Needles and a Pen » Knitting, Sewing, and Nursing School

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  • Welcome to my blog!

    Hi! I'm Traci. I'm a Registered Nurse who loves quilting, knitting, cross stitch, and the great outdoors. In my pre-scrubs life, I owned Real Photography, and you can still see my old wedding and portrait photography site here .

    I've created a map that shows links to our camping/hiking/general family fun review posts that you can find here. It's pretty much the coolest thing on this site. Thanks, Google!

    I great big puffy heart *love* comments, so please let me know you visited! I try to always reply!

infinity scarf marathon

Last night I went on a bit of an infinity scarf bender.  I’ve been wearing my last one about twice a week, and have intended to make more for me as well as future gifts for the women I love.  (I’ve been late with my last two homemade gifts, so I’m determined to turn over a new leaf and work on birthday and even Christmas presents NOW).  Armed with Anna Marie Horner voile and velveteen, I went to work last night and it was the perfect project–limited cutting, lots of serging, and very little brain involvement.  Thanks to Melissa (who listened to me whine about how I couldn’t figure out how to sew it so that you sewed it inside out and pulled it through a little hole without creating one giant turtleneck tube and sent me this link) they are even cuter than my last one.  I wore one of my creations today (because I’m convinced that yellow and orange are the new neutrals):

Most of these are waiting in a secret spot ready to be gifted.  (The others joined my first scarf in my closet.  Perfect necklaces for a momma of a necklace-breaker!)

Little Bluebell (Adrianne) - Now I want a mustard scarf…. and a blue cardigan! 😉

Melissa - These are SO pretty! I need to bust out a few more, so maybe I’ll study this tutorial and see if that makes my job a little easier. 🙂
Do you think the Sewing with Nancy tutorial makes them any longer? There have been a couple people who say they are too short to double…

Traci - (I replied to Melissa but wanted to share here, too, in case others were interested). I don’t think the tutorial makes them any longer than I had made before–the length just really comes from the fabric width–52″ voile and velveteen is going to be a bit more suited to the project than 44″ quilting cotton. I think the problem is with people doubling it and then sticking it over their heads–I put it on as a giant loop and then twist and put it back over my head. That way you don’t have to make two head sized loops–you just need to make one neck sized loop and one head sized loop (and unless there are football players trying to put these on, that should help a lot). 😛

A warning on the tutorial: the critical step is poorly explained (though I can’t think of a way to explain it better). I had to read it a bunch of times and then guess. I guessed wrong the first time but right the second time. Maybe a video is needed?

beth lehman - Hi, Traci – I just found you (I think again) after seeing your sherbet pips quilt!! It is absolutely beautiful! Love, love it. In looking back at your flickr pages and seeing your old Singer – I have to ask which machine you did the free motion quilting on? I have an old Singer featherweight (would have to check the number) but I haven’t used it since my mom gave me her Viking. I’m wondering if I should try free motion on it – I don’t know that I would have the right foot. What do you do with the feed dogs? Also – your scarves are lovely – thanks in advance – Beth Lehman (elizabethlehman@hotmail.com)

Steph - Traci – these are gorgeous! Does this tutorial explain it a bit better? http://www.craftstylish.com/item/71903/how-to-make-an-infinity-scarf

Heather@junevintage - I am more confused after looking at that tutorial but, hopefully, if I study it, I will get it-because I seriously love the idea of these! I don’t really do traditional jewelry but I love the idea of showcasing fabrics like this!

Meagan - Oh man! I really, really, really need to make one of these, I love them!

Melissa - Hmmm…Steph, you may have tapped into The Source To End All Confusion! I still think I’m going to have to try it with my own hands, but this is SO much better than the tutorial I gave Traci!

And, Traci, thank you for clarifying about putting the scarf on long, then wrapping it again. I didn’t even think of that when people were saying it was too short! Maybe they ARE doubling it before they put it on their heads!

Yer so smartt. 🙂

Katie - I just stumbled upon this post and tried making the infinity scarf from the tutorial sent to Traci by Melissa. I spent forever trying to figure it out and finally did, so here are some tips I discovered along the way. First, do not sew the ends of your 12″ by 60″ fabric strips together (referenced in the first step), just sew both long sides (leaving the small opening along one side like she talks about). Then, pull one half of the scarf right side out through the small opening, making your scarf look like the one in the second picture (in the instructions, not the second picture of the whole page). Then, take the end that is right side out, and insert into the top (relative to the 2nd picture orientation)of the side seam opening. You will now have 2 circles of fabric, one inside the other. The inside circle will be right side out and the outside circle is wrong side out. The right sides of the fabric will be facing each other. Then just follow the rest of the tutorial!