This fleece scarf is as fun to make as it is to wear. It’s a great first-time-sewing project and perfect for the upcoming winter season. I made these with Halloween colors to help keep us warm as we trick-or-treat!
Supplies for Fringe Fleece Scarf:
- 1/4 yard of fleece (any color)
- scissors
- sewing machine or needle & thread
First, cut your fleece into long strips. My strips are about 4-5 inches wide and 5 feet long. You’ll want to cut it shorter for a child size scarf, about 3-4 feet long.
Layer 2 or 3 fleece strips on top of each other. It’s more fun if these are each a different color of fleece. Then sew down the middle, just one straight line. This is best done with a sewing machine, but you could simply use a needle and thread if you’re without a machine.
Cut 1 inch wide slits up each side of the sewn fleece strips. You want to get pretty close to the middle, but DO NOT CUT through the sewn line.
Now fluff it up and it’s ready to wear. I’ll be sporting this with my witch hat for Halloween (my standard costume as I trick-or-treat with the kids!) Or this would make a great scarf for a Cruella Deville costume.
Written by Marie LeBaron
Marie LeBaron is the founder and managing editor of Make and Takes. Always having a love of crafts, she enjoys getting messy with glue and glitter. There’s always some sort of project going on, her kitchen counter is often cluttered with crafts. When she’s not crafting and creating with her kids, she loves to run, read, and blog! Read other posts by Marie
{ 68 comments… read them below or add one }
Cute and simple!
This looks like fun! I might just copy yours, since it would be perfect for keeping us warm at hockey games. Go Tigers!
I never thought about how insanely easy those scarves are to make. This is so the time of year for doing this.
My son would love this!
That is super cute! Great for football season. Thanks so much for another fabulous project, I’ll be linking.
My daughter has one of these in her dance studio colors, one of the moms makes them for competition girls.
They are great for school colors, dance colors, cheer/sports, etc! They also are a great gift idea for others in the same sport/school/brownies, etc.
You do do this with a felted sweater for an adult. (Monochromatic please!)
So cute and easy! Even I could do this and I think I will:)
This looks like a great project to do with kids, too! Thanks!
I might adapt this to make an eay garland for an apple-picking/harvest dinner party we’re having next weekend! Thanks for the inspiration!
Super cute and easy homemade Christmas gift for my daughter!
hmmm, might be a good idea for the kids to make for Christmas presents. thanks!
Question – when you say 1/4 yd of felt, do you mean per color or total? So if i have 3 colors, do I need 1/4 yd of each color?
Kristin – It’s a 1/4 of a yard of each color of fleece. Then you’ll get about 2-3 4 inch strips out of each 1/4 yard. I say a 1/4 yard because most fabric shops won’t cut it smaller than that.
When you say 1/4 yard… that’s 9 inches? What am I missing here? Help!
I just stitched one up to add to a birthday gift for this weekend – easy and fast, love it!
Thank you Marie! Can’t wait to make some. I’m going to make one for a friends daughter in her school colors.
Great tutorial … You described the whole process really good. thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I made the straight scarfs with fleece, but not this one. And our school colors are orange and black, perfect!
Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
These are fun, I made several as Christmas presents last year and the pattern can be easily reduced to make childrens scarves too.
So very cute! I love how easy that would be to make!
Anne
Bought my fleece today on my lunch break! Hoping to make them tonight. I bought 6 colors to make 2 scarves. Hope it goes well! I bought anti pill fleece and I hope it’s the right kind.
Im confused with the strips of fabric that you cut do you layer then on top of each other to get one long one or do u just have extra fabric?
Jessica – Sorry this was confusing. You layer each 4-5 inch strip of fleece on top of each other. In the bottom photo I only have 2 layers, but my finished photo (up top) is a 3 layered scarf. Then you sew right down the middle of all the layers, it should fit under your sewing needle on the machine.
Last comment today! (I had a busy craft weekend!) These were like the easiest and cutest things EVER!! And so cheap!
I made a couple for 2 new big sisters to send along w/baby gift for their new brother. Our godchild is also getting one for Christmas in her fave colors. Can’t beat the price & the time to make!
Thanks for posting easy and cheap ideas! It makes me feel good to actually be able to sew and accomplish something cute w/my limited skills!
That is so cool! Is fleece something you can find at your local crafts or sewing store? And my guess is that it doesn’t fray, right?
Badger Momma – Yes, fleece is a fabric you can get at any fabric store, some Walmarts or Jo-Ann Fabric stores have it. And you’re right, it doesn’t fray, so you don’t need to sew the edges. That’s why I love fleece.
