JuneBug's World: A Quicker Cowl

Cowls are very "in" right now. And I can see why - the comfort of a scarf without the worry of losing it or trailing the end of the scarf into the toilet. Or something.

And there is no denying that you can't beat the sumptuous knitted cowl. See the beautiful one that inspired me at Canoe Ridge Creations.

So I started knitting one. And like... 6 days later it's still not even halfway done. (!) Sewing has made me (even more) impatient. So I set out to make a quicker cowl, and here it is:

don't laugh. it's a bathroom mirror picure.

It took me HALF AN HOUR! Not six days (or more). Do you want to make one too? Great. Go get an old t shirt and a peice of cool fabric. I used corduroy that was laying around. And a t shirt I had laying around. I know you have one laying around too.

The Quicker Cowl

Materials:
Old T-shirt - with at least 6" upward of the bottom hem intact
at least 6.5" x 40" (20" folded in half) of accent fabric. Something soft.
scissors, coordinating thread, NO PINS :) (unless you feel like you have to)

Gather materials

Cut materials: cut 6" off the bottom of the T-shirt, cut two peices of accent fabric 6.5" x 20":

cut materials

Make a tube out of the accent fabric. Place peices right sides facing, and sew a 3/8" seam along each long side. Turn the tube inside out:

sew right sides together, flip inside out.

Fold in the raw short edges of the tube, press into place:

fold in ends, press.

You should now have a tube with raw edges all tucked in:

Prepare the old t shirt...
Cut the loop in half to make one long peice of jersey:

Now you're going to hem the long raw edge of the jersey. You can use your machine's zigzag (#2 below) or go for something more like a serger would do (#8 below):

Now you have a jersey "scarf" with raw edges only on the short ends:

Shove one end of the jersey scarf into an end of the accent fabric tube, put it in about 1/2", flatten out, and sew it into the tube with a simple straight stitch along the end of the tube. Repeat for the other end of the scarf/tube, being careful not to twist the contraption