Sewing With Nancy

Over the years, I've recorded many programs on sewing scarves. Going through the Sewing with Nancy archives and revisiting those techniques reminded me that most scarf styles are classic. Welcome to the second episode of my "Favorite Scarves to Sew," where you'll see videos from past, showcasing scarf techniques that are perennial favorites. Whether you're a newcomer or a seasoned viewer of my program, I'm certain that I have a scarf style that will pique your interest. Let's start with the Loop & Tuck Scarf. With only a yard of fabric and a little sewing time, you can serge or stitch this accessory that always stays in place. The essential ingredient can be found in the way the pattern is designed. You'll soon see it's quite unusual. Best of all, there will be no slipping or sliding of the scarf once it's looped and tucked around your neck! Plus, there are several ways that you can wear the scarf to change the look. "Sewing With Nancy's Favorite Scarves to Sew" that's what's coming up next on Sewing with Nancy. Sewing with Nancy TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman

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Oh my, there are a variety of ways that you can wear this around your neckline tight to your neck, draping down the front. It's a great design. In the book that accompanies this program you'll find the pattern. It's basically 13" by 18" and a long handle added to the pattern piece. We used a yard of fabric. If you buy 60"-wide fabric you'll be able to get two identical scarves out of this. So, with a 45" fabric, you'll get one scarf. Cut two layers of a silky type fabric whether it's polyester or pure silk. You just need something drapable, as you can see. Cut out two layers. Now I have a little tape at the corner. I do that, because sometimes it's difficult to tell the right and the wrong side from this so I like to do that in our sewing room. There are four basic seams. Use a 1/4" seam allowance and do some stitching. First, stitch the long angle just with a 1/4" seam, and also the side seam. So, opposite sides, you're going to stitch around. Then to form the corners I like to use a wrapped corner technique. This is something we've done on Sewing with Nancy many times. But if you haven't tried it yet now's your chance! You fold the fabric along the stitching line. Let me fold it toward you so that the seam is on the fold. Then you place a pin there so that when you sew the seam you're starting to stitch at the fold. Here's a close up of this, starting to stitch at that fold. You'd stitch to the other end. At the other end, you'd do the same folding. You fold the fabric right along that seam and stitch to this end so that the corners are wrapped. If your fabric is a little bit heavier you may want to consider doing a trimming beforehand. I'll show you that in a minute. But here are the sewn wrapped corners. They're kind of crazy looking, but you'll get sharp corners rather than pivoting at the corner. Then you can do some trimming trimming off the excess seam allowance. The trimming can be done with a pinking shears or with a rotary cutter that has a pinking blade inserted. You use a 45 mm rotary cutter to do this and it's automatically graded and trimmed. The remaining seam would be to do the longest edge along the top. Again, folding the corner where you have a corner to fold. You're gonna leave one opening, and it's tiny. The opening is at the very narrowest part of the scarf. So through this, and truthfully, I'm not going to do this right now, but through this, you're going to turn the scarf right side out. It'll just take a few minutes of time to do that. It's kind of like the unfolding of that scarf. And once you do-- I have a lot of scarves the same size! You can see what this looks like. The edges come out perfectly square because you've done that wrapped corner treatment. They get extremely sharp and easy to press. You'd press all the edges. Now to create the loop, you could either serge the top edge of this unfinished area or you could turn it under. Then fold under 2-1/2", I guess pretty close. This has to be serged or turned under. Then just stitch along the fold. Stitch these two together to create the loop. We go back to our model scarf, you can see that the loop does all the designing details for the loop and tuck scarf. Different fabrics, different looks; That statement couldn't be more obvious when looking at theses two scarf options. Even though the same pattern was used, the edge finish, plus the fabric choice, changed this scarf from elegant to casual. It's called an S-Curve Scarf. The scarf pattern pieces resemble two large donut shapes. It might seem odd, but the results are anything but! Wondering how it's made? Just stay tuned. I think you'll be surprised! The knit fabric is the red one, obviously. We've used a lettuce edge finish which I'll show you how to do in just a few minutes. Lightweight, drapes, you can wrap it around your neck wear it however you'd like. The more elegant fabric was made out of woven