Hi Marie, I just stopped by to let you know that I had this project in the back of my mind ever since you posted it. I made one tonight to give as a hostess gift on Christmas Eve. I found some bi-coloured fleece — dark blue on one side and light blue on the other, which went really nicely with the indigo fleece I’d found that matches her winter coat. The really great thing about that is that the fleece was about $20/meter and the smallest size the store would cut was half a meter, so the bi-coloured fleece allowed me to get three colours in with just two types of fleece!
Anyway, I think my friend is going to love this scarf and I bet my daughter will ask for one when she sees it — there’s enough left over to make her one, too!
Thanks for the great easy project!
Just a question, my daughter thought this was really cute and we tried to make one on our old singer touch and sew, it wouldn’t sew thru the 3 layers…took the machine in for service to see if it had a problem. The man told us the machine probably wouldn’t sew thru 3 layers, ridiculous, my Bernina will and my singer featherweight will….my question is this, what type of machine did you use? Just curious? thank you
Deborah – My machine is nothing special. I have a really cheap Brother machine that I found on sale a few years back. It does work to get all three layers in and sewn, but it is a tight squeeze. You can just do 2 layers instead, as I think that looks really good as well.
This is SO cool the parent organization at my school will be selling them in my school colors, and I just made one in my class colors!
I made a really short one (i had just had a bad experience using different instructions) and it was really easy to fluff, but when I made the longer one the scarf just keeps laying into the three colors!! I was wondering if you had any tips and tricks on how to fluff? :)
Thanks!
Do you think the no-sew glue would work??????
Alisa – I’ve never tried the no-sew glue. I’m sure it should, unless fleece is a little too thick. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
what did I do wrong, the three layers just laying on one another…fluffing?
help.
Love your blog, new follower on facebook
This happened to me. I had a 3 layer scarf. I went through and re cut the fringe so they were half as wide. I made one thiner, about 1/6th of a ward wide and I felt it was fluffier.
I need to make 12 for the moms to wear on senior day next week. Our colors are royal blue and white. Does two layers look thin? Do you think four layers is too much, say blue white blue white or would blue white white blue be best?
They are for adult so I need them to look nice.
If you think three layers, would blue white blue be best or should I add black?
Is four inch width and 60 inch length the best for adults? Thanks
Have you made the fringe hats/headbands. I have seen them on our local high school football games on the kids running around, but haven’t been able to find anything on the internet about them.
Winter scarves can be so fun! Just like what you did here. :D
Thanks SO MUCH! My daughter and I will be making these for her synchronized skating team that is going to Minnesota for Sectionals in Feb!
I made this for my Grand daughters and one for their Teddy Bear. Very Easy and Very Cute !
I’d like to suggest to those that say they don’t know how to fluff it up, here’s what I do.
First I clip each layer up tight to the stitches. Then pick up the scarf and shake it and it will fluff and it will also kind of twist. You can tac down a couple twists so it stays showing the colors.
These are warm too, I used 3 layers.
I’m with ” Close to Home” I made 5 of them last year and want to do 2 more this year, but they wouldn’t fluff. I put them in the dryer on low heat and at first they wouldn’t fluff then put them in alittle longer and they burned on the edges, what can I do? PLEASE HELP!
Dairia – Sorry that you’ve been struggling with this, and that it burned a little on the edges.
These scarves don’t fluff on their own unless it’s twisted. The scarf at the top is twisted around as it lay on the table. And when I wear it, I wear it sort of twisted. Now it’s a little worn and kind of twists on it’s own.
If you wanted to make it a permanent twist, you’ll have to either twist and sew as you go, tacking down a few of the twists. But that might require you to sew it by hand, as I’m not sure that much fabric will fit twisted in your sewing machine.
You could cut your strips really really close to the center stitched middle, but be careful to not cut it through the stitching.
I hope this helps! Thanks for asking.
This project is super fun & easy, BUT you do need more than a 1/4 yd of material. If you want the scarf to be “fluffy” and the strips to be 4-5 inches long like the directions say then you need 12-15 inch strips. A 1/4 yd only gives you a 9 inch strip!
I made 26 of these this year as gifts – I used THREE pieces of fleece cut into 6″ wide stripes a yard long each. Laid them on top of each other, sewed down the middle, and cut fringes that ended up being about 2.5″ long and 1/2″ wide. They fluff up nicely when you shake them around – or better if you wash and dry them.
Everyone has been really complimentary about them!
:) Mags
MagsGraphics.com
I’ve been sewing for years and this has me confused, for some reason. Are we assuming that the fleece is 60″ wide — is that where the 5 feet come in? Otherwise, a quarter yard of fabric is 9″ by whatever the width of the fabric … if you buy 1/4 yard at 60 wide, then cut it in half from selvage to selvage, you will have enough for two — is that right?
