Easy Gather & Loop Scarf

I've been seeing more gathered scarves popping up on different blogs and decided to make my own version. A nice, light scarf is a great transitional piece going into fall. My fall wardrobe tends to be dark and plain, so I chose a fabric that would add a pop of colour -- it came in a box of fabric given to be my a woman who brought it with her from Switzerland, but I'm guessing it was a bed sheet at some point. No matter, I like the print. Here's a photo, courtesy of my four year old (=

This seemed like an easy project, so I didn't bother measuring...that was a mistake, because after I'd gathered my scarf, it was too short to drape nicely. If you'd like to make your own scarf, I'd suggest starting with a rectangle of fabric approximately 70 to 100 inches long and 10 inches wide. After cutting, I finished the long edges using the rolled hem foot on my sewing machine. It gives a great neat finish, but can be tricky to use.

Then I attempted to use my ruffling foot to gather the scarf along each long edge and down the middle. Another mistake -- I set it up wrong and broke two needles before giving up and gathering manually by setting my stitch length to 5 and tension to 0. Don't secure the ends. When you've done all the stitching, pull the bobbin thread at each end to create gathers. When you're satisfied with the placement of the gathers, stitch over them with a normal stitch setting. If not, the gathers will shift around, and may come loose (like mine did!).

Because my fabric was too short to tie and drape, I folded over one short end and stitched it down to create a loop for securing the scarf around my neck. Not elegant, but it works. To finish the remaining short end, I folded it over twice and stitched it down. Here's a better photo of the finished scarf. I will have to go back to secure my ruffles (oops), but otherwise I like it and will probably make a few others in solids or other prints.

Can't wait to re-do my gathers properly and start wearing this. Love autumn!