Handmade Gifts II

If you know Princess Monster, you know she’s a pitbull when she has her mind on something.  She will. Not. Let. It. Go.  Well, a few days ago she came home with tales of a scarf a friend had made that was soooo cool and soooo easy, Mom, even we can make it!

All I had to go on was her description of the scarf and how she “thought” it was made.  You have to remember that Princess has never sewn in her life.  In fact, I haven’t sewn either, not for at least 15-20 years.  I did get a sewing machine a few months ago, but hadn’t even taken it out of the box yet.  I knew it would take at least an hour just to get it out and figure out how to turn the thing on. 

Of course, she brought all this up Sunday night while I was making cinnamon ornaments.  And of course, I’m a sucker, so I went to Wal-Mart and bought a selection of nice heavy flannels and polar fleece.  I spent all day yesterday getting the machine out and figuring out how to work it, and then began experimenting with the material.

Princess said the other girl had used two strips of material, sewn down the middle, and then cut the edges to make a fringe.  I googled scarves and saw an idea for fringed, knotted polar fleece, so I sort of combined the two ideas.  I sewed two pieces of flannel together (each about 6-7″ wide and 2 yards long) and gathered it.  Then I sewed that onto a longer strip of polar fleece.  I cut the edges, and then made the fringe on each end.

By this time, Princess arrived home from school and immediately placed her order for two more scarves.  I sewed and ruffled while she cut the fringes.  Then Middle and Littlest arrived home and placed their orders for their scarves.  That Man pulled out dinner (we were having left over ham and beans) so I could get the last one sewn together and after dinner, I helped them fringe the last two.

Today, I need to make at least three more.  They are fun, and they whip together pretty easily.  I count myself as a beginner sewer — I can barely sew in a straight line and can’t do anything fancy like zippers, button holes, etc. but these were really easy.

Flannel was a mixture of pink kitties, blue doggies, and orange giraffes, with pink, blue, and orange fleece.