Infinity Scarf tutorial by Katie Gibson

I am so excited to have my first guest blogger! Katie and I know each other originally from KSU and now from the blog world. She is super crafty and DANG can work a sewing machine! You have to go check out some of the great stuff she makes. PLUS the girl can write a great tutorial! Pintrest has nothing on this girl! Enjoy the tutorial and be sure to comment for the giveaway! I am going to try to up-cycle some old clothing I have and make an infinity scarf next week. I will be sure to post a pic! So here she is! The super crafty, stylish, talented Katie Gibson.
Hi!
I'm Katie.


I write at Katie.J.Gibson. My full time gig is a sewing teacher in a local school district (which I adore) and care-taker of my man and our pup.

My passions are Jesus, Family, Sewing, and saving money/figuring out how to do things just a little cheaper.  While we aren't there yet, we can't wait to join the world of parenthood with a little one, complete with cloth diapers, homemade baby food, and momma-made fashion.

First off, I wanted to thank Laurisa for letting me guest blog here at Land of La.  Her blog is such a blessing- can I get an Amen?  We know each other from K State and, while we didn't talk much then (I was a bad resident on her floor!), we've recently reconnected in blog world.  Thanks, Girl!

Being a sewing teacher has taught me that many people don't find value in sewing. Isn't that a shame?  I feel that Project Runway has made it cool again (and made me realize that all us sewers who were thumping away before the show was around were always cool!), but I still run into the occasional "My daughter has a B in Sewing.  How is that possible?"  I won't get in to why that would happen, but the attitude is out there.  I like to teach my students how to be trendy, acquire sewing skills, read a stinkin' pattern, and refashion clothing they already have in order to save money.  I like to blog tutorials about fun things to sew and usually write them so that middle schoolers will understand the directions (and so that I can read them when I want to make it down the road!).  There have been days in class when I have extra time and, woop, pull up the bloggy and teach the girls how to do something.  Total life saver.

Anyway, this is a tutorial for an infinity scarf.  I love scarves and have several, but none of these.  They are SO easy (we're talking 10 minutes once you figure it out!) and take little fabric.  I refashioned some old sweatpants that I stole from my Dad in high school, but you can use any fabric- even a tablecloth (which I also did!)  I apologize for my scarf not being prettier or cooler.  You'd think I'd pull all the stops on my first guest post.  Well, it's been a tight month.  Sticking firmly to the budget!  I scoured my house for something innovative to use.  Deal with it. 



First, cut your fabric.  If you are buying fabric from the fabric store, you will need about 30 inches.  Your fabric will be folded in half (the way it was stored on the bolt), so cut it so that you have 2 really long pieces that are each 15 inches wide (depending on your fabric, they with be either 15"by 45" or 15" by 58".  Both are fine).

Here is how I cut my sweatpants:



Next- sew both pieces together along the short side with right sides together.  Your goal is to now have a very long rectangle that is 15 inches wide.  I serged my edges (just because it’s faster), but you probably don’t need to finish your seam allowances because you won’t be washing this a lot (unless you are Laurisa and have a sweet baby girl barfing on you =D)



Next, you want to sew this long rectangle into a long tube.  In the world of fart-polluted middle school, we call this folding hot-dog style.  That means your rectangle will be long and skinny, like a hot dog (as opposed to a short and fat hamburger).  Fold with right sides together and sew the raw edges (aka edges opposite the fold).  Again, I serged this edge, but you can just use a sewing machine.



Okay!  Long tube.  Believe it or not, you are so almost done.  Turn that puppy right side out.



Now, this is the tricky part- we want to sew the two openings of the tube together.  SO, lay one end of the tube against the other, right sides together (obviously- you have it turned right side out!).



Sew along the raw edge as much as you can.  The tube will curl around itself and, eventually, you won’t really be able to sew it anymore.  Backstitch and pull it out of the machine.  You should be left with just a small hole.



You can blind stitch the hole shut or just stitch it with your machine.  To be quite honest, you won’t ever see it.  Just hide it behind your hair!



Finished!  You can embellish it with t-shirt braids:



Or felt blooms:


Ooooh, so cute.  Want a felt bloom?  You’ve come to the right place!  We are giving a set of 3 brooch felt blooms away- or a felt bloom baby headband- to one lucky winner.



What do you have to do?  Follow these easy steps:

Become a follower of Land of LA &  Become a follower of Katie.J.Gibson (we need friends, people!)

Leave a comment telling us what color you’d want a flower bloom in.

 We will randomly pick the lucky winner Tuesday evening, October 25th and announcing it HERE on Wednesday, October 26th.