Infinity Scarf Tutorial

Due to popular request, I've decided to give writing tutorials a shot.


Since this post is a bit longer than I anticipated, I've got the one about the fabric store in Malaysia ready for you next week.

I made some adorable infinity scarves from my most recent trip through Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, where I just couldn't stand how beautiful all the batiks were!

Here are the originals (don't mind the lack of closed seams there)

And then here's what your finished product will look like...I used some Tula Pink for this one.

Now, there's two ways of doing this: the very exact, precise version, and then mine - the go-with-it version. I'll do my best to give you the precise version, but let you know where you can cut corners and not get too exact.

First, you need around 1.5 yards, 59 inches, or something of the sort whether longer or shorter. The scarf you see me wearing is 59 inches, and despite looking snug I feel like I had a ton of room to arrange and maneuver to suit me. I'm on the smaller side at 5'3", but I still think it's nice and large. 

I used cotton, though that's definitely negotiable as well.

This is totally a "go with it" in terms of the length. You should have around a piece around 20-22 inches wide and around 56-60ish long. My measurements were 21x59 and no one will notice a few inches either direction.

Here's what that looks like, approximately.

 

Now go give your fabric a press before we get started. While this is very forgiving and imprecise, there are a couple things I like to do here.

I like to even my material out while pressing. Sometimes it doesn't always come off the bolt lined up and if I want 2 scarves I like to even it out (or sometimes I want to hoard every inch I can...).

You can do that by lining up the bottom of your selvages and smoothing all the material towards the crease on the bolt. Not a requirement, I just like things even and sometimes it even comes off the bolt wrapped unevenly. 

If you want to use the imprecise method, you won't want to skip this step though.

Line up your selvage edges

Once you have that lined up, you can see I have about 1/4 of an inch to press flat. A bit of Best Press and work your way down the seam.

And then press that crease out!

Now, for the precise people, feel free to take whatever measurement you decided you wanted to use and measure it out. You imprecise people follow me...

We're taking our scissors down that line we just pressed!

Again, no need to be super precise here, you want to get close but an 1/8th of an inch here or there isn't going to hurt.

You can also square up your ends here but I like to leave those for later. 

We do need to cut off our selvages though, and I like to do that by lining up my selvage edges, folding, and gently smoothing (not too much!) until I'm ready to cut. Overworking it here will cause you to have "elbows" at your folds. 

Now we have a nice long tube to sew together, so put your right sides together, pin if you wish, and sew yourself a tube.

I didn't pin, these are so forgiving I like to adjust as I go. Since the scarf twists and bunches, no one will notice a pucker or a slightly crooked seam.

I even used my 1/4 inch patchwork foot - I don't see a need to worry about double or thicker seams since scarves typically aren't put through the stress of normal clothing.

Now it's time to take your tube, turn it inside out, and press it. I like to reach my arm all the way through, grab the ends, and pull it all through in one motion.

Now I really like to use Best Press so my seams are nice and crisp and make sure to roll the fabric in my fingers as I go along so I don't press the seam too far in.

After I've pressed it is also when I like to deal with those pesky edges. As Angela Walters likes to say, "close enough is good enough!" and I think that applies here too. 

Just align your ruler so it's square with the top and bottom, move it in as much as you need to, then give it a quick swipe with your rotary cutter.

Now I have these python-looking ends that admittedly look like they might bite or at least complicate my life.

So what to do with these ends? Never fear, it's easy too!

I like to start with my seam for pinning, since it's literally the only thing to line up here.

And if you mis-align the seam? Meh, who's going to notice? 

If you insist on aligning the seam, however, continue with aligning and pinning. I like to start by pinning the seam, then aligning about 1-2 inches before it with another pin and a few more after that.

Pinning the entire thing at once isn't going to work, so I start with 4-5 pins and put it under the machine. 

Forgive my slightly blurry photo here, I think we all know what material under a machine looks like and can ignore that I'm still learning my camera...

Once you've sewn several inches and removed your original pins, it's time to turn this thing inside out.

Wait! Don't take it out from under your needle!

I don't like to stop a stitch where I can, so I just reached in again - as far as I could for convenience - and pulled it inside out.

This doesn't have to be pretty. It probably won't be. Don't worry too much about it as long as you have all the material you need within your seam.

