Three Silk Infinity Scarf

This three tone silk scarf was an experiment that turned out well so I’ve made a little tutorial on how to make It below.

The hardest part will be to pick three silks you like together.

I picked a Liberty of London crepe de chine 54″ wide, an iridescent chiffon 54″ wide and a pale blue charmeuse 45″ wide. I had all these in my stash.

For the bigger scarf use two lengths of charmeuse and one length of each of your other two fabrics.

Cut either three or four strips 12″ by the width of the silk.

Lay your strips end to end to make a super long strip and sew the short ends together. In one short end leave a gap 3-4″

You will need to pull the whole scarf through this hole so it’s very important.

Sew with chiffon up so you can see what’s happening beneath.

This is the full length of the pieces strip for the smaller scarf using only one width of each silk. Still super long.

Fold the long strip in half right sides together and cut at the fold.

Then sew both of the long sides of the rectangle making sure to back stitch at the start and end of each seam.

Then reach through the tube you have made gathering it onto your arm.

Pull the far side of the tube inside the tube so the raw edges match up with the near side of the tube.

Sew around this circle

Now it’s time to find the short hole you left in one of the short seams.

Pull your scarf through it til right sides are out.

Press the seam allowance of the short opening so you have a nice crisp edge to work with.

Pinch these newly pressed folds between the thumb and forefinger on your left hand as you slip stitch it closed with the right hand.

Press your scarf so that the seam is as close to the fold as possible all the way around both long edges.

Here is the scarf using 3 lengths of silk.

Here is the scarf using 4 lengths of silk.

I hope you found this tutorial instructive. Please leave feedback or make your own and post a photo!

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Quick charmeuse and chiffon scarf

A quick two tone scarf in silk charmeuse and chiffon. The possible combinations are endless. Here is a quick tutorial so you can make your own. You can use the design feature on our website to make your own combinations .

Find them here

First pick a silk charmeuse print and pair it with a chiffon. I picked a print we had this past summer and one of our iridescent chiffons.

Snip through the selvage and rip through the width of the fabric for a quick clean and straight edge.

Sew around all 4 sides leaving a gap of 3-4”. Sew with chiffon up so you can see what you’re doing!

Don’t worry about your selvage or ragged edges. Clip your corners and cut them off

All cleaned up and ready to flip. Pull it through the hole so the right sides are out.

Gently massage the corners into place with your fingers.

Press flat.

Admire the loveliness!

Topstitch around all 4 sides. This will close the hole. It will also keep the two sides from migrating around and make a nice clean finish.

Then press again and you are done!

Quick silk chiffon scarf

Here is a nice 30 minute project for a snowy day! A silk scarf using our 54” wide iridescent chiffon. Choose 3/4 of a yard of any one of our lovely colors to make this beautiful and functional gift. They’re actually warm, feel great on your neck and chest and also fold up tiny to tuck in your bag when not needed.

Fold your rectangle of chiffon in half matching the selvage and sew 3 sides leaving a small gap of 3-4”

I ripped my chiffon to save time. You can clean it up later

Clip your corners and clean up the ragged edges

Pull your scarf through the hole so the right side is out

Press your opening to create a crisp fold for slip stitching

Needle and thread passes easily through silk chiffon

Now tie it in lots of different ways and enjoy! Or tuck into your holiday gift closet for later.

Compartment Hot Packs

I’ve been sick and it’s been cold. Bad combination and worse- the first snow of the season is forecast for the day after tomorrow. After a long hard cold day your stiff muscles ache for bed and then you remember your freezing cold sheets are about to give you one last shock before the day is over. But then you remember!

You made yourself two hot barley packs this weekend and all is not lost!

First I’ll show you step by step how to make the compartment pack. It’s perfect for wrapping around your neck and shoulders and having some hands free heat and aromatherapy. I scent mine with peppermint oil which drives my allergies away in the spring as and added bonus.

You will need:

1-Two strips of cotton fabric about 6″ x 22″.

2-Cotton thread.

3- Two and a third cups of barley.

I used a quilt cotton by Tula Pink and a cotton flannel.

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It’s very important to use only cotton because polyester will melt or burn when you microwave it!

