A Suggestion for a Homemade Christmas present

Ever So Warm, and Attractive, Woolen Scarf (for men or women)
With Christmas just around the corner in our real world, and in Celeste's fictional world it's a great idea to start considering what presents you are giving this year.  In Celeste's world she owns and operates a Sewing Shop, LePetit.  She is extremely creative but limited in cash.  So she decides to make the presents for her family this year.  The following is a pattern for a woolen flannel scarf.

MATERIALS NEEDED

1.      1 yard of woolen flannel (plaid or plain, either is nice)

2.      1 box of straight pins

3.      1 needle (I prefer them with larger eyes, easier to thread)

4.      1 spool of thread to match or contrast with the fabric

5.      This is a very easy present to make, but looks absolutely terrific, and helps keep the winter cold away.  Determine how wide and how long you wish to make the scarf.

6.      If you are making the scarf for a female you may wish to make it a bit narrower since they often have narrower necks

7.      Do they like their scarf long enough to wrap it around their neck, or do they prefer it short enough to criss-cross it on their chest and then have their coat over it?

8.      Sewing Steps

9.      If you wish to make the scarf longer than the fabric you will need to seam the fabric to make it longer.  

10.  If you are working with plaid you need to decide if you wish the pattern of the plaid to match at the seam.  

11.  Put the right side of the material against the other right side of the material and sew a seam.

12.  You should make the stitches for the seam as tiny, and close as possible so that they don't show on the finished product.

13.  Fold the fabric that is as wide and as long as you wish it to be in half, right sides together.  

14.  Sew the seam again with tiny, frequent stitches. 

15.  Leave two inches unstitched at the end of the scarf. 

16.  Push the inside of the scarf through the 2 inch hole, turning the scarf right side out.

17.  Use a press cloth (a pillow case is a good choice) that is slightly damp to press the scarf when finished.  Do not EVER press the woolen fabric without a press cloth.  It may singe the fabric, or permanently damage the texture. 

18.  Once you have turned the scarf right side out you can blind stitch the two inches by turning the raw edges in and stitching inside the seam so that you can’t see the stitches.

VARIATIONS

19.  If you are making the scarf for a woman you can add fringe.  Sometimes you can purchase store created fringe.  If you do not have access to store purchased fringe you can create your own fringe by using yarn.  If you use yarn then you need to punch holes in the wool to loop the fringe through.  I find that punching holes in the woolen fabric is well accomplished with a drill or by pushing the scissors through and then twisting the blade of the scissors to make the hole a bit larger.  Using yarn you can fold the yarn in half, and then make a slip-knot through the hole with one strand of yarn, or you can use six strands of yarn to get a fuller fringed look.

20.  You can embroider a monogrammed initial on the end of the scarf.  The monogrammed letter can be as large or small as you wish to make it. 

21.  I will put a pattern here on my blog for different monogrammed letters in the next day or two that you can copy and use for any monogramming purpose that you have in mind.