Faux Chenille Scarf

I make holiday gifts for friends and neighbors each year, and here is my project for this year. This scarf is unique and fun and fairly inexpensive to make. This is my Instructable on how to make them. I have made several and learned something new with each scarf. I hope my experiences will help you avoid some of the mistakes I made along the way.

1 ½ yard rayon batik fabric, 45” in width. I got mine here: https://www.fabric.com/find?searchText=rayon+batik and here: https://indobatiks.com/rayon-batik-fabrics*

Rotary cutter or scissors

Cutting mat

Straight edge ruler 

Fabric marker - I use soap slivers

Straight pins 

Slash cutter. I got mine here: https://www.createforless.com/Clover-Slash-Cutter/pid5549.aspx*

Sewing machine

Iron

Spray starch or gelatin

*Rayon batik is dyed so both sides have the same brilliant print.

*The blades on this slash cutter get dull rather quickly. It will certainly work for 1 or 2 scarves, but if you make more than that you will need some replacement blades. If you purchase a Clover brand, be aware that generic replacement blades won't fit.

Since rayon tends to shrink, wash and dry your fabric prior to cutting. Spray starch and iron your fabric. Rayon is slippery so don’t skimp on the starch. Alternatively you can stiffen your fabric using the gelatin method. Since I made several scarves and didn't want to use all of my spray starch, I used the gelatin method. https://lettiandco.com/how-to-stiffen-fabric/

Cutting on the bias will give you a longer scarf and minimize fraying. In order to make a bias cut, fold your fabric at a 45° angle. Since your fabric is 45” wide you will have several inches left above your fold. Press your fabric to hold the crease and then fold the fabric again on the 45° angle. This second fold makes it more manageable to use your cutting mat, but if you don’t want to use this method, use your marker and scissors to cut your fabric after the first fold.

On the fold, use your ruler to measure in 3” from the edge and cut as accurately as possible. This piece will be the longest and unfolded will be 6” wide.  Don’t stress too much about wobbly lines. When you finish stitching, you will trim the edges.

Each subsequent cut will be 5 3/4" wide. The length of your pieces will get shorter, but you will end up using all of your cuts.

Start with the 6” wide strip - the foundation piece, and lay it flat. Lay the end of the next strip about 1” lower than the foundation strip and line up on one of the edges. The 1” extension applies only to the foundation piece. All of the other strips will lay evenly on top of each other. Find a shorter strip and lay it over the last strip you placed. Make sure you overlap the top strip so it covers the end of the lower piece. Keep stacking and pinning until you have 3 extra layers on top of the foundation strip.

Take your time. This step is pretty fiddly. The fabric is not always cooperative and you may have to re-arrange your strips to get the best use out of the various lengths. 

When you are satisfied with your arrangement, turn the whole scarf over and place 3 more layers on the other side of the foundation piece making sure you leave 1” extended. Ideally you will have 7 layers of fabric. At some point you may run out of useable pieces of fabric. If so, eliminate one layer.

When you are finished laying out the strips and pinning one edge, you will notice that the other edge is not even remotely even, nor is the bottom edge straight. Worry not! This will all be corrected at the end of your project.

Measure 2 3/4” from the edge of your pinned side and draw a line all the way down the center of your scarf. By now, I’m sure you have noticed that this fabric does not stay put, so don’t skimp on the pins. Pin another line near your center mark.

Since you are stitching 7 layers of fabric, you may need to adjust the tension on your sewing machine. I loosened mine to -2 and set my stitch length to 3. Also, if you own a walking foot it is useful for this step, but not necessary.

Sew the first seam down the middle where you drew your line. Sew the next seam ⅜” from the initial line. My presser foot makes a convenient measurement for a ⅜” seam and you should be able to use the same technique with most presser feet. However you chose to sew it, your seams should be no closer than ¼” apart.

Keep sewing until you are about ½” from each edge.

Now it’s time to trim away all the uneven edges. Take your straight edge ruler and measure ¼” away from both side seams. I marked it with my soap sliver, but you can slowly cut away all of the unevenness without marking. Do the same with the ends and cut them at an angle. My cutting mat has an angled line that I used as a guide.

It’s starting to look pretty good, isn’t it?

Remember the 1” extension in step 4? Here is where that comes in handy. When you are creating your faux chenille, you want to make sure you don’t cut through the foundation strip. How do we know which one that is? It’s the piece that extends out 1 inch! 

If you have 3 top layers over the foundation piece, take your scissors and make a starter snip in those layers. If you have 2 layers, cut those 2. Don’t snip the foundation strip.

Some of you may have questioned the wisdom of purchasing that slasher for this project, I think you will understand pretty quickly that using your scissors for this step will be a lot more labor intensive. The slasher adds some expense to the project, but it makes it so much easier.

The operation of the slasher is pretty self-explanatory. Start at the end where you made your snip and push the blade along the channel you sewed. When you come to the overlapped sections go slowly and make sure you're not cutting into a lower layer. I ruined a beautiful scarf doing just that. Rather than cut through all 3 layers at one time, I cut only one layer. Like I said, I made some mistakes along the way, and I want you to learn from them.

Measure up 3” from the end of the scarf. Make a mark. Then snip up the one middle piece of fabric that didn’t get slashed.

This is where the magic happens. Toss your scarf into the machine and set it to the rinse cycle. You don’t really need to send it through an entire wash cycle. Dry it in the dryer and behold, a beautiful fluffy scarf, suitable for gifting.