Sew a Cozy Neck Warmer in Less Than One Hour

Five years ago I made two neck warmers for my kid to get rid of those tangely scarfs. He loves them and wears them every winter. For three years, he had to share the neck warmer with his sibling and I decided it was time to get a new one (min. one).

Unfortunately, I lost the pattern I used. But since it's a very easy symmetrical pattern, I just redraw it. And now I will share this very easy, very quick project with you.

Take two (or even just one) nice fabrics, a sewing machine (or overlock sewing machine or just needle and thread), and an hour of your time*

And you'll receive a nice, versatile, and cozy neck and chest warmer.

*sewing by hand only will take significant longer :-)

Materials:

1. inner fabric (approx. 80x30cm (32"x12") (in my case red)
2. outer fabric (approx. 80x30cm (32"x12") (in my case blue with stars)
3. fitting thread

Tools

1. sewing machine or overlock sewing machine
2. scissors or rotary cutter
3. needle
4. pin or clips
5. neck warmer pattern

Luckily you don't have to do this step, but I wanted to show you, that sometimes tracing a pattern is as easy as it feels.

I used the loved and worn neck warmer, and since my paper wasn't big enough to trace it in whole. I folded it and put it on a sheet to trace the outline.

Since there should be some seam allowance, I added a 7mm (0.3") bigger outline.

Tada, pattern finished :-)

I later traced the pattern in Inkscape, so you don't have to deal with my wobbly lines :-)

Since the pattern is just half of the pattern, you need to fold your fabric and set the pattern to the center fold of the fabric.

Then trace the pattern and cut it with your scissors.

Actually, I wanted to use my rotary cutter, but couldn't find it. So I used the scissors instead.

For the other side of the outer fabric, I used the first cut-out fabric.

I opened it and put it on the fabric, no special need to trace it with a pen, but just cut it with my scissors.

(All the time thinking about my rotary cutter, which must be somewhere)

Then I did a quick search at a spot where I already looked for my rotary cutter two times. It turned out that a third search was needed. (Does this sound familiar to you? :-) )

I doubled the inner fabric and put one of the already cut outside fabric pieces onto it.

Therefore I could cut both inner fabric parts at once and this time I used the rotary cutter (one of the best small investments I did) to trace and cut the pattern.

Now there should be 4 pieces of fabric in front of you.

I recently received an used overlock machine as a gift from a friend (thanks a lot Anika :-) ) and wanted to challenge myself to use it for this sewing project. You can use a normal sewing machine, or even sew by hand since it isn't a huge project.

First things first: No matter what, when you restart your machine with some different fabric, ALWAYS do a sample seam. I did it with some waste fabric, and the seam was just fine.

Lay your fabric with the pretty side (right side) on top of each other. Sew the left side and the right side.

Repeat with the inner fabric.

Turn the outside fabric around, so that you can see the right side.

Put the outside fabric inside of the inside fabric, so that the right sides are "touching each other"

Now pin the upper (smaller part) of the neck warmer together, to create a fabric tube and close it with a seam around.

1. Open the fabric, and you create a long tube.
2. Fold the outer fabric onto the inner fabric.
3. Now fold the "inner" pieces of the fabric behind ( in the picture they are labeled with 2 and 3).
4. Lay fabric 1 onto 4 and staple the fabric pieces, either with pins or with wonder clips.
5. Start sewing the pinned part together.
6. When you reach the unpinned part, carefully pull out the rest of the fabric and sew it together
7. BUT: Leave a small opening (approx. 5cm / 2") for turning the neck warmer inside out.

1. Carefully pull the fabric through the opening and shape the neck warmer to its final form.
2. Take your needle and some thread and close the opening; you can either just sew it together, or use the mattress stitch, which you can see in the images and which is almost invisible later on.
3. When you finish your sewing make a knot and cut off the thread.

You can wear it both ways, depending on your mood or other clothes.

It is nice and cozy and since it's a little bit longer than a normal neck warmer, it also warms the shoulders and keeps away the cold in the front zipper area. My kid loves it :-)

And for the size, my kid has been wearing them since he was 1,5 years old and my partner tried the new sewn neck warmer and it fits too :-)

I promised you, that this is a quick project. And to "proof" it, I took some screenshots from my phone when I did the first picture of the old neck warmer and the picture of the finished new neck warmer.

The first picture says 20:13 (8:13 pm) and the second picture says 21:23 (9:23 pm). In this time frame, I have sewn the neck warmer, taken the photos, searched (again) for the rotary cutter, and ran into the basement to change the red fabric. All in 1:10h, I would say, that is quite a fast project.

Take the hour and sew your self or your loved ones a cozy neck and chest warmer.