Back in 2012, I was too intimidated to make clothes. Instead, I sewed zippered bags, place mats, and infinity scarves to sell at a local boutique. (Wanna see what I sold? It took me a while to remember what I called my “brand”, but I found my old website here.)
One of my favourite things to make was infinity scarves, and I still wear them regular. I’ve made a few recently, so I thought I’d put together a little tutorial about how I do it! 
Materials:
Either two jersey knits, or a knit and a woven, about 40cm x the width of the fabric.
With two knits, I make the scarf 60″ long and therefore long enough to wrap twice around the neck. With a knit and a woven, I like to make it shorter so it works are a single loop – I find wovens have more loft, so if they are doubled it can get too puffy for me. Mixing a knit with the woven helps weigh things down and help the scarf to drape nicely.
Sew the two long sides together, with right sides together. If you want to add pompoms or trim, sandwich them in the seams now!
Turn the scarf right side out. Open up the ends of the tubes, and sew them together as far as you can, with right sides together.
(Let’s imagine my scarf has one side made of knit, and one side woven. I pin the edges together, matching the right sides of the knit. I start sewing about 1/3 of the way on the woven side, passing over the side seam, all the way around the knit side, and back to the woven. Everything will seem horrible tangled towards the end, so stop sewing when you are about 20cm from where you started.) <— I have no idea if that makes any sense the way I’ve explained it. I could never write pattern instructions!
Pull along the length of the scarf, and the seam you just sewed should be pulled inside. If you are using a busy print, it’s easy to just topstitch the gap closed with a machine. It will be at the back of your neck anyway, so who will notice? If you have a solid fabric, you might prefer to hand sew the gap closed. I use ladder stitch to close it up invisibly.
Congratulations – you are done!
Here are a couple of different variations…
Top left: My most recent, which is the same construction as this plaid and stripe winter version. Half knit, half woven, starting with roughly 40cmx80cm pieces.
Top right: Jersey with pom poms. This one is the full width of the jersey (about 60″) so it loops twice around my neck.
Bottom left: a single layer of sweater knit. The seam is sewn with a simple zig zag, and the edges are raw.
Bottom right: A refashioned cardigan. I cut it off under the arms, and serged the hem to the raw cut long edge. The buttons (squint at the right to see them) keep everything closed.
Do you wear/sew scarves a lot? Any tips to share? What’s your favourite style?
Crafting A Rainbow 
They’re my secret addiction now I have my overlocker and just perfect for changeable British weather…
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YES! Although frankly, my overlocker led to lots of secret addictions: leggings, sewing underwear, knit everything… It’s such a gamechanger, isn’t it?!
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I wear loads of scarves and have a massive collection. Everything from tiny silk vintage ones to massive chunky knits. To be honest in the UK you could do with one on most days of the year and, as I wear a lot of black, they really add a pop of colour to an otherwise dull outfit. I have just made a nice fake fur one (blogged) and an up-cycled wool one from 20-year old knitting, as well as a nice bright red knitted one (both waiting for pics). Scarves are awesome. The floral and teal one is still my favourite but the pom-poms are close. Will definitely give this tutorial a try. 🙂 xx
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Ooh, fake fur? Dude! And it’s pink? (I just went to your blog and looked, and followed you, because apparently I wasn’t following you yet! 🙂 Scarves ARE awesome – my mom, sister and I are all pretty obsessed. I have a huge bag of scarves the hides under the bed, and more in the closet, and inevitably about 5 lying around the house wherever I’ve take them off! 🙂
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Great tutorial! I enjoy sewing infinity scarves too – they’re great instant gratification projects and really useful. I only have 2 currently on rotation, but I wear one almost every single day. I’m sure my coworkers are getting sick of looking at them. 🙂 I sew them the same way you do, and I like to use brightly-colored voile. BTW, I always enjoy your illustrations! They’re so cheerful.
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Sounds like you can justify some fabric shopping to make more scarves!!! You only need a bit of fabric, so you could justify something extra special? (I can talk myself into fabric any day… 😉 More scarves, Carolyn! You need more than two!
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What a great idea to mix woven and knits to keep everything nice and anchored! For me, every day that’s not warm enough for a necklace involves a scarf. I don’t have any infinity scarves because I prefer to tie them in various ways to fit my moods/how cold it is, but I see the value in the infinity style. In particular, I have a gigantic linen scarf that is absolutely unwieldy and would be much more useful sewn up in some manner.
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I definitely got into infinity scarves more when I became a teacher – I want to know it is in place all day, no matter what I do! I do really like long rectangular scarves to though. You’ve got some lovely delicate style that I can picture you rocking floaty silk scarves… mine are all chunky and bright! 🙂
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Now I know what to do with my left over knit fabrics. Thank you!
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It’s a great project for leftovers! Or for expensive fabric where you can only justify a little piece! 🙂
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Thanks for sharing this Gillian! What a great way to use up scraps. I love infinity scarves and I have really been digging all the ones you have been wearing in your posts lately!
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Thank you! I love hoarding scraps of jersey – it’s so satisfying to find ways to use them for colourblocking, knickers, scarves, or other little projects! Have you made a colourblocked Marianne yet? I can’t remember!
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Nope just the sleeveless plain ones, but I do plan on doing a colour-blocked one in the future.
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I would buy all of those. maybe i just need to make one!!
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It’s time to make one!!!! They are seriously fast – I’ve even made one minutes before leaving home to complete an outfit!
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I made four infinity scarves since the date of this post, unrelated! I am addicted to them however. Best gift ever!
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Four????? You are a machine, lady! What are you going to do with them all?
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Fantastic! Now I need a post on how to wear the dang things. I have tried these on in the store but I always end up feeling stupid in them! 😀
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I wear scarves all the time and have been thinking about these infinity scarves – so a timely tutorial given the impending cold weather.
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