fabric. It's the same pattern piece. The edges are just serged with a three-thread overlock stitch. This is perfect for weddings, put it over a black dress. It's kind of fun to wear. The pattern piece, as I mentioned looks kind of like a large donut with an opening in it. They're 21" circles. In the book that accompanies today's program you'll find the pattern, or you can make your own. You can see the opening. Cut two. No matter what fabric you're working with, cut two. You'll need 5/8 of a yard of fabric. Here we have two circles that have the opening. Now you're going to meet right sides together of just one of the ends. I have a little tape here that tells me that's the wrong side of the fabric. I'll remove that. Let me lay this out so you can see. What you're going to do right now is make it look almost like a figure eight a sideways figure eight. You would serge or stitch this seam. I'll do this one. This is called an S-curve, because after you stitch this and I open this up, you'll get a sideways looking S. I just pinned this, obviously but you can kind of see it's one large S. When I made this fabric, I just serged the edges just with the overlock stitch, and it was ready to wear. The knit fabric, to give it that flounce look the lettuce edge requires a little extra stitching at the sewing machine. I'm going to show you how to set your machine and do that stitching. To continue with the look of the S-scarf giving a knit, a lettuced edge, a fluted edge we're going to do zigzag stitching. Because this is a knit fabric it's important that you choose a stretch needle or a ball point needle. I've chosen a size 75, the smaller of the two sizes. You would work with all-purpose thread matching thread in the bobbin and in the top that matches your fabric, obviously. This is just a little bit of a different color. I've purposely chosen to show you the stitching with a different color so you can see the stitching a little bit better. Zigzag stitch. Here you can see what it will look like when I'm sewing. But to know the settings, I did some testing which I would recommend that you do, as well. I have a "3.5" width, and the length set at "0.7". You may put it at "1" but just test, you know, test your fabric. You're going to have a tug of war with your sewing machine. You're going to tug the fabric in the front of the needle and behind the needle. Not pulling way down here, but very close about one inch from the needle. The knit fabric will roll. Just doing a little bit at a time so that when you're zigzagging you're going to try to get the zig in the fabric and the zag right off the edge. Pull and stitch. I'm pulling it as taut as it will go. Just do some testing, as I mentioned because it does take a while to do this because it's such a short stitch. But I like the look, so yin and yang pull and push, tug of war, whatever you want to call it this is what you're doing around the edge. When you're done sewing, and I'll just clip the threads and show you this. This has contrasting thread, slightly contrasting. Notice how it lettuce, it curves. This S-scarf can have great looks, elegant to casual. If you have been itching to sew, but hesitate because you don't think you have the time, make a "Knot Your Average Scarf." In fact, this scarf can be made in a little over an hour. Featured is a knit version of the scarf in two coordinating colors. You could also select woven fabric, if you'd like. The first step is to sew tubes, and then I'll show you how to create the knot, then a little more sewing time and presto, a completed scarf. It's creativity with instant success! The knot your average scarf can be sewn either with knit or woven fabrics. For lightweight woven fabrics you're going to need a half of a yard of two fabrics. The fabric doesn't have to be the same width just both must be woven. For knit fabrics, a heavier knit fabric you'll need 1/4 of a yard of two fabrics. This is quite beefy. You'll see the scarf when I'm finished. If it were lighter weight then you'd need a half of a yard. I'm going to show you one of my samples I made. This knit only had a fourth of a yard and it was just too lightweight. So, for lightweight fabrics, a half a yard. For heavier weight fabrics, a fourth of a yard. Nine inches crosswise cut, or 18". This is 18". This is 9". You're going to fold both fabrics into a tube meeting long edges the lengthwise edges, and serge or just do a little zigzag stitch on a knit fabric to sew a 1/4" seam allowance. So you have these long tubes. They're either 60" or 45" long. You're going to turn them right side out. For one of them. The second tube, you're going to make with openings with two openings. You'll close them up after a while. But from each end, you're going to sew 2" to 3" and then leave a comparable opening of 2" to 3". On the opposite end, I have the same thing. Stitch 2" to "3. and then an opening of 2" to 3". The magic turn comes through these openings. After you've turned both of your tubes to the right side which doesn't take very long, you may want to press. Now