Tiffany M. Windsor - Creative Scarves

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We dedicate this book to our momma (and Savannahs great-grandma), Aleene, who kicked off the crafting revolution and who has provided generation after generation the inspiration to express their creativity.

A quick online search gives a detailed look at the rich history of the scarf from Ancient Rome and Egypt through its emergence from function to fashion accessory by the early nineteenth century. Fast-forward to today, and scarves have now become an everyday accessory for all seasons, the perfect finishing touch to just about any outfit.

What sets a scarf apart as your own fashion statement is the ability to personalize it with your own creative touches. In designing this collection of scarves, we have focused on sharing creative techniques that the beginning hand-crafter can easily follow and that the hands-on craft enthusiast can build upon and personalize for one-of-a-kind results.

As fourth and sixth generation crafters, we have grown up in a very creative environment and have definitely lost count of the number of projects we have created for business and pleasure over the years. We grew up in a crafty space where everything was glued, so we enthusiastically embraced the creation of this collection where we could combine our sewing, stitching and crafty talents to create scarves for all seasons and occasions.

Our joy in designing and creating this scarf collection together is celebrating each generations style, colors and trends, and teaching each other new techniques. We browsed fabric and thrift stores to find just the right fabrics to use and deconstruct; we tested glues, dyes, paints and inks; we dipped into our own creative supplies for yarn, beads, rhinestones, charms and other embellishments. We all agree that this collectionfrom the simplicity of subtle design to the enticing detail of coutureis by far the most fun we have had creating and wearing! We hope you in turn are inspired to make and enjoy these scarves for every season, and that they lead to further creativity on your own.

Lets go over some of the main materials and tools you will need to complete the projects. Later in this section is a complete checklist of everything you will want to have on hand.

For those who enjoy hand-sewing or using their sewing machines to stitch a scarf, there is a huge variety of suitable fabrics for scarf making available at your local fabric store. Once you decide how you want to embellish or decorate your scarf, you can select from soft and smooth to patterned, textured and bulky fabrics. Keep in mind how the fabric will feel wrapped around your neck. Will it drape nicely? Will it be easy to hem? Will it wash and dry?

Another great option for your base scarf is to select a readymade scarf. Since scarves are a fashion basic, you can find selections in many colors, finishes, shapes and sizes. When you want to customize a readymade scarf, you can find excellent online sources for plain white scarves in natural fibers that are ready for dyeing. Choices include silk, cotton and rayon, bamboo rayon, velvets and more. When dyeing your own fabrics, you must select a 100-percent natural fiber such as cotton, rayon, linen or wool. The benefit of readymade scarves is that you do not need to finish the edges or hem the fabric. Readymade scarves can be found in traditional square and rectangular shapes along with shawls, sarongs and bandannas. They can be gathered, spiraled, fringed, seamless, circular and more.

Whether using it to create an entire scarf or for fringe or embellishments, yarn is very versatile. You can select from many different weights including super-fine, fine, light, medium, bulky, super-bulky and more. Whenever possible, you will want to feel the yarn you are considering using to select the softest finishes. Affordable yarns can be purchased by the skein at your local craft store. Custom-spun and dyed yarns can be found at specialty shops.

Wool roving is a piece of wool that has been combed, drawn into a clump and then twisted slightly to hold the fibers (see .

When using beads to embellish the ends of yarn fringe, be sure to select large-hole beads. Bulky yarns need plenty of room to pass through the bead opening. Beads with smaller holes can be used for bead drops and hand-beading work.

There are many different choices when selecting dyes to color your own scarves and fabrics. There are dyes that require soda ash, salt, heat, and other specific materials and methods to set the dyes permanently into your fabrics. Sometimes we select a dye for its ease of use, other times because we have used it before or we know we want a very specific color that is available from only one supplier. Keep in mind that dye reacts differently with different fabric blends.

Some manufacturers recommend dyeing fabrics in the washing machine; others suggest buckets. Whichever dyeing method you select, we recommend that you test, test, test. When testing a new dye or dyeing method, we often cut one scarf into several smaller pieces so we can test the application. Sometimes we dont end up with the color we had in mind for a specific project, but we still end up with beautiful fabric samples we can use for other projects.

There are many different choices for fabric paints, but the most important quality is leaving the fabric as soft as possible while getting an intense opaque or semiopaque color. You will want to make your selection depending on how you are applying your paint to the fabric. Applications include stenciling, hand-painting, block printing and more. Some paints may need to be heat-set to become permanent; always follow the manufacturers instructions.