In the deep darkness of winter what is better than a warm snuggly scarf?

I have been thinking about scarves for awhile. Pretty much since I saw this gorgeous wool scarf at *ware in Mt Lawley.

What I loved about it was the way it felt and that it was not bulky. Wasn't that crazy about the hood aspect - but very unique design! Then I thought about my scarf collection - its largely made up of light pashminas or cotton scarves which are more decorative then warming! Perfect addition to the collection. But of course I thought should I buy something newly made or could this be made out of something old???

So on a visit to the Vinnie's store down the road I found the perfect candidate. Pure washable wool men's jumper in charcoal grey! Score!! I admit. I feel a little bad about massacring it up into pieces but I suppose it's still being re-used, with the little odds and ends being saved to use as stuffing for other crafty projects.

When I did some searching on the net I stumbled across this fantastic tutorial on the infinity scarf upcycled from an old sweater! adventures in dressmaking her tutorial is fantastic and very easy to follow! Now I have the perfect reincarnation project for any old sweater I end up with.

Here is the poor victim at the start:

I then followed the very detailed tutorial over on adventures in dressmaking. With the cutting up into sections, I found it easiest to decide on the size of the panel from the front of the jumper then cut that out using pins to keep me straight. Then use that piece as a "pattern" for the back and sleeves. The neater you can make your rectangles the easier it is at the end.

Here it is cut up into rectangles:

Point to remember - she mentions making sure you iron out the seams, now sometimes I am a bit lazy and I maybe don't press out seams using the iron (I would run my finger nail along the seam) but it is very important here! As you want to make sure your scarf has a good shape once constructed.

My ironed out seams:

The most challenging thing was stitching up the two ends to make it an "infinity scarf". I sewed as much as I could together with the machine then used ladder stitch to stitch the remainder. Then press and iron, then ta dah, one new awesome scarf!!! :o) I added a little bow with the spare button from the jumper.

YAY scarf!!!

Will post a photo soon of the scarf in action.

xx cherry xx