Got some knitwear that’s past wearing or repairing? Transform it into this cosy hooded scarf with our beginner-friendly upcycling tutorial!
This winter we’ve got very into repurposing old knitwear that’s past wearing.
After partnering with Emmaus Mossley on an upcycled accessories project with the Booth Centre, we started to look for other ways we could rescue unloved woollies.
So here’s one of the things we came up with: the hooded scarf. Both a hood and a scarf, but not quite a snood… It’s super simple to make, if you fancy having a try. Check out our step-by-step below.
TIP: Choose knitwear that is of a similar weight to make sewing easier. We used a combination of heavier and lace knit in this example, and it made sewing tricky.
STEP 1 // Cut out the hood pieces
Trace around a hood you like, when laid flat like the photo below. Use this as your pattern and cut four pieces.
STEP 2 // Cut out the scarf pieces
You’ll need 14 squares. We used squares approximately 21cm x 21cm.
Now your cut out pieces should look like this. Notice we’ve salvaged the pockets from the old jumpers to use as hand-warmers at the bottom of the snarf.
STEP 3 // Stitch the scarf pieces
Sew the squares together in two strips of seven squares. We’ve used an overlocker to help neaten the edges, but you could also use a zigzag stitch on your sewing machine.
STEP 4 // Stitch the two hood pieces
Make sure you place the ‘right’ sides of the fabric together when sewing.
TIP: Some of the jumpers we used were showing signs of bobbling and wear, so we flipped them and used the wrong side as the right side…
Now you should have two scarf pieces and two hood pieces.
STEP 5 // Stitch the hoods to the scarves
Take a scarf piece and mark the middle point with a pin. Line up with the centre seam of the hood and stitch the hood to one long edge of the scarf. Repeat with the other one.
Now you have constructed the two halves of your scarf.
STEP 6 // Stitch the two halves together
With right sides together, match up the hood and scarf pieces and stitch them together, along the two long edges of the scarf. One edge is just a long straight line. The other edge starts straight, then you’ll go around the outline of the hood, and back to a straight line to finish.
Do not sew the short edges!
STEP 7 // Turn inside out and hem
Turn the whole scarf inside out through one of the open ends of the scarf. Give it a good press to help it all lie flat.
At the bottom short edges which have been left open, fold the edges in and hand sew it closed.
You’re done!
