I was out shopping and spotted this beautiful wool/cashmere mix in Ditto.
I knew it wasn’t a good idea for me to make a garment (such a fine, loose weave wool is fairly disastrous when you have pets), so I bought a square and decided to make a shawl.
It is such simple thing to do, and allows you wear a piece of fabric you love without making a long term commitment. You could still turn it into something else later.
First step was to straighten the grain.
Pull one thread from the selvedge of the fabric near the cut edge, I used tweezers to ensure only grabbing one thread…
When you pull the thread out it will leave a slight ‘shadow’ giving you a perfectly true line to cut along.
Select a very narrow zig zag stitch…
Once the edge is cut true, zig zag stitch along parallel to the raw edge…
Pull away the threads of the fabric from the raw edge. As you peel the threads away a short fringe will appear. It is especially effective with this fabric as the warp and weft are different colours.
And there you have it.
So next time you see a gorgeous piece of plain woven wool in the shops why not buy a square and turn it into a cosy shawl? You could always make a garment from it later.
