Last month when I was visiting my pal M in lovely Idaho, she showed me the cutest little scarf/handkerchief she found for her 1 year old son. I think she said she bought it at a craft fair or boutique (or maybe on etsy online)...I just can't remember. Either way, it was great for catching baby teething slobber, wiping a little face, whatever. And it made him look so cool:
Am I right? I traced a rough outline of it's shape and took it back with me to lovely Minnesota to try my best at my own interpretation. It seemed to be made of a soft knit fabric so I stopped at the craft store to find a few cute options. Pretty slim pickings at the time but I settled on one solid and one pattern.
I got the sewing machine all set up and made my first attempt. I knew there was a trick to sewing with knits....I just didn't know what that trick was. (Note to self...take a basic apparel sewing class in the near future). I learned that without this trick, knits tend to bunch and look wavy when finished - which they did a little. (Fast forward a few weeks after the first attempt was complete- I asked an amazing sewing friend about what i needed to do next time to be more successful and she said to use a zig zag stitch, decrease the tension on my machine and place a paper towel under the fabric to add some stability. I fully intend to do this when I make the next one).
Ok, to start I cut out 2 pieces of fabric from the rough template I created in Idaho:
I then placed them one on top of the other with the pattern side in and pinned them together:
I sewed all the way around leaving a little space at the end open so I could invert the fabric:
Once I had it flipped right side out, I hand stitched the hole. From there, I used a bright green thread to do a zig zag stitch all the way around the outside...mostly for looks, not because I had any idea that the zig zag stitch was the money stitch I should have been using in the first place. I hadn't learned that little tidbit yet.
Next step, the snaps. Joann has a nifty little kit for attaching snaps. It's so easy...I know that because it says it right on the package. And it was. It comes with a little tool, instructions and 4 snaps. A little tap of the hammer and it finished off the project swimmingly. I added 2 snaps on one side to allow for a few sizing options and one reverse snap on the other end:
It turned out pretty good for my first try...I gave it to my cousin's baby for her first birthday that week and she looked so cute in it...I'm hoping it caught lots of drool and other baby messes as well as fashionably accessorized all of her outfits:)
I don't have a pic of said cousin-baby modeling her hankie, so I took the liberty of modeled it for you:
My plan is to take my new found 'knit sewing' knowledge back to the drawing table and perfect my first attempt...get all the wrinkles out if you will. If it goes well, everyone I know with a drooly baby may be the recipient of this lovely, fancy accessory. Stay tuned.
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