Sunday, November 28, 2010

Man Gift ONE - Leather Patch Scarf


Hokay! We're rolling.
The first Man Gift project is quick, easy and a blatant designer knock off (a triumvirate of fun!) The "inspiration" for this scarf looks like this:

Cute right? Suave with just a hint of geography teacher (totally my favorite flavour).
It's A Maison Martin Margiela Leather Patch Scarf. And it can be yours (or your sweetie's) for the bargain price of three-are you kidding me- hundred and ten dollars US.
OR you could make one that looks a bit like this:

With buttery soft suede and a boiled wool mix that's so soft it's like it's made of kitten parts. For about $15-$20.

Wanna try? You'll need:
4 Suede patches (two ovals two rectangles) OR one "recycled" suede/leather item (coats or skirts give you LOTS to play with) OR suede/leather by the meter.
Scarf weight wool mix. You could either use the length (selvage to selvage, approx. 150cm) which means you can get away with using just 20-40 cm (be aware of patterns) OR you could buy 1.70-2 m it you want a longer scarf or if you're making a few scarves.

The nice thing about buying the smaller amount is that you can get The REALLY GOOD STUFF (you know the wool blends that are so expensive they make you kind of sweaty? Doesn't happen to you? OH.) Anyway the small amount combined with a 50% off sale at Fabricland means that the scarf is seriously luxe feeling but only cost about $12 (and 40 cm is enough to make two scarves).

The first step is to get your straight lines marked out:
I folded selvage to selvage, then marked my line with chalk.


(just as an aside, when I asked the lady in FabricLand for really straight cut she acted like I'd peed in her cereal and was super eye-rolling rude. But this is what a straight cut looks like there. So whatever lady... Phew good to get that off my chest.)

Right. Once you've got your STRAIGHT sides cut you should have something that looks remarkably like a scarf. Mmmm and soft.
With a boiled wool like this you could actually just leave the edges but I think that frayed edges look more scarfy. So I did that next, see:


The next part depends on weather you're using premade patches or recycled leather.
to make your own patches the first thing you do is make a template. I used a little serving dish to make mine. Mark your cutting lines (bog standard pen worked fine for me, chalk made a mess).


It you're using an old jacket or skirt bear in mind that the "wrong" side of the leather might be just as soft and less marked. And that you can rebuff suede (or make it even softer) with a clean, dry plastic scouring pad, just lay it down on a flat surface and scrub in little circles.

Next cut your patches out. I used my pinking shears because the patches on the original scarf have pinked edges but you totally don't have to, leather won't fray.

Right. Got your patches? Good. The next step is to sew those suckers on.
Getting the patches to stay in one place is half the battle here, because using pins will leave holes in your leather.
If you have some of that spray sticky stuff (um, the kind that quilters use? What is that called?) then have at it. But DO check if it marks on a scrap first. If not you could either...

Just wing it, holding you patches and fabric firmly and going really really slowly.
Or
Use a bit of tape like this:
('scuse the lousy picture)
I used low tack masking tape and I stuck it to my shirt first to make it even LESS sticky. And of course I tested a whether it left marks on a scrap piece of suede first (nope it didn't). You need to stick it down as close to the edge as possible as you'll be sewing INSIDE the tape.

And... Sew away. ( I don't have a picture of this step - not enough hands) But I can tell you that I bought special leather needles for my machine. And then totally forgot to use them. So a regular needle works fine, turns out. The other thing is that you should go SLOW. Really really slow, adjusting and making sure you're flat when you need to.

Well HEY! almost done.
I put my patches on different sides. Like this see:

So the wearer can have softie suede next to their neck, and the oval patches are still visible. But you can do whichever.
A voila. One Man Gift!

Oh, and I shared here, here and here.

4 comments:

  1. Nice! What do you suppose *makes* a scarf worth $310? And how many do you suppose they sell?

    Anyway, two things:

    1)How remarkable--I think the woman at your Toronto Fabricland must be the same woman I always wind up dealing with at the Sacramento JoAnn Fabrics! It must be that commute that makes her cranky. Mostly I avoid her, and go to the Woodland branch, where the lovely, cheerful employees like to know what you're planning to make with your purchases. So sweet.

    2)"Suave with just a hint of geography teacher" cracks me up. I'm inspired to think of a similar description for my own husband, but I think our old standby--geeky cool--pretty much says it all.

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  2. Nice idea. Try using plain old paper glue stick. It works very well to hold down any fabric and especially things you don't want to stick pins into. I use it to hold hems up until I sew them down, to keep appliques in place before sewing, etc. You can sew through it and it washes away. If you don't wash it, it just stays there and doesn't bother anyone. Best to wait a minute or two before sewing so it dries a little and doesn't gum up your needle.

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  3. HI THIS LOOKS TO BE AN INTERESTING PROJECT? I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR A MAN TYPE SCARF....WOULD JUST LIKE TO KNOW....IN THE LAST PIC WHAT IS THE DESIGN SUPPOSE TO BE? POCKETS? TKS

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  4. This is really cool idea. I appreciated your clothing ideas for fashion. I am definitely going to share your blog with my friends.

    Thanks!
    cheap embroidered patches for clothes
    cheap back patches for clothes

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