Shawls and Scarves made from Recycled and Collaged Materials

Pictured here are six examples of what you can do with a little time (about a weekend), a little imagination, a sewing machine or knitting needles and bits of this and that.

1. This pastel shawl is comprised of 1/2" strips of cotton fabric, tied into lengths and knitted with size 13 knitting needles. I added yards and yards of 5/8" Hanah Silk Bias ribbon for the fringe, and a handmade corsage for the closure. I think that the majority of the time was spent preparing the fabric and adding the fringe.

2. This scarf is made from vintage silk kimono pieces, silk scraps saved from projects here and there, small bits of vintage sari border trim, satin and velvet ribbons. I cut a piece of muslin the desired length and started crazy piecing from the middle to each outer edge. The lining is a piece of and old kimono. I folded the ends into a triangle, and sewed rayon cord along the length. Two large abalone buttons are placed in the middle of the triangles.

3. This scarf is 100% silk yarn and a ball made from tied lengths of 7/16" Hanah silk bias ribbons in a variety of colors. I used the knit stitch throughout the scarf (because it is the stitch that I am best at). I cast on 45 stitches using a size 10 knitting needle. I started with the silk yarn, stitched two rows, *then stitched two rows of the ribbon, I repeated this pattern from* for the length of the scarf.

4. This scarf is made from hand dyed embroidered cotton fabric from India that was leftover from another project. The fabric was 45" wide and I cut it to 1-1/4yd. long. This was folded in half (point to point) to form a triangle. I sewed the raw edges together and hand sewed a 4" hand dyed rayon fringe. The corsage can be seen here.

5. This shawl is from Winter Symphony ensemble. I purchased the black silk shawl for $9.99 on ebay. It was already embroidered, but I needed it to match the rest of the ensemble. I stitched green silk ribbon embroidered leaves and many hand stitched flowers made from 1/4" and 3/8" ribbons in a variety of materials and colors.

6. This scarf is from my Kelp Scarf class which I only taught once. The base was a strip of Solvy fabric. I machine stitched ribbons, yarns, threads and bits of this and that for about 12 hours. After the Solvy was washed away, the ribbons appear to float on air in a pretty lacy effect. For the fringe I hand tied and sewed in lengths of ribbons and leftover yarn.

With a little bit of imagination, you can recycle creatively, and have fun while you are doing it.