Town and Country

The main material used to make this cosy scarf is fleece, which is warm and pliable. The ends and crossover panel are made from Seminole patchwork. In this style of patchwork associated with the Seminole Indians in Florida, the patterns are formed by sewing narrow strips of cloth together. These bands are cut on an angle and resewn to produce the distinctive patterns.

TIP! If you have not made Seminole patchwork before it may be wise to make a mock up using paper strips first. Glue the strips in order as shown here and then draw on the angles and cut apart. Remember that the fabric version will look a bit different because of the seam allowances.

Cut

• Two 2 1⁄4in strips of dark fabric
• Two 1 1⁄4in strips of light fabric
• One 3 1⁄2in strip of medium fabric

Patchwork panels

Figure 1: Initial sewing order

TIP! If you stagger the strips when you initially piece them there will not be so much waste.

1. Sew the strips together in order, dark, light, medium, light and dark. Press carefully, trying not to distort the strips. See Figure 1.
2. Fold the fabric RS together and using the 30 degree line on your ruler cut into strips 1 1⁄2in wide. See Figure 2.
   
   Figure 2: Cutting the strips
3. You have two styles of strips, so take three of each type and join into a panel. Press carefully as these are now bias seams. Make three panels (Figure 3).
   
   Figure 3: Making the panels

Assembling the Scarf

Cut

• Fleece 5 1⁄4in wide across whole width of fabric
• Scrap of Vilene 4 1⁄2 x 4 3⁄4in
• Scrap of cotton 4 1⁄2 x 4 3⁄4in
• Strips for binding 1in wide across width of fabric

Figure 4: Layout showing placement of panels
1. Put two panels to one side and cut the other to 4 3⁄4in wide by 4 1⁄2in high. Choose your favourite area of the pattern. Line with heavy weight Vilene and back with cotton fabric.
2. Bind the two shorter side edges. Then bind the top and bottom edges leaving at least 1in of binding sticking out from the sides. This will be used to join to the main scarf.
3. Position on the fleece as per the diagram in Figure 4 and sew the top and bottom edges of this panel to the fleece. Note the sides must be left open for one end of the scarf to slip through.
4. With RS together, sew a panel to each end of the scarf. Fold back into position on the top of the scarf and fold the raw edge under neatly and either finish by hand or sew with a decorative stitch on your machine. Add enough quilting to hold flat; Renata just used one line down the centre of the panel. The sides will be stitched with the binding in the next step.
5. Sew the binding strips to each side of the scarf. Catch the crossover binding in the seam as you go. Turn the binding to the back and slip stitch by hand


First published in Popular Patchwork January 2003