Yes, the fleece I’ve come across only comes in 60 inches, although I should clarify that in the instructions. And with the 1/4 of a yard, 9 inch, yes, you have room for 2 strips.
well i would love to make this, thing is i dont have a sewing machine and i am at horrible at sewing. instead, could i just use super glue down the middle?
I haven’t tried it, so I can say for sure, but I’m betting it would be just fine to super glue or hot glue this together. Let me know if you try it.
We just finished making 300 of them for a benefit for a friend and it went very smoothly. Very great idea for a money maker for benefits AND I’ve worn my to hockey games for 4 years and it still looks like the day I made it! Warm is just the bonus..
Typically how long would it take to make one scarf? And what is the approximate cost to make one? We were thinking of making these to sell as a fundraiser for our pee wee football team.
THANKS!
Carolyn – It may take from 15-25 minutes to make one, depending on the length of scarf and if you use 2 pieces together or 3 pieces together.
I’m not sure how much a yard of fleece is, but I would say each scarf is around $3-5. You should be able to get 2-3 finished scarves out of one yard.
here in AZ. It is 10-12 dollars a yard at Jo Anns. They are often on sale for $7 a yard. Some Walmarts cary fabric and it is around the $7 price range there.
I spent around $4.50 for a 3 layer scarf.
Today I made 10 of these scarves using 4 layers each…red, white, white, red. The fabric strips were 60 inches long and I cut them 6 inches wide. After sewing down the middle, it is easy to keep each fringe cut even by placing a strip of masking tape down the center on top of the sewn line. Then you know exactly how far in to cut the strips.
Let me just say that at tonight’s local high school football game, they were definitely a hit!! I love this project.
HAVING A PROBLEM GETTING IT TO FLUFF?????? HELP PLEASE?? ANY IDEAS
Please see the above #40 comment :)
Can you tell me where to buy the lightweight fleece. I live in Michigan and checked with JoAnn Etc. and they don’t carry it.
I need video tutorial.
1/4 yard? That’s 9 inches? What am I missing here?!
For the 1/4 of a yard, in step one, it states to cut it into 2 strips, as you can see in my last photo. If you are wanting to layer with 3 pieces of fleece, you will need another 4-5 inch piece.
i need 18 scarf make please help live in st louis will pay
You could order from here Nicole…http://www.etsy.com/shop/lilchickens
They are local to you.
soo easy! I have tons of scraps from making the knotted fleece blankets. I just whipped one together for my father in law’s bday which we are going to tonight. I had some UVA fabric leftover from a blanket and seat cushion that I made for him 4 years ago. maybe not the most masculine, with all the fringe, but I bet he will still appreciate my handiwork. he doesn’t have to know that it was so easy and quick to make.
Thanks for the idea and tutorial. <3
I made one for my bothmy 3 year old & 9 year old neice. They both love it! For the 9 year old. I made it as shown. For the 3 year old, I went smaller. I used 1/3 of a yard of fabric (cost $2.16). I cut it in hald lengthwise so it was 1/6 of a yard wide. Then I cut it so I had 2pices 40 inches long and 2 peices 20 inches long. I had 3 layers. Two 40 inch and the peices together the two shorter ones on top and stiched. I was sure to size the fringe so the short layer would blend. I hope this discription makes sense. I was trying to not waste any fabric. I used printed fleese. Pink with snowflakes. Very Cute!!!! Thank you for the idea!!!!
I had planned on making these for the hockey moms on our team. One lady said she had tried it and had trouble sewing through 3 layers of fleece so gave up. Is there a trick to it?
My daughter got a sewing machine for Christmas and we came across making scarves out of fleece. We cut our three pieces of fleece and when we attempted to sewing the three down the middle, the machine had problems – we tried changing the tension but still the machine would stitch a few then a long gap and the stitch a few. Is there a recommendation you can share regarding setting the machine to sew easier with fleece?
I’m not sure. It’s worked well with my machine, but I know all machines are different. You can do it with two pieces first, then try to add the third to it after the first two are sewn. Make sure you’re not going to harm your machine, I wouldn’t want this project to break anything.
You can also look for a thinner fleece. There are different types of fleece out there. Micro fleece is often thinner.
I have made a couple of these and wanted to give a tip. WalMart has some fleece blankets on sale for $2.88, and they are 50 x 60! So you can get 10 5inch strips from each blanket. They are a thinner fleece so three layers easily went through my machine. I would probably do 6 inch strips though, since it is a lighter fabric. :)