Make a Neck Warmer for a Little Girl

Now that the weather is getting chillier, my 4-year-old daughter asked for a tube scarf of her own. I have a pretty decent stash of felted wool sweaters, so I let her pick out the colors she wanted and got to work.

Here is the finished product, modeled by the cutest cowl scarf-wearing girl this side of the Mississippi:

To make the felted wool, pick up a pretty 100% wool sweater at a thrift store or yard sale, then wash it, with regular detergent, in your washing machine using hot water. Dry it in the dryer until it's dry. It should shrink considerably, and that shrinkage will felt the wool and give you a nice, tight weave that won't fray. It's important that the sweater is 100% wool, and that it's washed in hot water, not warm. If the sweater isn't 100% wool, you won't get as much shrinkage and it won't felt properly.

I started with a purple sweater, and since this tube scarf is for a little girl, I simple cut one of the sleeves straight up from the armpit, then made another parallel cut a few inches below that.

Hang on to the lower sleeve, you'll need it later. At this point, I made my daughter try on the upper sleeve piece, just to make sure it would fit comfortably over her head.

For the lining, I picked out an old beige long-sleeved t-shirt that once belonged to my husband. The knit was nice and soft. I used the sweater scarf piece to cut a similarly-sized piece from the upper sleeve of the t-shirt.

Now, place the two pieces right sides together, matching up the seams.

Sew them together at the top using a mid-length straight stitch. Stretch the fabric as you sew to ensure the scarf will have enough stretch to fit over the wearer's head without breaking the thread.

Once that stitch is done, flip the scarf so that the wrong sides are together.

Now stitch together the bottom, using a zigzag stitch along the edge while stretching the fabric to create a lettuce/ruffle edge.

This is the finished plain tube scarf:

My daughter wanted something a bit snazzier, though, so we decided to add a ruffle flower to the front.

Using the lower sleeve, cut three circles - one large, one medium-sized, and one small.

Using the same stretch/zigzag edge stitch, sew the edge of each circle so that it has a ruffle. Stack the three with the large circle on the bottom and the small on top.

I then hand-stitched the three onto the front of the scarf, with a small button in the middle and top. 

And there you have it! It was quick to make and should be snuggly and warm for my daughter this winter!

If you wanted to make a larger one, you would use the same techniques, just make a larger tube out of the main sweater (and a t-shirt) rather than using the sleeves. 

The great thing about these tube scarves is that you can pull them up over your face when it's extremely cold, or use them as a large headband/ear cover. They're very versatile, and so easy to make!

You'll want to hang on to the rest of the sweater, too. It's big enough to make a felted wool purse, a hat, or several other projects that you might see here soon!