My mother was a very snappy dresser in her prime, and the number one piece of advice she passed along to me was that you could never go wrong accessorizing your outfit with a beautiful scarf. A perennially popular look is the infinity scarf, an endless circle of loveliness you can twist into a number of interesting shapes. It’s a great look to dress up or down to suit any outfit or occasion. Best of all… an infinity scarf is very easy to make. And we do mean veeerrryyy easy! We made our sample scarf in under an hour… and that included stopping to take photos! This project just might become your favorite fast and easy (yet unique and elegant) gift. 

The best fabric for this project is a very lightweight substrate, such as a voile or batiste. We used a voile for our sample, originally from Tina Givens’ Pagoda Lullaby collection. Although this exact fabric is not currently available, there are dozens of gorgeous options out there in designers’ spring and summer collections.

Most voiles and batistes are 54″ wide, which means if you purchase a full two yards as recommended below, you can make TWO infinity scarves, one for you and one for a friend… or two for you, depending on your mood!

If you are new to working with sheer fabric, like voile, check out our tutorial for some tips and tricks. For example, when cutting sheers, it’s best cut as a single layer; once you get the fabric straight on your mat, tape it in place so it doesn’t shift. You could also use push pins or fabric weights, depending on your cutting surface.

Our scarf finishes as an approximate 12″ x 63″ loop.

Sewing Tools You Need

• Sewing Machine and standard presser foot
• Quarter Inch Seam foot; optional for edgestitching

Fabric and Other Supplies

• 2 yards of 54″ wide voile, batiste or similar lightweight fabric
• All purpose thread to match fabric
• See-through ruler
• Fabric pen or pencil
• Iron and ironing board
• Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
• Tape measure
• Seam gauge
• Seam ripper
• Straight pins
• Hand sewing needle
• Seam sealant; optional if your fabric is particularly prone to raveling

Getting Started

1. From the fabric, cut TWO 13″ wide x 64″ long rectangles. As mentioned above, for your best look or to adjust your fabric efficiency, you can certainly adjust the size to make the scarf shorter or longer, narrower or wider.

At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board

1. Place the two rectangles right sides together with all edges flush and pin in place.
2. Measure and mark 3″ from each end of each piece. These marks will be your starting and stopping points for each side seam.
   
3. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch the two pieces right sides together along both long sides (just the sides, not across the ends), remembering to start and stop 3″ from each end.
   
4. Press the seams open.
5. Turn the scarf right side out. Press flat.
6. Topstitch ¼” from the edge along both sides. Sheer fabrics, like voile and batiste tend to roll, so this topstitching will keep the edge of the scarf looking nice. We switched to the Janome Quarter Inch Seam foot to keep the topstitching precise.
   
7. Turn the scarf wrong side out and trim the seam allowance close to the topstitching seam.
   
8. You can also run a line of similar seam sealant along all the cut edges if your fabric seems especially prone to raveling. Because voile and batiste are sheer, trimming back the seam allowance like this gives you a cleaner look from the front.
   
   NOTE: These topstitching and trimming steps are an optional finishing technique. If you are happy with the look of your side seams without these extra steps, then your work is done with the original ½” seams.
9. With the scarf right side out, fold it in half and match up the raw ends.
10. Fold the outer ends out of the way and place the innermost ends right sides together. Pin in place.
    
11. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch the layers together.
    
12. Twist the scarf around and a pull it inside out a bit so you can match up the remaining two outermost ends.
13. Place these ends right sides together and pin in place.
    
14. Using a ½” seam allowance, stitch these layers together.
15. Pull the scarf all the way right side out through one of the little gaps in the side seams.
    
16. Fold in the raw edges of the two gaps in the sides seams so they are flush with the sewn seam. Make sure your two end seams align. Pin in place.
    
17. Slip stitch each opening closed.
18. If you opted to do the topstitched side seam finish as we did, you’ll need to topstitch across the gap on both sides so your topstitching is continuous around the scarf.
    
19. Press well.

Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation and Instructional Outline: Liz Johnson