First place right sides together and sew three sides starting with a long one.

Repeat this step twice to keep barley from sneaking out!

Then clip your corners

Flip so the right sides are out.

Next you will need to prepare your barley.

First put 2 -1/3 cups into a big bowl

Decide if you want to put some essential oils in! I like peppermint for muscle relaxation and lavender for soul relaxation.

I chose peppermint for this compartment hot pack. A little goes a long way.

About 10 drops.

Stir it up!

When you are done mixing measure out 1/3 of a cup

Carefully pour it into your fabric sack.

Pin all the barley securely at the bottom. The pins will keep it from getting under your sewing needle. Sew as close to your pins as possible.

Repeat until you are out of barley and out of space!

Tuck the raw edges under at the end, pin and sew.

When you go to microwave it be sure do so with a mug with some water in it to prevent the microwave from malfunctioning. I microwave mine for about 90 seconds.

Then wrap it around your shoulders and enjoy!

Cocoon Cardigan

This blogpost is all about how to make this cute Cocoon without a pattern.

For and extra small you can use one 7/8 yard length of a 60″ wide fabric. To size up from there, the width will need to be greater than 60″ so you may need to cut for fabric on the cross grain.

The green knit shown in the video clip above was 65″ wide by 31″ long. It comfortably made a medium

For a large use 67″ x 33″

For an xl use 68″ by 35″

You will also need 1/4-3/8th yards of contrast fabric for the neck band and cuffs.

Start by preparing your fabrics.

Decide which linger side will be the top of the garment. Put a gold safety pin at the center. This will be the center back neck (CBN).

Then mark 2″ away from center on either side along the raw edge. This is where you will fold the lower corners to.

Fold both corners up.

You will notice your top edge not lining up perfectly.

This is okay. Cut the wedge off that is only one layer. This will make them line up again.

Now the point you have just made will actually be the wrist opening.

Lay your hand onto the point so that the widest part just barely fits onto the fabric.

Cut across both layers of fabric .5″ above where the widest part of your hand lays.

Repeat for both sides.

Next step is to pin and sew up the shoulder seems from CBN to wrist. A 4 thread serge is the best way to do this. I used a French seam for this garment.

Once you have sewn up both shoulder seems, measure the width of the opening from where you stitch the lower point near the CBN to the point at the center bottom as shown by the yard stick in the photo below.

Add 4″ to this number for the back neck space. Prepare a band this length by 4.5 inches wide. Sew your band into a loop.

Then pin this band matching three sets of raw edges to the center opening of the main body of the garment.

Sew around using .5″ seam allowance.

Then trim your seam to minimize bulk.

Topstitch .25″ all the way around band.

Prepare your cuffs using the remaining contrast fabric.

I doubled the length of my cuffs by adding the second piece to each one. I have super long arms.

Then bread the sleeve through them so that raw edges are together and stitch them into the wrist openings

Top stitch .25″ from cuffs.

Then put on your cocoon cardigan and swan around the room. Then take a photo of yourself and post it here!

All done!

How to make One Piece Pants!

Hi everyone!   I have recently drafted and digitized a side seamless pattern for making knit pants.  You can download the free size medium at our website http://www.elfriedesfinefabrics.com or purchase the graded version sizes XS-XL printed on paper for $10 plus shipping.  

This blogpost will serve as the color photo instructions for how to put this simple serger project together. 

First be sure to pre wash and dry your knit fabric so that your pants will be washable when you are all done. 

Next determine your size by measuring around your torso just above your hip bones.  This pant pattern is designed to fit at the hip.  Look at the pattern to the right of the size chart to see which size you are and to the left to see which corresponding dotted line to cut. 

These pants are very stretchy and loose fitting and super “forgiving ” so don’t worry  if the pattern isn’t a perfect match.  Better too large than too small.

Next cut out your size from the paper pattern with your paper scissors. The photo below shows the first draft of my pattern before I changed the sizes to letters.  I’d rather avoid the idea that anyone is extra large or extra small.  We are all just the size we are so I renamed them with the letters A through E.

I cut out size C

  Next lay your fabric out flat.  The fabric I chose was wide enough to cut both leg pieces out of one length of fabric.  I bought a yard and and a 3/8ths of 60″ wide fabric.  When I shrunk mine I lost an inch of width and 2 inches of length but it was still plenty.

