Birthday Goodness!

Tuesday was my birthday - such a great day! I just had to share the fabulous wall hanging that my sweet friend, Jenn, of It's Sew Sweet gave me. I love it!!

Ruffled Scarf tutorial

I noticed this ruffled fabric before Christmas and thought it would make a great scarf!  This weekend I played around with it, chatted about my idea with the gals at the JoAnn Fabrics cutting counter and am so happy with the result!  Best yet, it was SO simple!  Trust me, if you take the time to cut and pin it well, you can do this too!

Materials needed:

• 1/4 yard of ruffled fabric with 1" ruffles.  (the kind I found has some stretch to it.  It's not silky, but perhaps a poly blend)  Check out this online source for ruffled fabrics.
• That's IT!!  :)

1.  Make sure the long (non-selvaged) edges are trimmed between the ruffles.  This is very important for a clean, finished result.  You don't want to be sewing the ruffles together, but rather join the fabric between the ruffles. (see below)

2.  Fold your fabric in half lengthwise, with right sides together.  Break out your big box of pins, because you will be pinning it every 2 inches!!  Be sure not to catch your ruffles in the pinning. **Remember, you are pinning the fabric together, NOT the ruffles!

3.  Stitch the edges together using a 1/4" seam allowance.  You have some options here.  I used my serger and that worked great.  You can also use a zig-zag or a straight stitch on your sewing machine.  You may also want to try a stretch stitch setting on your machine (the setting you use when using stretch-y fabrics).  Actually, I may try this last one on my next scarf.   The serger worked great, but considering I used a stretch-y fabric, the serged edge is firm and doesn't offer any "give" ~ does that make any sense? 

4.  Turn your tube right side out.  I left my selvedged ends just as is.  I didn't do anything with them, but rather left the tube "open".  This way the ends of the scarf fall naturally and aren't forced to lay in any particular fashion.  Finished measurements are roughly 60" long x 4.25" wide.

Tie it around your neck in your favorite way, and you are out the door!  Enjoy!  ~~ Truly, it's a sew.simply.creative project! ~~

This project has been shared on Skip To My Lou today.

Happiness is...

...successfully threading my serger on my own without calling in reinforcements!

I'm sure my good friend and serger guru, Jenn (of It's Sew Sweet), will be so thankful!