Random Thoughts by Shelley: An imperfectionism scarf

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. – Marilyn Monroe

Can you really tell if someone is a perfectionist or not? If you ask my kids, they'd say I am. If you ask me, I'd never admit to it...well, on second thought I would. But...I'm far from it when you see me in real life. I guess I would have a hard time being totally ridiculous, but there have been moments when I've been brave enough to do ridiculous things. Like bid on a wine barrel and win it for my husband. I'm sure that had nothing to do with the wine tasting before the bidding. That's a whole different blog topic for another day!

Ah, yes, back to imperfectionism. Today, I begin my quest for embracing imperfectionisms in life. Look the word up, it isn't even a word. I couldn't find a definition online. So let's make one up and enjoy discovering moments of imperfections.

Imperfectionism is the practice of or theory on embracing imperfections in life; the practice of being okay with not being perfect.

First moment - An imperfect scarf I made. I've been brave enough to wear it a few times. When I first made it and showed it to my daughter Sarah, she wasn't overly excited about it. She said it was "too boring" and maybe tie dying it would help. The perfectionist in me put it away for awhile because it wasn't perfect enough to wear. Every time I would see it hanging perfectly in my closet next to the really perfect scarves, I would ponder wearing it with just the right outfit. I wore it the last two weekends with jeans and a t-shirt, just because I didn't care if any one liked it or not. It just seemed like it was the right scarf for a casual outfit. Not perfect, but doable. Since I made it, I could defend it and have a laugh or two at my own expense if anyone commented on it. You know, to break out from being perfect. Being a little ridiculous.

Yesterday, I was brave enough to wear it with my dear friends. Thinking of course, they would love it, after all, that's what friends are for. I had momentarily forgotten that I have two seamstresses as friends. They would definitely notice the imperfections in my sewing techniques. I think after seeing it "work" with my casual outfit and the practicality of it keeping me warm, they've come to see the imperfect scarf's benefits.

So how do you make an imperfect scarf? Normally a person would use used t-shirts. The t-shirt fabric rolls when cut better than a ribbed fabric. The rolled effect gives a cool looking texture to the scarf if done right. But I didn't have perfect enough t-shirts to use. So I thought, why not just use tank tops instead? Oh...by the way, my instructions below are not perfect, so hopefully pictures help give you the gist of how you make one. Remember it is an imperfect scarf, so just have fun with it and be brave. The shirts you're using are tossers anyhow!

Items needed: 3 used ribbed tank tops (you know the ones, they've shrunk in length, the underarm regions are no longer perfect (don't worry...you cut that part off anyhow, plus they are what you'd categorize as replaceable in your wearable section of the closet). 1 pair of scissors. Pins to pin the scarf together before sewing. A sewing machine. Thread to compliment or match the color of tank tops you have. I went very simple with white all around. Sarah thought that maybe black thread would have been more fun and would have provided some interest to the scarf. When I made it, I didn't want to show off the imperfect sewing, so white was a safe choice (dang...an imperfectionism moment missed!).

Step 1: Determine the length you want. 3 shirts was good enough for me, plus that's all I had of the same color. My finished scarf has three shirt sides on each 1/2 of the scarf when folded.
Step 2. Cut the sections out of the shirts. You'll trim off below the tank top arm pits, straight across leaving the shoulder tops, trim off all of the shirt sides, and 4 hems as throwaways. Remember to leave 2 hems for the ends of the scarf. They are perfectly sewn already, making the scarf partially perfect in the end.
Step 3. Pick one of the shirts as your ends of the scarf. The easiest way is to determine which shirt you like best, that will be your two ends. Then you'll have the other two shirts separated the front one on each 1/2 of the scarf and the back of the shirt, one on each 1/2 of the scarf. For each piece, you'll trim the sides off, the other 4 pieces you'll cut off the hems. Leaving the hems on is too bulky and you want the rough edges for texture in the scarf after sewing the pieces together. Plus it makes it easier to lay out the scarf during pinning.
Step 4. Pin the pieces together. This is the trickiest part of the project. You have to think ahead so that when the scarf is sewn together, you'll get the effect you're looking for and the scarf will lay "semi-perfectly" when worn. When you lay out the pieces, lay it out as though you're looking at it from the front of the scarf.
Step 5. Sew the pieces together. The ribbed fabric wasn't as easy as I thought it would be for sewing, but with some patience it worked. It also didn't roll as much as I thought it would, i.e., not perfect.
Step 6. Wear it.

Thanks for stopping by!

The pieces you cut off

The planning and pinning

Take time to pin perfectly

Lining up sides so it lays right
when worn. Pin "backs" of fabric together.
I found laying out each half on the
table and working my way to the middle
worked for a pinning technique.