It’s been a couple years now since I made my first loopy scarf, but I still enjoy creating them and if you’re looking for a last-minute handmade gift, this is perfect! One scarf takes about an hour to complete from start to finish (maybe a little more for your first one). The best part is that you don’t need to know how to knit or crochet. Yes, it’s true — you really can make a funky handmade scarf without those skills, as long as you have a sewing machine. Grab a drink, put on a movie, and let’s get crafting!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- A sewing machine
- One skein of Homespun yarn (or a similar bulky yarn)
- Coordinating thread
- Basic sewing notions
Set your sewing machine to a zig-zag stitch. Adjust so that the stitch is somewhat narrow.
Next, decide how wide you want the scarf. My prefernce is approximately six inches wide, mostly because that width makes the looping easy. There are about three inches on the left and I use a rubber band to mark three inches to the right (for a total of six inches).
Now you’re ready to start looping! Holding the end of the yarn, make “loops” going from one side to to the other. Keep doing this this until you have about 1.5-2 inches “looped” and then carefully move up the yarn so that it’s under your needle. Slowly start sewing (let me stress the importance of going slow when working on this scarf), being sure to backstitch at the beginning. Try to get the yarn strands really close to each other, but don’t bunch them up into a pile.
When you finish sewing together the first few loops, make sure to leave your needle down to secure the yarn while you continue making loops. Repeat this process until the scarf is as long as you’d like!
Just in case the directions aren’t clear from the photos, here’s a short video that explains how to sew the scarf together.
Hopefully that will clear up any questions. As you sew, you’ll see that your scarf appears flat as it comes out the other end of your machine. Once you’re done, you’ll just fluff out the scarf and voila! You have no-knit, no-crochet scarf that sews up in no time.
