two-sided scarf since I thought it'd be too bulky made from a sweater.

 Here are my steps:

1.  Cut long strips of sweater material - the width should be equal to the width you'd like the scarf to be (plus a seam allowance).  Mine were 6 inches wide.  The strips should add up to the length you'd like the scarf to be with a couple inches extra for overlap.

I planned on using the bottom of the sweater for the ends of the scarf, to take advantage of the texture.  After cutting out two strips I realized that the scarf wasn't going to be long enough, so I cut two more strips out (but only ended up using one).  Then I evened up the strips by laying the thinnest over the widest and cutting off the extra.

2)  Pin the strips of sweater together.  I had three strips so I put the shortest in the middle and the longer two (which had the textured ends) on the sides.  I put the middle strip right-side up, then laid the side strips on it right-side down with raw edges touching.  Since my sweater is striped, I had to fuss with where I attached them a bit so that the stripes would be even all the way down the scarf.

Sew strips together using a half-inch seam allowance.  Trim extra fabric and finish seams with a zig-zag stitch.

3)  Cut out strips that are equivalent width and length to sweater pieces from second fabric (I used an old t-shirt).

Repeat pinning process and sew seams together.

Finish seams with zig-zag stitch and iron flat to reduce bulk.

4.  Place fabric and sweater strips together, right-sides facing.

5.  Pin strips together.

 6.  Sew along one short side and both long sides using a straight stitch.  Then finish seams with a zig-zag stitch.

6.  Turn scarf right-side out.

7.  Iron scarf flat.  Pin open end closed, tucking raw edges under.  Sew around all four sides of scarf using a 1/4 " seam allowance.  I used matching thread on the sweater side and contrasting thread on the t-shirt side.

8.  Admire scarf!