Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

We recently got in a new shipment of Liberty of London Seasonal Tana Lawn prints and we are absolutely loving them. The exquisitely detailed prints, the beautiful color palates, and the fabric’s soft, silken hand make us want to sew with each one more than the next. Tana Lawn is always one of our favorite fabrics but Libery have really outdone themselves this time.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

What better way to celebrate these great new prints than to make a project for Mother’s Day? Afterall, there is no one more deserving (and appreciative!) of handmade gifts than our moms! We decided to make a crisp Spring scarf that combined two gorgeous Tana Lawn Prints and brought them together with a bright burst of color around the edge. The edging is actually made from torn strips of solid fabric which really adds something unique and unexpected to the mix.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

These prints look fabulous next to one another. Unexpectadly, prints with very different feels and colors, like the pretty “Pink Princess Emerald” floral and the more graphic “Soft Rueben Kelly”  in the version above can end up looking wonderful together. It’s a fun creative exercise trying to figure out which print “goes” with which. This project is fun and simple to sew and makes such a lovely scarf. It’s really such fun to tear the fabrics and  to see how the prints and the bright edging all come together.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Designed by Purl Soho designer, Molly Schnick. Click here to see even more of Molly’s work!

Materials

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

To make one scarf:

  • a 1/2-yard each of two differnent  Liberty of London Seasonal Tana Lawn prints I used Blue Pricess Emerald and Pink Kasia for the blue and pink version, and Pink Princess Emerald and Soft Rueben Kelly for the pink, green and brown version.
  • a 1/4 yard of Kona Cotton in a color to contrast with your Tana Lawn fabric, I used “Coral”
  • 100% cotton thread in color 1040 or to match your Tana Lawn Fabrics

Size

Roughly 17 X 50-inches

Pattern

Tearing

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

The most fun part of this project is that the pieces are torn, not cut! To tear these fabrics, and any woven fabrics, just make a small cut at the point where you’d like to tear and then rip the farbic. It will tear in a straight line, along the grain of the fabric.

First, tear the Kona Cotton into four 1-inch strips from selvage to selvage. Cut off the selvages. Pull all of the loose threads off of the strip so that you are left with pleasantly fringed edges.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Press the strips.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

The easiest way to ensure the Tana Lawn pieces are the same size is to tear them, since that will ensure that the pieces stay on grain. Tear both pieces of the Tana Lawn to be exactly 18-inches wide. Then tear off thier selvages so that they are exactly the same length.

Pressing and Pinning

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Press the raw edges one of the Lawn pieces a 1/2-inch to the wrong side of the fabric across all four sides. Tuck the corners in on themselves as shown above.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

The corners should look neat with no raw edges sticking out.

Repeat this for the other piece of Tana Lawn.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Cut one of the Kona Cotton strips to be 17-inches.

Lay the first pieces of Tana Lawn down on a smooth surface wrong side up. Place the cut Kona Cotton strip on top of one of the short sides of the Tana Lawn piece so that it sticks up 1/4-inch above the edge of the Lawn.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Lay the second piece of Tana Lawn on top of this at the same level as the first piece, with the Kona Cotton Strip sticking out 1/4-inch above the folded edge of both Lawn fabrics. Pin this edge together through all three fabrics.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Now un-pin one of the corners and lay an un-cut Kona Cotton strip along the long side of the Tana Lawn pieces. Position it so that it will stick out 1/4-inch from the top and side of the Tana Lawn.

Pin the long sides of the scarf together in the same manner as the short side, with the Kona Cotton strip sticking out 1/4-inch from the edges of the folded Tana Lawn.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Kona Cotton is not as wide as the Tana Lawn so you will run out of length on the strip. When this happens just  fold over the short  edge of the Kona Cotton strip onto itself to form a little triangle as shown above.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Fold the end of the next strip you are going to use in the same manner and then lay this strip, folded side down, on top of the first strip, thus hiding the folds.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Keep pinning  the scarf together in the same manner.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

No matter how hard I tried my Tana Lawn pieces never ended up the same length (I think they get slightly stretched or shrunk in the pinning and folding processes. So when you get to the opposite end of the first long side just leave a long tail of Kona Cotton and leave the short side open.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Pin the Kona Cotton strip in along the second long side in the same manner as the first, starting from the pinned short side.

When you get to the end you will (most likely) have one Tana Lawn piece longer than the other.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Cut or tear the longer Tana Lawn panel to be the same size as the shorter one. Re-press the newly cut piece making sure to tuck its corners under neatly as you did in the earlier steps.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Pin this final side together with another 17-inch Kona Cotton strip as you did on the first short side. Trim the long strips from the long sides so that they neatly poke out 1/4-inch from the folded edges.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Top stitch just at the folded edge of the Tana Lawn across all four sides of the scarf making sure to catch all three fabrics as you go. When you get to a corner leave your needle down and pivot the scarf to keep going. Back stitch at the beginning and end of the seam.

Mother’s Day Liberty Scarves | Purl Soho

Trim off any rogue threads and it’s ready to give to Mom!