with knit fabrics, I didn't have to press the seam. But you'll need to know where that seam is because the next step you're going to fold the scarf, meeting the ends. Now, let me show you on this scarf. I have it folded in half. Then the seam allowance is on the outer edge all the way around I have positioned the seam allowance. You'll see why in a minute. We're going to knot first. To keep those ends even, I'm just going to overlap them and pin. This will help in the knotting process. I have one tube with the seams on the outer edge. I have already pinned the ends of the second tube. I overlay one on top of the other opposing ends, just like that. I have a hole in the middle. The long ends are going to go through the opening to create a knot. I pinned the edges, because that way I can make sure that the edges are even. Create a pretty knot, there you go. Unpin the ends. This is a logistical scarf with a lot of turning. We're going to find that side seam of one scarf the side seam of the other scarf and pin them together. Stack those seam allowances. Just one pin, that's all you need. Remember that opening that I left? Here we go, here's the pin. Here's the magic. You tip the pin through the opening and pull, and pull, until the complete ends of both circles come out. Ta-dah! Use 1/4" seam allowance and serge or zigzag for a knit fabric, around the edge. You do this to both ends of the scarves. You can see with just, really, four seams two lengthwise seams and those two circle seams this has been stitched. You pull it out and now you have a scarf. You'd sew this opening by hand. You'd sew it closed. Here you have a knit scarf your "knot" your average knit scarf. Let's put this on the mannequin to show you. We have the woven style which was made with 12"-wide strips. Excuse me, 12"-wide strips. This knit fabric was made with 9"-wide strips. You can loop it twice, wear it like this, but has a great accent. It's amazing construction and relatively easy to put together. If I owned a convertible, I'd choose a hot pink number buy a big floppy hat and wear this scarf cavalierly around my neck! Since a new car isn't in my future-- especially a pink convertible-- I'll wear this scarf while driving my minivan, and dream. If you're in need of a mental getaway choose a pretty pink organza, a coordinating solid, and a touch of ribbon. This easy-to-sew scarf has daydreaming possibilities. Fabric choice is really important here. I think this is a fun combination, kind of a chiffon a polyester chiffon, that's all this is, and a coordinating fabric for the cuff and a little extra ribbon trim that covers the seam. The sewing, like before, is a three-thread overlock stitch or a zigzag stitch along the edges. You just turn it to one side and topstitch. It doesn't really get too much easier than that. But first, before doing the stitching let's talk about cutting out the fabric. It's a 13" width by the length of the fabric. This one was 60", so you have 30" here. Just cut the fabric. We used a rotary cutter, ruler, and mat. Or you could use that tissue paper idea that we showed you earlier. For the cuff pieces, there are two squares that are 13". To create the cuff, as you might guess you're going to meet right sides together. Sometimes in sheer fabrics, it's impossible to tell the right from the wrong side, so just choose one. Choose whatever you'd like for one side. Sew the side seams. When sewing the side seams you're going to make sure that whatever width you used on the finish, let's say you turned under 1/2" on the edge, well, you'd make the seam the same width. Pressing sheer fabric, it kind of slips and slides but you can stabilize it by pressing over a point or a sleeve roll. I just like to press it right here. That makes it easier to do the turning. After you've pressed it open, then it easily-- I don't do any trimming, because that gives it some support. You have that nice finish, as you can see. The next sample has a slightly different fabric. We turned under the edge, finished it and then met the cuff. This is the wrong side of the scarf or the turned under side. I simply met this to the edge of the fabric and did the same seam, whatever seam you'd like and then press it open. So, it's really not difficult at all. The trim, cut it a little bit longer than you need and cover the edges. This is about as simple as it gets. You place it along the seam pin it, and then topstitch. Speaking of stitching and needles, which I'm going to bring up now needles and sheer fabrics need a little notation. You may want to consider a sharp needle or a universal needle that's small in size. I've used a sharp needle size 70 on this fabric and also all-purpose thread. So, standard thread, but a sharp needle so that when you're working with this filmy fabric you don't get little pokies or runs in the fabric. So, go on a convertible ride but first, make a scarf that flows in your favorite colors. If you own a serger, the Double De-Lite Scarf is for you. Choose two compatible lightweight fabrics such as organza or