scarf shawl

i fell in love when i saw this scarf cardigan. amazing!! and i also had a couple of pashmina-type scarves that i didn’t use anymore and wanted to use them to recreate it.

except there’s no tutorial (i even wrote to the author, but she preferred not to share it because she might end up selling these cardigans). so i studied the photos and tried to figure out how it’s put together, fiddling around with my own scarves, but i couldn’t figure it out. here are some of my notes and sketches that i made.

but if you look in the middle, i came up with what seemed like a different interestings idea, to make a sort of shawl with puffy sleeves. all i needed was one scarf for this idea, so i got to work.

first i measured how long the sleeves needed to be and cut off that length from the scarf (on the left).

then i cut that part in half to make two pieces.

and i sewed tubes for sleeves. easy, right? except i hadn’t properly measured how wide the sleeves had to be to go over my shoulders and i couldn’t even get them all the way up my arm anyway. oops… so i had to cut off a bit of fabric and make do with sleeves that didn’t go all the way up.

then i cut off the fringe from the second, longer, piece.

i sewed two lines on each end with long stitches and without tacking down at the beginning and end.

this way you can pull the threads and ruffle the fabric.

slip one sleeve inside this ruffled part (right sides together) and pin together, adjusting the ruffles so they’re not all bunched up. then sew it all together.

the scarf opened up a bit near the sleeves, so i sewed it shut a little. if i were to do this again, i’d do this part before attaching the sleeves.

remember how i cut off the excess fabric from the too-long sleeves (thanks to my misjudged calculation…)? i sewed the pieces together,  cut it out like a long strip, and folded in the edges and sewed it into a sort of long cord.

at first i thought i’d add rivets on the front and lace this through them, kind of medieval style. it was a good idea, but not at all my style, so i decided to sew it onto the back of the shawl in a shape that IS very much my style…

… a spiral!

there was also the last fabric scrap, the second fringe, and i hated to waste it.

so i sewed it along the top part of the shawl, around the neck and passing onto the front.

here you can see the effect of the fringe in the front and the stitching i added near the sleeves. (and also the bird’s nest necklace that sheri gave me.)

and here i pulled the puffy shoulder part up to show where the sleeves arrives up to. it’s tight enough to stay more or less in place, but after a bit it starts to slip down. so if you make this, be sure to make it wide enough to slip over your shoulders!

you can also just wear it as a regular scarf. the spiral becomes an interesting visual element. (remember my vine-embellished jeans?)

it’s totally different  from the cardigan that inspired me in the beginning and i’m not totally sure that i’ll actually wear it, but it’s certainly a unique piece and pretty fun, too!