Scarves are an excellent beginner’s sewing project for kids. Little Tomato wanted to learn how to sew last year, so we had worked on a few exercises (which I will link at the bottom) and this was her first real project.
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Gryffindor & Ravenclaw Scarves |
Supplies Needed:
Scissors or Rotary Blade
Cutting Mat (if using rotary Blade)
Ruler or Measuring Tape
Pins
Fleece:
1 yd each color, two colors per scarf. This yields (5) scarves.
* Most fleece I have found is 58″ wide. This yielded 5 scarves of each house (Gryffindor & Ravenclaw). Little Tomato and her friends are 9-10 years old, so this scarf length was perfect on the girls, at around 5′-6″ in length. If you are making scarves for younger kids, you can get away with less yardage to yield shorter scarves.
Instructions:
Fleece is a great fabric for this quick scarf, as you don’t have to worry about finishing ends. However, due to the stretchy nature of the fabric, it isn’t the easiest to get perfectly straight cuts. You may find that you have extra (or not enough) fabric when you are cutting the fleece into stripes. Please note, the dimensions are forgiving. If you have any stripes that are noticeably wider, you can make these the end pieces that are cut into fringe or trim them down to match.
Step 1:
Cut the fleece lengthwise into 7″ strips. This will give you a total of (5) strips of each color.
You will have (4) strips that are 7″ x 58″, and one strip that is about 8″ x 58″. You can either cut this strip down to match the 7″ size, or plan for this to be the end stripe that becomes your fringe.
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Step 1: Cut Along Dotted Lines |
Step 2:
* Fleece can have one side with a slightly different nap or texture than the other. If your selected colors have a front & back that don’t match, you will want to make sure that you are pinning your fleece together ‘right sides facing’ on this next step.
Pin two colors together (ex. red & gold) lengthwise.
You can choose your seam allowances for your comfort level, but I would recommend at least a 1/4″ seam allowance. Sew together.
Repeat this step, adding all of the strips in a color alternating pattern until all are sewn together.
** If you chose to keep one strip wider (the 8″ length), make sure that these are the first and last strips, as these will be the ends that you cut into fringe. See diagram below in Step 3 for illustration.
Once completed, this will give you a single piece of striped fleece, at 58″W x 2 yards (minus seam allowances) with a total of (10) stripes, (5) of each color.
*** MAKE SURE WHEN YOU ARE PINNING TOGETHER THAT YOU PAY ATTENTION AND HAVE ALL OF THE SEAMS ON THE BACKSIDE. I made this mistake and had to seam-rip out a full strip that had the seam on the front side. Not fun.
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Step 2: Sewing Strips of Red & Gold together |
Step 3:
At the beginning of this step, you have a single piece of fleece that is striped.
Now you are going to cut the fabric widthwise, to yield (5) long striped pieces of fleece. See diagram below.
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Step 3: Cut Along Dotted Lines. |
On this step, you will have a little excess fabric, as shown above. You will find that, with the fleece salvage ends and the stretchiness of the fabric when you sewed the stripes together, this excess is much less than the illustration shows in reality. 😋
Step 4:
Now you should have (5) pieces of striped fleece that are 11″ wide.
Take one of these pieces and set the other (4) aside.
Fold the fleece lengthwise so that the finished (right) side is on the inside, together.
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Step 4: Fold Along Middle & Pin Long Side Together with Right Sides Facing. |
Pin the long side together, making sure to line up the stripe colors as closely as possible.
* All of your seams should be visible – the right side of the fleece should be folded together.
Sew along this pinned side.
* Once again, seam allowances are to your preference, but I recommend at least 1/4″.
You are essentially making a tube, so that when you finish sewing the long side together and turn it right-side-out, all of the messy seams are inside the tube.
Repeat with the other (4) pieces of fleece until you have (5) completed ‘tubes.’
Step 5:
Once you have completed all (5) tubes, turn them all inside out, so the finished side is exposed.
If you want fringe, cut about halfway into the end stripes. I did not measure these, but just ‘eyeballed’ a general 1/4″-1/2″ width for the cuts.
Voila, House Scarves!
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| Finished Scarves |
And for some fun sewing practice sheets for kids, check out the sewing machine practice sheets HERE from the blog “So Sew Easy!”