John Deere Winter Scarf

All of the sudden it got cold here in California. At least in comparison to the 80 degrees that we were used to for so long. I realized that my son didn’t have many warm clothes and his desire to play outside didn’t change in spite of the falling temperatures.

I found some John Deere Christmas fabric from last year and thought it might make a cute winter scarf. Since Jonas is now two and doesn’t like wearing anything constricting, a normal scarf wouldn’t do. He would just yank at it until he either started choking or pulled it off.

Therefore, I decided to use a similar technique to my European scarf and make a winter scarf that looked like it wrapped around the head, but really snapped in the back. This scarf has a double layer of cotton and fleece and when rolled over adds quite a bit of warmth. The tractors on it also help, since Jonas loves tractors and will always wear something with a tractor on it over anything else.

By the way, I know my son needs a haircut in this picture, but cutting a two-year-old's hair is really a challenge for another day.

Here’s the how to:

1. First cut a strip of cotton 46 x 6 inches and fleece 40 x 6 inches and lay them over each other so that the fleece and cotton meet on one side. Now sew the end of the strip closed with the good sides facing each other leaving about a fourth of an inch of rest material. Sew the other side closed the same way (since the cotton strip is longer, you will have to fold it over a little in the middle so that the fleece and cotton meet).

2. Now fold the strip in half so that the fleece/cotton piece is exactly over the other and the extra cotton strip hangs out to the side. Fold the material over itself one more time now lining up with the cotton strip. Cut a rounded off triangle off each side of the folded strip. It may help to look at the picture for this one. Where the material gets smaller is where later the snap will go. This part will go behind the neck.

3. Sew all the way around your strip of material leaving just enough of a gap that you can turn the material back right-side-in.

4. Once your material is back right side in, fold the pieces once again over each other like you had them to cut the triangles. Iron flat and then sew around the entire piece again making sure to fold in the area where you had turned the material inside-out. I used the zig-zag stitch because I like the look of it and it makes a strong seam.

5. Now sew a line down the side where the fleece and cotton meet about a quarterof an inch in. Then sew a line down the other side also where the fleece and cotton meet about a quarter inch in (see picture).

6. Add your snaps, one to the cotton strip (this piece folds over the outside of the other strip so that it’s not to bulky) and one on the inside strip of cotton/fleece on the other side and you’re finished. I use the snaps that you put in place and hammer in. They are a lot faster and don’t come off as easy as the sew on types.

This scarf may have sounded a bit more complicated than the others, but as you see in the pictures, once you get the hang of it, it also goes super fast on the machine. I made this one one morning in between feeding and playing with my kids. It’s also super cute and warm! I cut enough material to make another one for Lukas as soon as I get time.