$1 Summer Infinity Scarves!

You all know how much I love an infinity scarf.  I have had so much fun giving old sweaters (especially cashmere!) and sweatshirts a new life by making them into circle scarves using the method described in this tutorial I found on the blog  Adventures in Dressmaking.  You can see my upcycled versions here, and here, and again here, here, and here with more cowl-like versions.  But sometimes, I do actually visit the fabric store.  And when I do, I always, always check the remnant bin.  These cuts of fabric, less than one yard each, have so much potential.  And they are 50% off whatever the current price of the fabric is.  So when almost everything in the store is already 50% off (crazy "firefly sale" at Joann, what the heck!), that makes these little remnants cost next to nothing.

To be fair, I actually spent about $1.80 on the brown scarf, but the green one was only 80 cents.  I know I'm late in posting for this to be any help this year, but I made these scarves (at the total last minute, hence the lack of a "Hey, here's an idea!" post) to give to the boy's two preschool teachers for an end-of-school gift.  My husband thought this was a terribly Pacific-Northwest gift--a summer scarf.  Yes, we do need scarves in the summer here; sigh.

Both of my fabrics were polyester chiffons.  The brown one is textured and the green one is silky. Because these fabrics were thin and silky, I could get away with using a remnant.  These came on bolts that were 54 inches wide, which was enough length to get a nice drape on the scarf. If you want to use t-shirt fabric or something thicker, a remnant probably won't work because you'll need more than 54 inches of length.  Be careful though--some fabrics are only 44 inches wide, which would give you quite a snug little scarf!

I used the same fabric amounts and method for each scarf, so I'll just explain it as though I made only one.  I didn't take pictures (if you need more detail, you can take a look at the post I linked to above), but it's a pretty simple process so I hope this makes sense!

For each scarf, you'll need:

1 54" wide remnant, 2/3 of a yard so approximately 24 inches, of a silky or chiffon-y type fabric.

Directions:

1. Fold your fabric in half lengthwise, right sides together.
2.  Using a Sharps needle if you have it (if you don't, it will probably be fine but you might want to test it out a bit, or use a brand-new needle), sew a seam down the full length of the scarf, creating a tube that is 54 inches long.  If your fabric is sheer, make sure to sew your seam to the inside of the selvage markings, so you can cut those off.
3. Using a pillowcase (or something) to protect your fabric, press your seam open.
4.  Turn your tube right-side out.
5.  Making sure not to twist your tube, grab both ends of your tube.  Line up the seams at the ends and hold the raw edges together (right sides together) and sew your tube closed, leaving as small an opening as possible.  (There are pictures of this step in the tutorial I linked to above, if you're not sure what I mean.  This is one of those things that's much more difficult to describe than it is to actually do.)
6.  Using a matching thread, sew the opening closed, as invisibly as you can.  Make sure not to pull too tight and pucker the fabric!

Granted, I've made a few of these before, but I spent about 45 minutes total making these two scarves--even including hand-sewing the openings closed!  45 minutes and less than $3?  I almost feel like I ought to get those teachers a little something extra.