Cascading scarf tutorial

This cascading, ruffly scarf looks more complicated than it is. It simply uses circles as the basis of its design. The circles do all the tricky work!

Supplies

(Click fabrics for direct links for purchase at Warehouse Fabrics Inc.)

Heavy crushed voile

Matching button

The pattern

Fold a big piece of paper in half, then in half again. At the folded point, start measuring 6 inches from the bottom point all the way across the arc. Mark with dotted lines. Do the same thing to form a smaller arc 1-3/4″ from the point. See the photos for explanation.

Once you have your circle pattern, cut eight circles from your fabric. When you cut the centers out, save those small circles for the flower.

The process

Click the photos for bigger images. As explained above, you’ll create two arcs. One is 6 inches from the bottom point (where the fold of your paper is) and the other is 1-3/4 inches from that point.
Cut along each dotted line.
Open your circle and make a cut from little circle to the outside of the big circle.
Now cut out your eight circles. I folded the fabric so it was four layers thick and used lots of pins to avoid slippage. Cut along that slit in the circle and around the small circle.

This will leave you with small circles. Save those for later.

Sew four circles together, end to end, as shown. Then sew the other four circles together. Now you have two separate pieces, each with four sections. Seam allowance doesn’t matter, as long as you do them all the same.
Place your two pieces right sides together and sew along one long side, across a short end and down the other long side.

This part is tricky because the edges are so curved. I pinned it one section at a time to make sure seams lined up. I tried to smooth out each “circle” as I was working on it and get it nice and even and pin it.

Turn right-side out through the open end. Press on low heat to smooth the side seams and prepare for top stitching.
Top stitch all the way around. When you get to the open end, turn in the raw edges and top stitch the opening shut.
For the flower, you’ll utilize those little circles from before. I can’t recall where I saw this method a few months back, so I apologize for not giving credit. I used two circles as the backing.
Then you’ll make the petals by folding a circle in half …
Then in half again.
Hand stitch to your backing one by one. I just stitched in the very center point and slightly overlapped the petals.

Sew a button to the center to hide your stitches and then sew your flower to your scarf, making sure to sew only through one layer of the scarf.

Other views

(Click for bigger views)