How to make a scarf smaller, for lisa p

In a recent posting Lisa p asked me how I reduced the size of this scarf.

It was originally 20" x 65" and even though it's a lightweight woven fabric that lay relatively flat, when worn looped once around my the neck with both ends hanging down it just felt like too much scarf for my short neck, small face, and short waisted body. I felt like I had a pet sitting on my upper chest. One of my cats drapes himself around the back of my neck on my shoulders and it's very sweet but I wouldn't want to wear him as an accessory for very long.

So, I cut it in half lengthwise, and hand-sewed a double folded "hem" along the cut side. If you are at all handy with a needle and thread you will find it pretty easy. To get the cut exactly in the middle I folded it in half lengthwise, using an ironing board as a table, and pinned the fold so the folded edge would not shift around while I cut it.

I plan to do this to at least one other scarf.

the photo shows the reduced scarf although it's a little misleading because I had one of the ends tucked into the puffer vest.

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Ivanka Trump Abstract Fringe Scarf

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6 years ago

Anonymous

Excellent solution, and easy to do. I'm with you on the small face and ordinary neck getting taken over by all of these giant scarves.

Joyce B

Veteran

That size of scarf works very nicely for you. Lucky that you have good sewing skills.

Joy

Thank you, Chris. Your scarf turned out well. Scarves seem to be getting bigger each year. My older ones are much smaller scale and often eSier to wear.

Janet

(website)

What a great idea. I have an infinity scarf that I would rather wear as a regular one — I’ve thought of taking the joining seam out and finishing the ends, but I’m a little nervous to do that.

karen13

This scarf was a large infinity scarf I bought 18 months ago and found overwhelming for my small frame. I removed the infinity end seam and cut it lengthwise into two scarfs, one narrow and one wider. I sewed the long cut sides on the sewing machine. The shorts ends were still finished even after I removed the seam. I were it much more now.

So look at the infinity seam Janet, it might be a no sewing required project

tanstaafl

Active Member

Thanks for the explanation, I was wondering the same thing when I read your WIW. I have a scarf that I find a bit overwhelming with it's size, and I might just try narrowing it some.

For sewing the new hem, how did you keep the fabric folded? Pins? Ironing? The fabrics for scarves are often so flimsy and/or slippery that I'm not sure how easy or hard this step would be.

Angie

Fashion Stylist

Thanks for the good tip, Chris.

I have a small head and face, narrow shoulders, and am slight all over. But I can wear a gigantic scarf - it does not overwhelm me - because I have a very, very long neck.

Sara L.

Thanks for the tip. I have a black and white scarf that I love the pattern but the scarf is so large that I rarely wear it. I think I'll try this when I have a bit of time.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Great idea!

Barbara Diane

Great idea! I've turned a regular scarf into two infinity scarves. It was blue with minty green end sections. It never seemed to work color wise. Now I have one of each color.

Chris987

Hmm..glad so many people find this useful! Angie I can see how your long neck would change the proportions dramatically. One's choice will also depend on style preferences....if you are into very dramatic looks you might like a big scarf even if you are proportionally small.

taanstafl, I think I just folded the edge over once, hand stitched it, and then folded again and also hand stitched that. I did not use pins or ironing on the particular scarf, but I've done a lot of hand sewing over the years so this was easy for me. You could certainly use pins to hold the first fold or iron it down as you suggested, depending on how comfortable you are with hand sewing. Getting the first fold right is probably the most tedious part of the whole thing. It could also make it a bit easier to make the "hem" 1/4 to 1/2 " wide rather than super-narrow if you are ok with the look of it.

Barbara Diane I love your idea of splitting up large scarf into two with two diff colors!

On the machine, I use a technique similar to this.
http://www.threadsmagazine.com.....by-machine

I shortcutted by skipping the first step where you sew a line on stitching 1/8" from the raw age and use that to turn your first fold to iron. I just ironed a narrow edge, sewed it slowly once, neatened the raw edge with scissors, ironed and sewed again. So I only had 2 rows of stitching instead of 3. The trick is not to try to do just one row on a double turned under hem. Breaking it into steps makes it easy peasy.

Great info karen13!

My scarf fabric was too thin to sew on a machine, at least using the machine I've got. Really thin fabrics bunch up under the presser foot...maybe I've got something out of adjustment but I just find it easier to do it by hand.

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