Fleece Neck Scarf

In this video, I show how I made this Fleece Neck Scarf or Snood. It gets freezing cold in my workshop, and there is no heating. The weather in the UK can be pretty bad, so I needed a way to keep warm, and a normal scarf won't work as it's dangerous around power tools. This scarf was easy to make and only took me a couple of hours, it's a simple project for beginners on a sewing machine.

For this project you will need;

• Grey Fleece Fabric (UK)
• Grey Fleece Fabric (USA)

• Coloured Piping (UK)

• Sharp Sheers (UK)
• Sharp Sheers (USA)

• Sewing Machine (UK)
• Sewing Machine (USA)

I started with a large piece of grey fleece. You can use any colour, or one with a pattern if you want. You can also use a different colour for the outside and the inside. Most material has a 'stretch' in it, where it will stretch out more in one direction than the other. I wanted this going from top to bottom.

I measured 25cm tall by 60cm wide. I used a blue chalk pencil to mark the fabric. It didn't mark that well, but it was just enough to be able to see it. The Fleece fabric kept moving as I marked but just took it slow and kept double checking my measurements. I used a straight ruler to help get a straight line.

I then cut it using some super sharp scissors that I won in the last sewing competition on Instructables! (Waxed Canvas Laptop Sleeve) So thanks to everyone who voted for me!

I was left with 2 pieces of fabric that were 25cm wide by 60 long.

I had never used any piping before, but I got some nice bright yellow one, and a grey one. I wanted to have the top piping as a nice contrast colour to the rest of the material.

The fleece has a good side and a bad side. The good side has a slightly softer, fluffier side. I laid down good side up and laid down the piping. The piping was put down with the cord side facing inwards, as later on, we are going to turn the full thing inside out so has to face in for now. I used some pins to hold it in place right up against the edge. Then I took the other piece of fleece and laid it good side down. So that both the good sides were facing each other, with the piping in between.

I put some dark grey thread onto the sewing machine. I added a few binding clips to secure the fabric as I find pins a bit too fiddly. I set the sewing machine to a Zigzag stitch and the width down to 1. This is very small, but a small zigzag should be good enough for this. the zigzag stitch is best for when working with fleece material.

I ran this along the full length of the side of the scarf, with the stitch locking in the piping into place.

Then I repeated the same for the other side of the scarf with some grey piping.

Then I was left with a long 'tube' with open ends. I turned it the right way round and could see that all the piping was stitched in securely. Once it was fully facing the right way, it took one of the open edges and folded it back over itself inside out, but along the width rather than the length. I kept folding it over itself until the two ends met and lined up with piping.

It's quite hard to explain, but if you watch The Video you can see what I mean.

Then I sewed the edges closed, again using the zigzag stitch. It's very important to leave a small pocket around 5cm wide that you don't sew close. You can leave this pocket bigger if you want, but it makes the next step harder. Again I pulled the entire scarf back through the pocket so it was finally the right side out.

Then I took a needle and thread to hand sew the pocket closed. I did this by putting the needle about halfway into the fleece fabric, and back out the top. Then went across to the other side and did the same. By sewing it like this, it will sit flush like the rest of the stitching I did on the machine. I just kept going along until it was fully closed.

That's it! I'm still pretty new to sewing, I think this is only the second proper sewing project I've done so I'm still very much learning. It was great fun working with a new fabric like fleece, and it certainly keeps me nice and warm in the workshop. I think it's great little project, that you can customise with loads of different colours and styles etc. Remember if you make your own make sure to come back here and share a photo with me!

Thanks, everyone who voted for me in this competition! I'm a finalist which is really awesome, and couldn't have done it without you :)