The Yellow Fern: Lace Cowl

I don’t know how to knit, even though I would love to learn how I haven’t taken the time to learn, so I resulted in plan B for making a cowl (an endless scarf). Plan B=sewing! If you are a beginner seamstress like me, then you will love this project. It’s easy and the end result is fashionably fabulous! I chose to use two different types of fabrics to make it a little more interesting, so I went with a gray cotton knit and lace. The cotton knit is super soft and comfy.

What you need:

2 different types of fabric (I bought enough fabric to make 8 cowls)

Scissors

Ruler

Sewing machine

1. Lay the “gray” fabric (the fabric you want to use more of) out on a flat surface and cut it in strips. My strips were 4’6’’ long by 18’’ wide. I know it’s a little odd of a number, but I gave myself a couple inches of breathing room for sewing so I would have enough room for a hem. (When the cotton knit fabric is cut, the edges tend to roll a little…at first I thought it would be a problem but it actually ended up helping me keep a straight stitch along the edge.)

2. Then I did the same thing for my “lace” fabric (the accent piece of fabric), lay it out and cut in strips 16” long and 18” wide.

3. Line up the short edge (end) of your “gray” fabric with the short edge (end) of your “lace” fabric. It looks like this:

and sew them together. I sewed them together about an inch in.

Ryan made me a sweat band since I was working so hard

So now you just have a strip of the “gray” and “lace” sewn together. The strip should be the same width all the way down.

4. Fold the fabric strip lengthwise with the hem of the stitch you just made showing, (facing out).

5. Run a stitch all the way down the open folded side of the “gray” fabric and “lace” fabric-once you have done this, you should have created a long tube that’s open at both ends.

6. Now flip your fabric tube outside in-so that your pretty edges are showing.

Pretty seam, success!

7. Take the “lace” end of the tube and feed about an inch of it onto the “gray” end of the tube. (I made sure that my seams are lined up so it looks like the stitches are even.) This makes a circle-endless scarf! See, it’s all coming together-just one more step!

8. Run a stitch width wise across the part you just fed into in step 7.

9. You’re done! Enjoy your no-knit cowl!

Pretty simple! When mine was complete it measured out to be 2’ 10’’ long and 9’’ wide. It’s a big enough loop that you can wrap it around your neck twice to get a cool layered look. This is the second thing I have ever sewn; it was good practice, fun, and definitely do-able!

I gave them out as gifts for Christmas and everyone loved them. They look fabulous on and will add swag to any outfit. Here are a few of them...