Lighted LED Pink Ribbon Scarf for the Cure

Show your love for charitable organizations this Valentine's Day. Many worthy causes have a color attributed to them.  Wearing of a ribbon comes from a tradition of having something to remind us of some fact or bring awareness to the same.  This instructable makes a Scarf for the Cure in pink to support finding a cure for breast cancer.  Make your own personal Scarf for the Cure.

A translucent ribbon logo adorns the scarf which itself when worn is a giant pink ribbon. A simple bicycle LED flasher provides the lighting effects for the scarf to make the ribbon logo glow.  Similar to the Traffic Light Stoplight Scarf, this brings attention day or night.

You will need some soft material for the scarf.

People will usually knit their own unique design for the Scarf for the Cure.  I am using some pink fleece.  I don't know how to knit, yet.

You will need a piece about 4 feet by 12 inches wide.  It can be one continuous piece or pieced together from scraps.

You will need some clear shelf liner paper or something similar like a vinyl tablecloth cover/shower curtain.  This is the lens material for our ribbon logo.

You will need some fiberfill or some fluffy material to act as the diffusing layer.  I am still repurposing my dried out box of wet-wipes.  a couple of sheets from there is used for my diffuser material.

You will need a bike flasher unit.  I got a few from my dollar store.  The beauty of these things is that they are a self-contained unit that can flash the LEDs in different patterns and is the battery holder in the case.

You will need a sewing machine. 

I also have a serger so I used that to finish one end and seamed the scarf as a long tube.

CAUTION: Learn how to sew.  It is fun and can be safe, as long as you respect the sharp things and stay under the speed limit with your machine.  Easy on the gas.

Cut a piece of pink fleece 4 feet long by 12 inches wide. 

Fold in half lengthwise as this will be a double layer scarf.  If there is a good side to the material, it should be inside the fold and figure out which side you want the seam to be on.  The scarf will be turned inside out when completed.

At one end we will place the lighted ribbon logo.

Get a piece of paper that will be size of your ribbon logo.  I just used the size of a standard sheet of paper folded in half so it is about 8 inches high by 5 1/2 inches wide.

Sketch out your design for the ribbon logo.  This one is a ribbon logo with a heart that is formed by an indent at the top of the ribbon.  I have seen it used before so it is not my original though.

Transfer the design to a piece of shelf liner paper.  Note which is the sticky side with the transfer liner and which is the good facing side.  Draw on the liner side.

Since the clear shelf liner will be on the inside of the scarf, I had to change the outline of the ribbon logo to reflect that it will be reversed when seen through the other side.

Pin or tape in position the shelf liner graphic on the material.

With the shelf liner graphic in place, sew around the outline of the graphic.

Use a straight stitch to go around.

Try to keep the fabric taut so you don't have wrinkles or bumps on the front since the shelf liner and fabric may feed unevenly.

Trim to about 1/2 inch around the ribbon logo design.

On the front side, cut out the fabric inside the ribbon logo design.  You may need to pinch the fabric and snip a slit for the scissor to get in to cut.  Trim close to the sewing.

On the backside, peel away the liner paper from inside the ribbon logo.  You may need a utility knife to probe and pick up a piece in order to peel it back.  It will separate easily from the perforated sewn seams.

With another piece of shelf liner paper about the size of the ribbon logo, laminate that to the exposed sticky side of the ribbon logo sewn into the scarf.

Take a couple of layers of your diffusing material and place it up to cover the see-through part of the ribbon logo.

You can sandwich some loose fiberfill with a piece of thin white material.

Flip it over and with a close zigzag stitch, go around the outline of the logo.  This will clean up and bind the edge of where you cut out the ribbon logo design.

I am using a bicycle flasher unit that has a belt clip attached.

I can make a reinforced slot for the bicycle flasher to clip in place.

You can of course take this further if you want to use an arduino to drive the LEDs or do some soft circuits with conductive thread in placing the LEDs.  Change the lighting to match the color of the scarf, may need RGB LEDs.

I positioned the bicycle flasher to determine where I needed the hanger slot.  I just sewed in a felt piece and essentially made a big buttonhole with several seams that boxed in the opening.  I then cut between two seams to create the opening.

Seam one end.

Seam the length of the scarf.

Turn the entire scarf inside out.

You can serge to finish the open end or tuck in the raw edges and do a straight seam.

Insert the bicycle flasher and clip in place.

Go pink. Live strong. Hope.