Then continue sewing until there's an opening of about 3-4 inches left (or if you're like me, about 2 since I like to live dangerously)

Be sure to keep all your fabric away from the needle except for your 2 seam pieces, and when you get there use a securing stitch or stitch 3-4 times in place to make the next step easier.

Here's my tiny opening as I turn it back right-side-out. I like to try to finesse it slowly so it eases out. 

Once it's been turned right sides out again, we have a small hole to deal with.

You can either stitch it closed by hand, or, if you're feeling imprecise today too, you can join me in machine stitching it closed.

Give it a couple pins if you like to hold everything in place...

Run that couple inches under the machine...

And there you have it!  A beautiful infinity scarf for yourself or a loved one!

I hope you enjoyed my first tutorial, please leave me comments and feedback on if you found it helpful and ideas for what you would like to see in the future!

Christmas and the Holidays, part 2

Ok, so here's a little reminder of how I ended my year:

My Bernina broke down right after I finished the final dresden blade on my Dresden Sunburst quilt. 

I shipped her off via train to my dealer in Thailand once they helped me determine I couldn't fix it, and it arrived just in time for them to close for the holidays.

Well, bummer. That was a long 4 days (the Thai love their holidays!), but just one day after they opened back up they put her back on a train to me!

Here's a look at what I did while I waited on my machine repairs...

Temple next to a 5-story mall.

We went to the mall a few hours across the border in Thailand, which happens to be next to a temple...by that I mean they even shared a parking lot!

So after lunch I covered my shoulders and we checked it out. Buddhist temples require modest clothing - shirts with sleeves and pants below the knee are the requirement for everyone and you must remove your shoes to enter. Luckily, I keep a scarf on me for just such an emergency.

Requisite temple photo with handsome

The center here is where everyone goes to worship. They kneel and pray to the statue, and depending on the type of temple (Chinese, Indian, etc.), there are a few different things they may do such as light candles or put kohl (a chalky dust) on their heads.

I'm not sure what they do at this temple because no one was around to observe.

Inside the temple

Temples are always so pretty, ornate, and make me think of quilty things...anyone else see what I see here?

After the temple, we checked out the mall. It included a place advertising books and we decided to see if there were any in English. Imagine my surprise when I saw this in a book store! 

Sewing machines! 

Sadly, there was no fabric, but there were small sections for knitting and cross stitching.

However, I was not to be deterred! I just knew with famous Thai silk there would be a fabric market, so I stopped at Starbucks for some coffee and wifi.

There, via blog searching (the best way to find anything in this part of the world!) I found Ba Nah Ka Silk Village. 

Ba Na Kah Silk Village entrance

I read not to stop at the front for the touristy things, and there was also a ton of black, as the Thai are observing one year of mourning in honor of the death of their beloved king. 

The Thai love color, so all this black is unusual.

So I headed straight towards the back and stopped at an intersection. This is real Thailand, so it was surprising I found a woman who spoke excellent English. 

She showed me her cottons...

Don't worry, these didn't impress me for a quilt either!

But then I stepped behind those and found this prettiness!

Sorry it's a bit blurry, I was excited!

More importantly, here's what I picked out.

On the right are two pretty cottons, though they're a bit rougher than we're used to in terms of quality because a different type of cotton is used here and it has shorter strands.

On the left is just one piece of reversible material, and it's made from Thai silk. There's quite a lot there, which would usually be used to make what's called a sinh, a traditional Thai dress for women, but I'm thinking I might use it to make a scarf or two. 

Through my travels, I've discovered America does cotton fabric quite well. We have much longer strands of cotton that make some of the softest, strongest fabric I've been able to find in the world!

I knew cotton was part of our history, I just didn't know American cotton was such a great thing!



Now, on to my actual sewing!



There wasn't as much as I liked, between a broken machine and leaving for more travels (where I bought fabric!), but there was a bit.



If you recall, I had this beautiful Surfside quilt made from Pat Sloan material, and it had been sitting as a top because I didn't know how to quilt it.

I picked up Angela Walters' Dot-to-Dot Quilting class from Craftsy and finally had my inspiration! 

My colored centers were pebbly...

And here's where Angela's class helped the most. I really wanted to accentuate the pale yellow shapes as well.

And my yellow centers were pointy!

And last but not least, this fun quilt is finally finished!

My furry helper overseeing things

And a view of the back!