Lay out your fabric so that it is folded in half at the center and there are no wrinkles on top or bottom 

If you have strong design motifs like the horizontal line in my fabric, be sure your designs more or less match up.

Here is a peak at the “wrong” sides of my fabric.  See how the stripe is laying on top of itself?

Next consider which way to lay your pattern onto the fabric.  I had a little extra length so I had some flexibility with pattern placement as well.

I decided to align one of the stripes with the hemline of my pants

See how the blue line on the fabric is sitting just above the solid black line that says “fold here”?

Now cut out your fabric!  

You now have two pieces which are your left and right pant legs.

Lay the inseams together of each pant leg right sides together. Be sure to match up the crotch and hem lines and all motifs.  Pin as shown.  You can use more or less pins according to your comfort level.

Now you are ready for the serger!

Always sew from up to down. Start with the crotch seam and align the raw edge of the inseam with the half inch mark on your serger.

Serge all the way to your hemline.  Then repeat for the other side.  You can serge both pieces without cutting the threads between them.  See above.

Next flip one of the legs so that the fabric is right side out.

Put that leg inside the one that is still “wrong side” out matching your inseam intersection.

Pin as shown below. Best practice is to pin the intersection of your inseams so that the seam allowance goes in opposite directions.

Now serge the crotch seam just like you did the inseams of each pant leg. 

It’s okay to go slow. 

Flip your pants right side out. And get your elastic. Fit it around your hips so it is stretched but not tight.  I cut mine 8″ shorter than the finished waist measurement for my size, so 25 inches.

Serge the raw edges right sides together.

Your elastic will be much smaller than your pants.

Start by matching the center back seams, right sides together.

Next find the halfway point for both the elastic and the pants (center front seam on the pants) and pin.

Repeat until you have at least 8 pins in evenly spaced around the waist of the pants.

Now serge.  Start with the center back.   This time don’t let the blade of the serger cut either the fabric or the elastic.

Pull the elastic so the excess fabric is taut 

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Serge all the way around the waist, tying threads at the center back. Good job, give yourself a pat on the back.  It’s time to use the coverstitch machine to turn up the hem.

All done!  Try them on and share!

Infusing Fabric with Beeswax

Today I finally got to try infusing fabric with beeswax.  It’s a project I’ve seen doings the DIY rounds on social media so I jumped at the chance to join some friends to try it.

Materials requires:

Jojoba Oil, beeswax, gum rosin, quilt cotton, Cookie tins, microwave, microwaveable bowl, disposable brush, paint scraper, drying rack, parchment paper, cheese grater, oven, measuring device, optional: buttons, embroidery thread

Preheat oven to 220

This is a great scrap buster!  You need a few rectangular shaped pieces in varying sizes. I pulled some scraps from my daughters wardrobe out of my scrap bag.  I cut them into the biggest rectangles I could given the scraps that I had.  Then I pinked the edges to keep them from fraying.

We had a solid block of beeswax that needed to be grated so we could evenly melt it. Grating it took some elbow grease.  

Then we combined the shavings with the gum rosin and jojoba oil in the medium bowl to melt in the microwave. 

2 parts beeswax, 2 parts gum rosin and 1 part jojoba oil 

Once the contents of the bowl were completely liquid we brushed the mixture into the fabric on the cookie sheet 

Pop the beeswax painted fabric into the oven on the cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes or total saturation with no visible bumps.

Then use the paint scraper to scrape off excess wax before hanging to dry.  Careful it’s hot.  Teflon fingers shown below.

Once they are cool and dry you can use them to wrap up your food to preserve freshness in the place of cling wrap.    My friend used batik cotton and made punches using buttons and twine shown below.

It’s washable with cool water and mild soap and reusesble.  The warmth of your hands molds them around your Tupperware for a nice seal.  
It took a few hours but we had fun chatting and trouble shooting and it was a little bit messy but overall really fun. I’m pleased with the results, matching Tula Pink Reusable Food Wraps look super cute in my kitchen.  I might have to make a few of these as gift sets for the holidays.