2 Neckwarmers and a Scarf

Back when the weather was still cold in the Bay Area, I tried on and was smitten by the neckwarmer that shams made and posted about here: sham's post.  The yumminess of the fleece lining, next to the skin, makes a neckwarmer like this a Must Have if you live anywhere but the tropics!  I immediately gathered some material for my own version.  In my usual wandering fashion, I switched paths midstream and ditched the D-rings that shams used, using buttons and/or magnets instead.  Using buttons was one of those ideas that came to me while drifting off to sleep, and I thought I'd had a brilliant original thought, until I visited the website that had been sham's original inspiration, Fashion Cogs - only to discover that she was already using buttons on some of her neckwarmers, along with creative shapes and other unusual details.  Her designs are quite delightful, and even though the pattern isn't that difficult to figure out, I'm choosing to respect the fact that this wasn't my idea, and I'm not going to publish the details.   (thanks for understanding!)

Both scarves provide a LOT of variety in ways to wear them - buttoned (or magnetized) differently, top folded over like a collar,  shifted to one side or the other, and with the fleece lining, sooooooo toasty!

 

I will share that I used buttons and buttonholes on the ikat scarf - I'm SUCH a fan of self-covered buttons!   I used some vintage button forms from stash, but I've heard of a company that makes some awesome button and buckle forms, and I'll report on them when I've looked into it a bit more.

I used magnets on the polka dot scarf - I sewed the buttons on, and discovered a cheaper (albeit more work-intensive) version of button snaps:   these mighties:

Which I sewed in to little pockets:

They're just strong enough to grab through a layer of fleece for one magnet, and a layer of cotton on the matching magnet.   They would have a nice strong "grab" using only cotton.  I got them at Blick Art Supply - about $7.00 for 8 magnets.

Another side path that I took - somewhat out of necessity - was some quilting on the blue polka dot piece.  I found that the cotton layered over the fleece wanted to bunch and wander a bit, so I thought I would just do some random quilting (with my adorable at the ready Featherweight, Colette).   I just chalked some random meandering lines on the fabric, and followed them (somewhat) by stitching with the Feather - it turned out perfectly!

While I was at it, I also made a Twist Scarf based on the pattern published in Threads #158 (Dec/Jan 2012).  (If you're a Threads Insider you can access the pattern online.   The pattern is by Koos Van den Akker (one of my design heros), but my friend Lynn simplified the pattern by removing the classic Koos patchwork aspect, and also simplified the construction just by leading me through the steps in person.  (Thanks Lynn!!!)

It's a twist (literally) on a basic rectangular scarf, because it's sewn  on the bias, with a twist added in the middle of construction.   Simple, but rather brilliant!   Her's my version, made from a lovely silk charmeuse:

Kind of showing the unusual twist

Wrapped around the neck - I cut the fabric 18" x 66"
in order to end up with a piece that
I could easily wrap twice around my neck.

Another wearing option

 I think I'll get a lot of use out of all of the scarves!   I'm even still wearing the neckwarmers on  our naturally air conditioned evenings; the silk scarf should be wearable nearly all year.  :)

I'm still sewing.... just catching up on blogging....