The Shirt Scarf

My sewing adventures have been perked up somewhat by the arrival on our screens of the BBC2 programme - The Great British Sewing Bee. Hurrah! Are you watching it too? What do you think?

(plus that fact I was going to be giving a talk/demo on 'how many things can you make from a men's shirt?' - to a craft club - so I wanted to make a another thing to go with my current collection!)

So I got my machine out and wanted to have a play around and not be focused on making up a pattern. So going 'Freestyle' if you like!

Looking at the pile of shirt off-cuts I have - I thought I know! I'll make a scarf! I'd seen some patchwork kinda scarves recently so thought I would have a go at making my own. 

First I chose my colours. I had three to start with - but then decided I would stick to the two - stripes and plain. And would use a nice orange thread to jazz it up a bit. 

What to do with these off cuts?

Then I looked at the scarfs I already had to decide on the width and length. I went for 18inches / 45cm for the width - and length wise decided to see how I went until I got the length I liked - or ran out of material!.

So I ironed and then cut a load of 'panels' of different depths..

laying out the panels

And laid them out in a rough design. Made me think of a cityscape so had a bit of a play when sewing on the panels..

Experimenting with a 'cityscape' design

plus I made it so that it could be worn either way - so one side looks 'deconstructed' so can have two different looks. (I'll post a pic of me or someone wearing it when I get a decent picture!)

Finished scarf - side 1

Finished scarf - side 2

the 'rough' or deconstructed side...

'deconstructed' side

And I used the shirt plackets to add weight and a finished edge to the scarf..

Using the shirt plackets to finish the ends

It did take me a good few hours as I enjoyed trying different stitches and I did press each seam after joining each panel. If everything was cut out and ready then it would be a nice quick project I think! 

Only thing is - I don't think the colours suit me! So might end up using it as a table runner instead...will def make another one now though - using blue stripe shirts I think. ;-)