Bye bye winter blues -- making a patchwork scarf out of fleece kids clothes

I'm not a big fan of winter. In the Northwest, the season brings months of grey skies, soggy rain, sunset before dinner, and power outages. 

But I've started to come to terms with winter. All thanks to one thing -- winter accessories. Fuzzy hats, puffy coats, formidable boots. And, of course, scarves!


My favorite scarves are the ones people have made for me. The jewel blue one knitted by my mom, the red fleece one made by my 8-year-old god-daughter at a craft fair. Why not make one for myself?

I toured my local thrift stores searching for cheerful fabric. I found it in the kids' area. Bright, colorful fleece! I took home a bag full of gently used fleece tops, bottoms, and onsies. I cut them into rectangles and then arranged the shapes into a long strip. It took me a while to get a pattern I liked.

To sew the rectangles together, I used a fancy stitch provided by my Brother sewing machine. (It requires a steady hand, I discovered, and is almost impossible to rip out.)

Once the strip was long enough, I folded it in half lengthwise with right sides together and sewed the edges together on 2 sides. I turned it right side out and sewed the last short edge. Voila, my own upcycled patchwork scarf!

It took more patience than I usually have in the winter. But it was worth it!

More ways to repurpose fleece for the winter

• Sweatpants made into fleece neck warmer 
• Fleece blankets turned into scarves 
• Fleece pullovers for adults turned into kids tops 
• Repurposed infinity scarves 
• Fleece or wool top turned into kids sweat pants 
• Dog toy made from old fabric