Upcycled Victorian-esque Ruffle Scarf (In less than an hour, and less than 5 dollars!)

Have you ever thought to yourself,
"Well Self, here we are again in the midst of winter, with nothing around our necks but a cold chill and the cruel memory of a summer that once was"?
Of course you have! 

To remedy that problem, I hereby present the Victorian-ish Ruffle Scarf.

No more will your neck be cold!
No more will you have too-small turtlenecks sitting forlorn in your closet!
No more will you outfit be lacking the addition of ruffles!

But I can't guarantee that you will stop talking to yourself.

Step 1: Assemble your materials!

Go to your nearest thrift store, mother's closet or dumpster behind Macy's and find yourself a nice warm, but unwanted sweater. 

A good sweater for this project:
 A. Has some stretch to it
 B. Is not too itchy 
 C. Should cost you less than 5 dollars (bonus points if you get it for free)
 C. Is a color that you would like to wear around your neck!

You will also need a pair of scissors and a sewing machine.

Comments

[MirjamFromEurope]

Finally got around to make this scarf. About two years ago I got a free fleece sweater with an order I did at a well known French cosmetics company. Nice colour, soft fabric but lousy fit. So it lived in my closed for nearly two years. Now it has come to life as a scarf! Thank you so much for the tutorial. I wrote about it on my weblog and included a link to this page.

[susanrm]

I gave it a shot, and I think it came out pretty nice, though the stitching was too fine to make it very ruffly. (I'm also not too skilled with a sewing machine.) This was a fine reddish merino wool scarf I found at Goodwill for about $4, I think. I used a blue thread for contrast. The photo isn't great, but hopefully you get the idea.

[excusemedeer]

Looks great! I love the color!

[jessandstavro]

Very nice!

[ddeloreto]

i absolutely love this and plan on making some... thinking i could upcycle some t-shirts the same way! if they have a bit of lycra/spandex in them i think it will work!
thanks so much for sharing!

[mosquitonetting]

Just joined and looked through the sewing - absolutely have to make a few scarves as my friends will want them. thanks so much. you are brilliant!

[karenelisam]

Adorable. I really like it. Now to find a sweater I can sacrifice!

[Puzzledd]

Great idea- practical, cute, cheap and environmentally sound... and humorous as well :)

[mandodeb]

Great instructable! The ruffles look great and now, thanks to you, I know how to make them!

[kathrynmichelle]

This is super cute. I've seen them made with crochet, but I like this idea much better.

[Ninzerbean]

 I've seen these and never knew how they were done - thank you for sharing!

[MFClason]

great first instructable!

[handmade.annie]

This was a great read and a great idea for recycling sweaters!

I have 3 that are no longer wearable due to stretching or shrinking or, in one case a weird combination of the two - short arms and bagged tummy area.

[Babyshoes]

Nicely done! I don't think my el-basico sewing machine does zig-zag! Otherwise I would make one of these...

[caitlinsdad]

Your instructable is sew punny.  Very nice!