Infinity Scarf tutorial (DIY Homemade Gifts for $5 or less)

I am so excited to join 4 other talented bloggers to bring you some DIY Homemade Gift ideas!  These are all simple, inexpensive (think $5 or much less) ideas that could make a perfect gift for someone on your list.  And these are also great ideas to give for a hostess, teacher, neighbor, girlfriend gift too.   Here’s a sneak peak at them all – see the links at the bottom of the post for the details on each one. 

The homemade gift idea that I wanted to share with you is one I personally would LOVE to receive as a gift so of course it is the perfect one for me to give as well.  I actually planned to make these last year and never got a chance so I was extra determined to make them and share the tutorial with you this year. 

I absolutely LOVE scarfs and I know I am not the only one that does judging by the rows and rows of them in the stores and the people I see wearing them on a daily basis.  Scarves come in every color, fabric, length, type possible and I love them all.  Seriously the outfit above would be so boring  – a white shirt and a black vest??  …but throw on a fun scarf in some fun pattern or color and it completely changes the outfit from boring to fashionable!

I am not a great seamstress by any means.  But I can hem curtains, sew a sort-of straight line, and I know how to thread a needle – if you can do those things YOU can make this scarf too (sewing a perfectly straight line not required for this).  Each scarf literally took me 20 minutes to make from cutting and finish – the longest part is the very last seam. 

First pick out your fabric.  I have a major crush on plaid + flannel right now so I picked up a few yards at Joann’s Black Friday sale.  I also live in GA so winter sometimes means 60 degree days which is too warm for a traditional scarf but a knit/jersey scarf is perfect and can even be worn into spring.  So I also picked up some knit/jersey fabric in some fun stripes and colors.

There are so many ways you can do this but I try to stretch my fabric as far as possible.  I can make 2 scarfs from 1 yard of fabric (one to giveaway and one for me to keep )  So if you only want to make one scarf you can get 1/2 yard of material.  BUT if it is striped material you will want to cut it the length of the whole yard so your stripes will run the right way – so for striped material you will need to buy 1 yard but you can still make 2 scarfs.

Flannel or knit is usually $8-12 a yard but watch for a sale or use a 50% coupon to get it 1/2 off.    Since you can get 2 scarves from 1 yard of material your cost is $2-3 a scarf (maybe even cheaper if you could find cheaper material!)

This is very hard to illustrate but looking at the above picture I cut the material in half longwise (so if you divided the picture from top to bottom) and you will also cut along the fold too.  So you will have 4 separate identical pieces – you will need 2 for one scarf. 

Sew one piece to the other piece at the short ends to make a long strip.  Make sure to put the right sides of the fabric together so your seam/unfinished edges will be on the wrong side.(You can match up your stripes better than I did but honestly once you are wearing it you don’t see it.)

Now you have one long strip of material.  Put right sides together again fold in half longwise.  Sew the long side all the way down basically making a long, inside out, tube of material.  Turn right side out once finished.  

Now you just have one more seam to finish – to join the ends to create the infinity.  You can’t really sew this inside out and then flip it …so you will need to hand stitch it close by folding the unfinished edges in/under and then hand stitching it close.  Or I stitched mine on my machine and was happy with how it looked even though it wasn’t a completely hidden seam.

To machine stitch it – turn under the edges of one end of your “tube”

And then insert the other end into your turned under end.  Pin to secure and stitch a straight stitch straight across. 

Here’s the scarves I have finished so far!  (I hope to complete 6-8 of these for the girls in our singles class that my husband and I lead.)

I definitely made 2 of these and as soon as we have another cold day here in GA I will be “trying one out”

This striped knit material is actually more teal than it shows up in pictures.  Super soft, drapey, and fun to wear.  And definitely could be worn in spring too.

I had this flannel material in my fabric stash and thought it was a fun modern twist on plaid flannel with the velvet design on it.  I have probably 2 yards of this so plenty to make into scarves and giveaway. 

Here’s another plaid flannel one. 

These are so fun (and easy!) to make and I hope that the intended recipients enjoy them as much as I love scarves.  You can easily customize them – make them shorter if you wanted to give them to a younger child, longer if you prefer to wrap them 3 times, thicker if you prefer that – just customize it to what you want. 

Do you enjoy wearing scarves?  Ever make one before?  You will find me wearing a scarf most days between October and February and I love all kinds – infinity, regular, ruffled, solid, striped, plaid and more!

Now you probably have some other people on your gift list… and don’t worry my blogging friends can help with a gift for them too.  I totally want to make all their projects now too… oh right… supposed to be for a gift!  Ok, well one for me and one for a gift . 

Make sure to check out their posts here:

• Build a Snowman Gift in a Jar at ThriftyStories.com
• Tuscan Garlic Herb Mix at BrownSugarToast.com
• May your Days be Merry and your Laundry be Bright at JoelandKitty.com
• Holiday Pallet Art at PenniesnGrace.blogspot.com

I hope you enjoyed this homemade gift roundup and are able to cross some gifts off your list for under $5.00!  These would be perfect hostess/teacher/neighbor gifts too. 

How are you doing on your shopping – almost done, haven’t started, or they are already wrapped under the tree?