First (but definitely not last) TUTORIAL!!!

After a much too long hiatus from the blog, I'm coming back with a bang - in the form of a brand new tutorial! This owl scarflette (and many others like it) is one of the many brand-new goods I've been working on. Now you can make it yourself, or buy the already-made version soon at frankandgertrude.com (just please don't make it to sell).

After struggling with Illustrator for the past two hours, I think the instructions are pretty clear and easy to follow (though I realize it would've been much faster if I had just scanned in the original drawings). Anyway, here goes!



Materials used:
* less than 1/4 yard boiled wool (with some stretch)
* small scraps of wool felt- 3 different colors
* matching thread for all 4 colors, plus black for eyes
* sew-on snap (2cm diameter is best)

Vegan alternative:
* less than 1/4 yard polyester fleece (with some stretch- not too much!)
* small scraps of poly felt- 3 different colors
* matching thread for all 4 colors, plus black for eyes
* sew-on snap (2cm diameter is best)

If you get nice boiled wool it shouldn't be too itchy, but for sensitive necks, fleece is a nice alternative.
Alright! Here are the steps:

1. Cut out the base for the scarflette. Mine are made for kids ages 6-10, so I made it 48 cm by 10 cm, but for smaller/larger kiddos, just measure his/her neck circumference and add 10 cm for the overlap. To get a nice curve you can trace the bottom of a big mug, or just wing it like me (and re-cut it a few times till it looks right ;) )



* The length/width ratios are to scale in all of the images, but they're not actual size. You can enlarge them to the exact measurements, but I'm not sure what percentage you'd have to enlarge them to.

2. Cut out the owl, his tender heart belly, and triangle nose.



3. Pin the heart and the nose where you want them, then hand-sew them on with matching (or not) thread. Use black or another dark color to make the eyes. I couldn't for the life of me remember how to make a dotted line in Illustrator, so the green is where the stitches would be... except for the eyes; they looked a little creepy in green (Jan Willem, if you're reading this, please don't be too disappointed in my Illustrator skills).



4. Overlap the ends of the scarflette to where you just can't see the bottom curve begin, then position the snap in between and sew it on in! Make sure the snap far enough from the edge that you can fit the owl over it later. Again, I couldn't make a dotted line (if any of you know a simple way, please clue me in), so the purple lines are the parts that aren't visible. Fig. 1 shows the positioning head on, and fig. 2 is the side view (or "snap sandwich").



5. For the final step, sew the owl onto the front right over the snap, and voila! You're done :) Now just go snap it on a kid (who will then love you forever).