Walk into any store selling clothing or accessories this season, and right there in the front display you will see it: faux fur! It is everywhere, especially these adorable sets of faux fur scarves and gloves. Super trendy: check! Super duper easy: double check! With a little bit of fur and a little bit of time, you can create beautiful matching scarves and cuffed gloves for yourself and everyone on your holiday list. Part of our Lush & Plush Series sponsored by Fabric.com, both of these projects are fast, easy and fun. The scarf has just three seams and a big 'buttonhole-like' opening for the pull-through. The cuffs take a little measuring, only one seam, and some hand stitching. Stylishly cozy in about an hour!

Fabric.com has an absolutely incredible selection of faux fur, from the look, feel and drape of the real thing to the vivid colors and wildly long nap of faux fun fur. If you are new to working with it, check out our tutorial. Then, sit back and browse through the pages and pages of beautiful faux fur at Fabric.com. They offer offer free shipping on orders of just $35 plus a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

We fell in the love with the Bengal honey faux fur used for this project. It's an embossed type of finish, similar to a cut pile carpet. The two levels of pile are two different colors of honey, one light and one dark, creating a shimmering effect.

Sewing Tools You Need

• Any Sewing Machine (we recommend the Janome Memory Craft 6300)
• Walking foot (optional) - we found it was helpful for this particular type of fur

Fabric and Other Supplies

Amounts shown are plenty for both a scarf and the matching glove cuffs

• ½ yard of 58-60+" wide faux fur fabric: we used 62" Faux Fur Bengal Honey from Fabric.com
• One pair of heavy gloves; we used a dense black fleece pair
  NOTE: Choose a pair of gloves with some stretch but not too much and nothing too slinky. If your gloves are thicker and more stable it will be easier to sew them to the faux fur.
• All-purpose sewing thread to match the faux fur
• Scissors
• See-through ruler
• Tape measure
• Fabric pencil or pen
• Straight pins
• Hand sewing needle
• Household item to stretch open the glove wrist; we used a partially used roll of duct tape

Instructions for the Pull-Through Scarf

As we mentioned above, check out our Sewing with Faux Fur article for pinning, cutting and sewing tips.

Getting Started

1. From the faux fur fabric cut ONE 16" wide x 38" long strip.
   NOTE: Our finished length is based on the most common sizes we found for sale at Saks, Neiman Marcus and other retailers. It is meant to be a shorter length - with the tails ending about mid-chest. Test the length on yourself prior to cutting to make sure you are happy with this length. Some people who have made this project have chosen to cut the length up to 10-12" longer.
2. Lay the strip right side down on your work surface.
3. Measure 10" in from one end and make a mark with your fabric pen or insert a pin.
4. Measure 15" in from the same end and make a second mark with your fabric pen or insert a pin.
5. This will become your 5" pull-through opening.

At Your Sewing Machine

1. Fold the strip in half so it is now 8" x 38". Carefully pin in place.
2. Using a ¼" seam allowance, stitch the long 38" side only. Remember to stop and start  at your marks in order to leave the 5" opening.
   
3. Roll the seam around so it is centered along the length of the scarf.
4. Pin the two short ends.
5. Stitch the two short ends, using a ¼" seam allowance.
   
6. Turn the scarf right side out through the opening.
   
   NOTE: In the photos below, we've switched to a plain Minky fabric because as beautiful as our Bengal Honey faux fur is... it is a beast to try to photograph. It is easier to show you the technique on the Minky so you can see the steps. It all works on the faux fur in the same way, but the pile will hide all your stitching.
7. Place the scarf flat on your work surface with the seam side up so you can see the opening. The seam allowances will naturally roll to the inside, making the edges appear finished.
   
8. Pin along both sides of the opening through all layers. In other words, you are pinning the front layer to the back layer.
   
9. You are going to stitch around this opening slit as if it were a big buttonhole.
10. Start at one end and edgestitch one side in place. Remove the pins as you go.
    
11. When you get to the end of the opening, pivot and stitch across to the opposite side. This is a very short seam - less than ½".
12. When you get to the opposite side, pivot again and stitch along that side to the end of the opening.
    
13. Pivot again and stitch across the end to join up with your starting point. When you turn over the scarf, you will have made a narrow rectangle... like I said, similar to a big buttonhole.
    
14. Flip the scarf back over and carefully cut between the stitch lines - again, just like a big buttonhole.
    
    
15. As an option, you can stitch around the opening once more, this time with a zigzag stitch, to further finish the edge.
16. As I mentioned above, your stitching will all be hidden within the pile of the fur.
    

Instructions for the Fur-Cuffed Gloves

Here's another friendly reminder to check out our Sewing with Faux Fur article for pinning, cutting and sewing tips. It is especially important that you cut your cuffs with the nap going the same direction on both pieces, otherwise they will appear to be two different colors.

Getting Started

1. We wanted a 3" finished cuff, so our cut length needed to be double that, or 6". Feel free to make your cuffs narrower or wider based on the look you want and the type of fur you use. If you use a fur with a longer pile, a longer cuff would look cool.
2. To figure the width of each piece, you need to measure your own hand. Why? Because your gloves stretch to accommodate the insertion of your hand. But the faux fur will not stretch, so when you attach it to the glove cuff you are restricting the amount of stretch to the size of the faux fur cuff. You want to be sure you make the cuff wide enough to allow your hand to slide through the cuff and into the glove.
3. Hold your hand thumb in, as if signaling someone to "stop!" and measure around the widest point across the palm and around your thumb.
   
4. My measurement was 9". Add 1" for a seam allowance. So I marked and cut out two rectangles 6" x 10". Remember, you have to mark and cut from the back of the fur.
5. Draw a line across the center of each cuff widthwise; in other words, this line is parallel to the width - the 10" side.
   

At your sewing machine

1. Fold one cuff in half right sides together, so it is now 6" x 5". Pin in place along the short side.
2. Using a ¼" seam allowance, stitch the short seam.
   
   NOTE: You'll notice that with both the scarf above and these cuffs, we are using a ¼" seam rather than our more traditional ½" seam. That is because we want to reduce the bulk of the seams to the minimum.
3. Find a round household item that both the glove and the cuff will stretch over, leaving a round opening through which your hand can pass. We found a half-used roll of duct tape that worked perfectly. Test that both items can be stretched over the round item.
   
   NOTE: Other types of tape rolls would work well, as would the sliced-off end of a shipping tube or even a really wide bangle bracelet.
4. Stretch the glove down over one side of the round object. The glove is right side out. Then slip the cuff up over the opposite side so the cuff of the glove and the raw edge of the faux fur cuff butt together. The cuff is wrong side out. Do not overlap the two; they should butt edge to edge.
5. Thread a hand sewing needle with thread to match the faux fur and whip stitch the glove to the cuff.
   
6. Fold up the raw edge of the faux fur cuff along the drawn center line made above during the original marking and cutting steps.
   
7. Whip stitch this folded edge in place.
   
8. Fold up the faux fur cuff the rest of the way, covering the glove/cuff hand-sewn seam and revealing the full faux fur cuff.
9. Repeat to create the second glove and cuff.
   
   

Contributors

Project Concept: Alicia Thommas   
Sample Creation and Instructional Outline: Kathy Andrews, What Sew Ever

Other machines suitable for this project include the Elna 3210 and the Bernina activa 210.