Hooded Scarf

My girls have some great warm winter hats, but most of them are fleece, so that means constant static. (And that is something I HATE!!!) but recently a friend told me that she Crochets hooded scarfs. That got me thinking that I should give them a try. I'm not very good at Crochet, so I gave it a go, gave up and found a tutorial on line to make one out of fabric.

Here is a you tube tutorial that gave me an idea of how to begin

Here here is how mine turned out.

I used scraps of fabric so I couldn't tell you exactly how much material to buy, but I would guess about a 1/2 a yard of one fabric and 1/4 of the contrasting fabric.

Here are some bullet points about some of the things I did differently than the tutorial.

• I used 2 pieces for the scarf instead of cutting 1 piece and folding it in half. I sewed the piece together on one of the long sides and then pined it to the hood
• We are getting 7 degree weather out here, so instead of using only one layer of fabric for the hood, I used 2 layers to make it thicker and warmer. So instead of cutting only 2 pieces for the hood, I had to cut 4. This also means that the hood is reversible so it doesn't have any seems showing on either side.
• I added a ruffle to the ends of the scarf with a contrasting fabric. So before sewing the last seam shown in the video that closes the ends of the scarf, I tucked a ruffle I made into the hole and then sewed the seam. (if you don't know how to make a ruffle, you can get an idea by reading the numbered steps in the next bullet point.)
• Since I was using scraps I had to use 2 different prints of fabric to make sure I had enough fabric, I also added a ruffle across the top on one of the hoods that I made. I think it is way cute.

All I did to add the ruffle on the hood was

1. cut strips of fabric that were 4 inches wide and as long as I could get them out of my scraps.
2. Sew them together short end to short end, with right sides together, until it is as long as double the length of the brim of the hood. (If you have big enough scraps that are double the length of the hood, don't worry about piecing them.)
3. Then fold it in half the long way with wrong sides together and stitch close to the edge.
4. Go back and stitch close to the seem with a running stitch. You can do this by hand or by using a long stitch on your sewing machine. Make sure that you leave a lot of extra thread on the ends instead of sniping it close to the last stitch.
5. Pull on the threads to bunch or ruffle up the fabric. Keep pulling until the fabric is short enough to fit along the rim of your hood. (If you have trouble with your threads slipping, put a pin next to the last seam and wrap the thread around the pin in a figure 8 several times until it holds well. This will keep it in place while you are pinning and sewing the ruffle into place.)
6. After you sew the rounded edges of the hoods together (as seen in the tutorial) you can add the ruffle. Take the 2 hoods and put them right sides together. Pull back the edge of the brim and tuck the ruffle in there. Make sure to match up the rough edges together. Pin into place and take a quick peak inside. If you can't see any rough edges of the ruffle or the hoods, then you are ready to sew again, if not, unpin and fix.
7. Sew the hood along the edge, making sure to use a seam allowance that will cover your running stitch.
8. Turn all the layers around so that the hoods are wrong sides together and the ruffle is sticking out. If everything looks good, sew a seam along the hood about 1/2 and inch or so away from the hood/ruffle seam. This will help everything to stay in place well. Now the ruffle is down and you can follow the tutorial again adding the hood to the scarf.