I used the Moda 40th anniversary featuring selvages that I stashed last year as the back; I knew it was just waiting to be a back for the perfect quilt!

For my next blog I've gotten overwhelming requests to shoot a tutorial for the infinity scarves I've made after my recent travels.

I'm going to pair that with the fabric store I visited in Malaysia as well! 

This blog is also going to be sooner than regularly scheduled, as there was quite a high demand; you can expect it before the end of the week!

Christmas and the holidays, part 1

I hope your Christmas was as merry as mine! Here's a snippet of my holiday season...

Homemade hot chocolate, decorations, and the Grinch - does it get any better?

Then we participated in the Vientiane 5k here in town. It's the first one we've gotten to run in in a while!

Look at my husband...SO happy to be up for a 6am run ;-) 

I finally quit procrastinating and got to my Christmas sewing. Here're the stockings I mentioned I needed a lot of...boy am I sick of stockings after that!

10 in one day was a bit too many! But they loved them!

I found this great fabric on clearance back in June and decided Hopscotch by Camille Roskelley would be perfect for it. It's even prettier in person!

Here's the layout phase. 

I also decided 2014 was a bit long to carry a 12 month block of the month into, so I finished the top for my 2014 block of the month by Fat Quarter Shop.

Just figuring out a backing now!

Wow, I'm starting to feel like this month is going to take more than one post! I have so many photos of fun things I did this last month that I can't possibly fit them all into one.

Missouri Star Quilt Company released this great tutorial a few months ago called Dresden Sunburst and I instantly bought the Wordsmith collection by Moda for it because I knew it would be perfect. Inspiration finally struck and I got to work!

I got it to this pretty, ready to complete the top phase...and my needle broke. 

No, like really broke. Snapped when I used the thread cutter on the last one. And now my wheel won't turn and I have to put her on a train to Bangkok for repairs 👎👎😰

So in the meantime, I'll be doing lots of cutting and playing with the lovely new gift from my husband....a light board!!!

It's like he knows me! (Or I hinted for months about how much better applique would be with a light board!)

I've got a loooooong journey on my Sue Garman Ladies of the Sea block of the month, month 2 is pictured there. After a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (literally, on all counts!) and a year of figuring it out I finally finished month 1...

What a relief!

I'll get to work on part 2 of the holiday season soon! It includes a trip to Thai fabric markets, temples, and more sewing of course!

What did you get that you were hoping for this holiday season? Did you give any homemade gifts? I'd love to see photos!

As the holidays approach I've been busy finishing quilts for Carolina fans. Somehow, Panthers or Tarheels, the state of North Carolina has a pretty devoted following.

These beauties are off to their homes now. They were a delight to finish and my clients love them!

I'm also busily working on stockings for some guys who are here without friends or family for the upcoming holiday season. The community plans to pitch in to help fill the finished stockings and help them feel like they have family here too.

There hasn't been a lot of time for sewing for me with all that, but I've made enough progress on my Surfside quilt that I basted it...a few weeks ago...and now it's waiting on me to clear some of my more urgent completions.

I finished quilting this yesterday, and it's got a few imperfections. Mainly that I didn't consider my rule of always starting a quilt with a fresh spool of thread. I ended up quilting the middle 3 rows with light blue and then switching back to yellow...only to run out of bobbin with 6 blocks left.

I could have squeezed one more partial bobbin out of the yellow, which I found out too late! So the last 6 blocks subsequently have yellow on top and blue on bottom. Luckily, it's for me.


I also tried a 2 inch binding on it instead of my normal 2.5, and I really like the way it turned out! The binding is tight and just feels secure.


I also recalled the Leah Day class I took on Craftsy and Pat's new Teach Me to Machine Quilt and tried out some new things while free-motion quilting. Here were some of my creative takes...

Triangles

Spirals

and a Circuit Board/Square design.

Today, however, I had a certain Puffball decide I had more important matters to attend to, i.e., him. Here's what thinking you're going to get some work done looks like!

I'm excited to have received one of my Christmas presents early from my husband...EQ7! Electric Quilt 7 is a great way to design your quilts before you ever cut, and I've been loving it! There's definitely a learning curve, but the pretty things I'm creating are worth it!

Here's a peek at an in-progress :-) 

So tell me...do you EQ?  Any WIP presents you're finishing off?