Smoke ring scarf

[laura gayle green]

Hi-
I had tried to post a reply to this thread earlier, and something goofed.
I made four of the smoke ring scarves as gifts for Christmas/Hanukkah and
they were great hits! I made a few modifications to the pattern and
instructions that may be useful to others!

*I added an extra 5/8" at each side of the neck -- most of my recipients
wear glasses, and when I made a muslin sample to the specifications in
the Threads article -- the scarf would barely clear my nose (which is not
a particularly large one!), much less my glasses.
*The instructions call for leaving the neck seam open about 4 or so
inches, turning the scarf through there, and slipstitching. My
slipstitching is not great on a curve, but much better in a straight line
(and samples of this scarf I saw at a local fabric store just reinforced
my hunch!). Instead:
--leave 2-3 inches open along one of the long straight seams somewhere in
the middle of that seam. Press.
--If you haven't sewn the other long side seam, do so now. Press.
--Pull one of the neck seams through the middle to meet the other --
meeting right sides and seams. Sew (this will be just like a circular
armhole seam without the easing). Press. Trim all seams or whatever
your preferred treatment is.
--Pull scarf right side out through the straight seam, making sure to get
the point shaped, etc.
--Press.
--Slipstitch the opening in the straight side.

Obviously this is not rocket science, but if you make several of these,
it does make it go a little quicker. BTW-I made three of these on
Tuesday of this week too. So far, I've made this scarf out of silk (2 of
them), a sheer polyester (1), rayon challis (1), and even pima cotton
(3). The more drapey the fabric, the smaller the opening to turn. And
even pima cotton turns out well, since the scarf is on the bias! I hope
these details are useful to someone else.

Happy sewing!

Laura
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<***>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Laura Gayle Green Music/Media Librarian
Miller Nichols Library University of Misssouri-Kansas City
5100 Rockhill Rd. Kansas City, MO 64131
voice:816-235-1679 fax:816-333-5584
internet: gre...@smtpgate.umkc.edu OR lgg...@cctr.umkc.edu

[awhite]

In article <4bujne$4...@kasey.umkc.edu>, laura gayle green <lgg...@cctr.umkc.edu> says:
>
>Hi-
>I had tried to post a reply to this thread earlier, and something goofed.
>I made four of the smoke ring scarves as gifts for Christmas/Hanukkah and
>they were great hits! I made a few modifications to the pattern and
>instructions that may be useful to others!

Laura could you please post more details on these scarves? I can't picture
them at all, but if they're that simple to make, I want in!Thanks, Andrea

[a]

I would also like more information on the scarves. If someone could send
a copy of the Thread article, a pattern or just let me know where to
purchase one I would *REALLY* appreciate it. I am having a hard time
visualizing them.

Thanks,

Bonnie

[James A. Petrich]

I am very interested too, but may I say as Bonnie did <<I would like more
information on the scares. If someone could send a copy of the Thread

article, a pattern or just let me know where to purchase one I would
*REALLY* appreciate it.>>

Thank you,
Janis

[Mike Everhart]

I too would love to know where to get the pattern, or at least find
out more about the smoke ring scarves. I seem to remember they were
popular back in the "dark ages" when I was young, but don't remember too
much else about them. Wasn't paying too much attention to sewing back
then <sigh>....oh, well. Any help will be appreciated!
Thanks,

Pam

[laura gayle green]

Hi-
I've gotten a number of questions about this -- if you can still find
Threads no. 60 (September 1995) at a local store, the complete
instructions for the smoke ring scarf are in it. Basically the smoke
ring pattern (for half the scarf, not the quarter shown in the article)
is a modified triangle, with a slight curve at the neckline.

I'll post abbreviated directions (as soon as I can retrieve my mail into
this format... :) -- probably a little later on this morning -- have
bread rising, too...).

Happy New Year!

Laura

--

[Gretchen Hoad]

Dear Everybody--

I've been seeing lots of requests for the pattern for a smoke ring
scarf. Cooincidentally, I was looking for something else in my old
issues of Threads, and came across an article for a scarf, which may be
what you all are asking about.

It's in Thread's September issue (No. 60), in an article titled,
"Cowl-Neck Scarf"--I know Taunton Press will send individual copies of
issues on request. They are about $5.00-- their phone number is
(203) 426-8171.

I wish I could reproduce the directions here, but I don't know how to
reproduce the pattern with the limited graphics my on-line service
provides.

I'm going to make one or these scarves, now that I've come across the
article again, and will post to tell about my success (or failure).

Happy New Year

Gretchen

[Truly Donovan]

In article <4c8re7$h...@kasey.umkc.edu> laura gayle green <lgg...@cctr.umkc.edu> writes:

>The complete instructions for the scarf are in Threads 60 (September
>1995). I can give you rough dimensions here, but the gridded
>illustration in Threads is better. Karen Morris's article also lists
>variations that many of you will find interesting -- so I urge you to
>locate a copy of the original article.
>
>The dimensions (given the pattern is actually 1/4 of the finished
>whole):
>
>*from point to neck is 22" (on fold)

It should be noted that the smoke ring scarves that were so popular in the
fifties and sixties weren't this fancy -- they were simply tubes of bias-cut
fabric sewn in a loop. I'm sure this scarf is lovely, but so were the simpler
ones.

Truly Donovan