organdy, cut bias strips, serge the edges, and after stacking and sewing the layers together, you'll find that you've created a flowing, graceful neck wrap. Make it long as featured, or shortened as your taste guides you. You're the designer so make it your own. The sewing and serging process are extremely enjoyable and the finished scarf creates a stunning frame for your face. The trick here will be working with bias fabrics. The same type of fabric weight, the chiffons or organdies. Later on the program we'll have different weights of fabrics. But I like to put all these same types of fabrics together because the techniques are very comparable. Bias cut ends, you can see right here that they overlap creating a fun effect. Those two widths are stitched together down the center. You can see the underlay fabric is right here, the larger fabric. You'll need about 3/4 of a yard of both fabrics. It will create enough to make two scarves but it's easier to start off with more fabric because you can easily cut a wider width. Give the second scarf to a friend. To cut bias strips on slippery fabrics here's how I like to approach it. This is 3/4 of a yard, so 27" wide. We're going to fold it on a 45 diagonal. Just folding this corner in half then just kind of smooth it out. You will be on a flat surface so that will make it even more easily to do. Then, fold the fold back on itself. If you'd like, the more weight you have, the more layers, it will kind of hold itself together. It will be easier to handle. Fold it again. I'm just kind of folding things. You can see that if it wavers a little bit that's part of the charm of the scarf itself. So don't be too hard on yourself. We have lots of folds right in this area about four different layers of folds. I have them lined up as close as I can get. I'm going to cut off the fold. Just cut it off by 1/4". My rotary cutter, let me just get that layer straight. Make a nice cut. Make sure you have a sharp blade in your cutter. The lower layer is 9". The upper layer is about 7-1/2". So, here's six-- You know, this is just a scarf so if you wanted to make it a little bit narrower you certainly could. I'm going to cut, probably a little bit unconventionally because I'm on an angle. As I reach the end of this when it unfolds, it's completely on the bias. I have several layers that have been cut. So, it's easy to do. You'll get them fairly straight because you've put them together. Finish the edges just like we discussed earlier with a three-thread overlock stitch. Two of them have angled corners because they've been cut on the bias. If you need to seam the edges, because to make it longer, just simply use your serger or a zigzag stitch. Then, stack them, one on top of the other. Whether you've made them 8", like I just did, or 9" layer one on top of the other, and pin. After pinning, they've been straight stitched around the edge, and presto your delightful scarf is finished. When my creative time is limited and I need a sewing fix, I often grab a yard of fun fabric, set my machine to a straight stitch, and choose a scarf option to sew. My goal in presenting clips from previous Sewing With Nancy programs showcasing scarves, was to tell the story that techniques of sewing scarves are classic, and yet, they fulfill our creative need. I'd appreciate it if you would let me know which scarf options you've created! You can post your photos and comments on my social media platforms such as Facebook and Pinterest. Also, look for more sewing, quilting and embroidery education by following my blog. NancyZieman.com/blog is the address. Remember, that there are many Sewing with Nancy programs available for you to watch online at your convenience. Again, that's NancyZieman.com. I like to think that we provide sewing inspiration for all who are interested in creating with needle, thread, and fabric. I hope you've enjoyed these two episodes where I took a look back in time to see scarf designs and sewing skills that are enduring. Thank you for joining me. Bye for now. Nancy has written a fully-illustrated book entitled " Sewing with Nancy 's Favorite Scarves to Sew" that is the reference for this two-part series. The book includes more than 40 sew easy scarf options, and four pull-out patterns. The book is $19.99, plus shipping and handling. To order this book, call 800-336-8373 or visit our Web site at SewingwithNancy.com/3003 Order Item No. BK3003 " Sewing with Nancy 's Favorite Scarves to Sew." Credit Card orders only. To pay by check or money order, call the number on the screen for details. Visit Nancy's Web site at NancyZieman.com to see additional episodes, Nancy's blog, and more. Sewing with Nancy TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman

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Baby Lock; Madeira Threads; Koala Studios; Clover; Fuller Brush Vacuums; Amazing Designs and Klass Needles. Closed captioning funding provided by Riley Blake Designs. Sewing with Nancy is a co-production of Nancy Zieman Productions and Wisconsin Public Television.