Gossip Girl Report

Get Your Craft On: Make Chuck Bass’ Scarf

by Kelly on January 20th, 2008

Okay, who among us hasn’t drooled over Chuck Bass’ patchwork polka-dot silk scarf? According to The Moment, the scarf is made by J. Press, where the scarf sells for $175. The secret? It’s made from the silk remnants leftover from making their ties. Apparently, they are available only by phone from the J. Press store in Manhattan (212.687.7642).

Yowza. $175 for a scarf made out of remnants? Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Make it yourself!

Here’s what you’ll need:

- Old ties or other interesting fabrics (quick, raid the closet of your dad, brother, boyfriend or husband - er, ask first)
- 1 yard complementary fabric for the back - silk will do, as will something with texture like a lightweight corduroy (*see note below*)
- Lightweight batting (*optional* - get this at a sewing or craft store)
- Thread

Ready? Let’s get started.

1, Dream up a color scheme. Like Chuck’s red, white and black scheme? Looking for something more funky? It’s up to you.

2, Think about the measurements of the scarf. 8″ is a fairly decent width for a silk scarf but you may want to go up to 12″, depending on the look you’re going for. As to length? That’s up to you. I would recommend no shorter than 46″, and possibly up to 60″, depending upon the height of the person who’s going to be sporting it.

3, Start cutting your scraps. To create the “Chuck Bass” look, you’ll need identical squares of fabric, about 3″ x 3″ but feel free to be creative - they don’t have to be squares. So long as they’re all the same width, you can vary the height - skinny rows one time, fat rows the next.

4, Lay out your pattern. This part is important. I’m not really a planner and if you’re like me, you might be tempted to skip this step but don’t. Lay out the pieces - at least for the ends - so that you can get started. Don’t worry, you can change the middle as you go along.

5, Now it’s time to sew! Sew the pieces together, right sides together, using a quarter inch seam. I recommend sewing the pieces of each row together first and then sewing the rows together after you hav all of the rows complete.

6, Iron. When you’re done, iron your seams. You want it to look nice, no? And this helps to make sure that all of the edges are the same so that the scarf doesn’t bunch when you add the back.

7, Cut the back to match. Cut the fabric that you’re using as a back to match the dimensions of your quilted piece - you’ll want two pieces for the back, both the width of your quilted piece and each half as long. So, if your quilted piece is 8″ x 60″, you’ll want to cut two 8″ x 30″ pieces. Make sense?

And here’s where you have some discretion. You could choose to skip the fabric for the back and duplicate the front as a back but that’s a lot of work. If this is your first sewing project or if your time is limited, definitely add a one piece back.

8, Sew your back pieces together. Sew the two strips of fabric for the back, right sides together, to create one long piece to match the dimensions of your front piece.

9, Put it together. Now sew the front and back pieces together, right sides facing. I recommend starting with a long side and sewing the whole way around - leaving a gap at one of the short sides of at least 3 inches.

* If you’re using batting, this is the place to add your batting. Pin it to the “wrong” side of the quilted piece - it’s okay if it overlaps a bit. Then sew the front and back together, right sides facing.

Batting gives your scarf “body” and structure, which you may or may not want. It’s up to you!

10, Clean it Up. Trim corners and excess fabric and batting away. Be careful not to trim too close to the edge or you can undo your sewing!

11, Flip it. Turn the scarf right side out through the gap that you left - the easiest way is to ease it onto your hand like a sock or tights and flip. You can use a pencil or chopstick to make sure the corners are square. Don’t use scissors; you can accidentally poke a hole in the edge.

12, Iron your scarf.

13, Finish the edges. Remember the gap? You have to finish that off. Fold the edges in and pin them together. You can use your machine or hand stitch the edges together.

Now run your machine around the whole edge of the scarf (about 1/8″ away from the edge) to secure it.

Voila! A $175 scarf for just pennies.

By the way, if you don’t have scraps around the house, don’t be discouraged. You can buy coordinating scraps (I know) at craft and fabric stores. Look for “fat quarters” - check some silky ones out here.

I’m totally going to try this - I’ve made quilts before which is why it was easy to figure out the instructions. Once I’m finished, I’ll post photos. I’d love to see your pics, too - are you going to try to make your own Chuck Bass scarf?

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