With my own two hands

Speaking of the long list of tutorials I mentioned in my resolution post, I did tackle one very cool tutorial in December -- raw edged scarves! My girlfriends and I wanted to exchange gifts for Christmas, and I was so excited when I ran across this tutorial.

The scarves are based off of this one from the Gap that was selling for $20 (and currently isn't discounted very much, in my opinion).




20 buckaroos x 4 cute girlfriends (and 1 for myself) = a whole lotta moolah. Since we were shooting for low or no cost on the gifts, this tutorial was the way to go, and honestly, picking out the fabric was more fun than being limited to what the Gap had to offer (sorry, Gap). The homespun fabric is from JoAnn's and was on sale, anywhere between $2 and $5 a yard depending on the print.

I followed the instructions on the tutorial, but I made one small modification. Instead of using 1 yard of fabric, I purchased 1.5 yards for each scarf so that the finished measurements were closer to the Gap version, but it probably wouldn't matter either way. Also, when I washed them and threw them in the dryer (to get the edges nice and fringed), the homespun cotton turned a lot softer and felt more like flannel in the end. A huge thanks goes out to my quilting bee buddy Allison for such a great tutorial! Seriously, all these clever bloggers out there in InternetLand -- how do they come up with such great ideas?!

Here are my girlies modeling their scarves. On two of them you can also see the quirky little flower brooches I sewed up and pinned on each one. I think it's kind of fun to have a little fabric flower to pin on a cardigan or a bag or a coat or whatever, you know, when you need a little extra zest to your outfit!