Refashion: making a Kimono from a Scarf

for this project you will need:
-5 minutes of your time
-one large scarf, (if it is a skinny long scarf it will hug your body tightly instead of loose and flowy, if it is a wide but short scarf it won't cover your entire torso so try to use a wide and long scarf for this refashion, i got mine from target, but this one would be so cute ! and for only 7 dollars you can't go wrong!)
-thread to match
-sewing machine, serger, or both.
-scissors

first you take your scarf and fold it in half hamburger style so that the two shorter sides are touching and make sure the right sides are together!

next you sew (or serge, although i prefer sewing) 2/3 of the way up towards the fold both sides to create a armholes.

next you are going to cut up the middle of one half of the fabric, this is creating the kimono opening and neck. (your head will be at the top of the photograph if that helps you visualize how this will all turn out)

next you need to create a wider opening for your neck, so cut about 8 inches length wise along the top fold, 4 inches long on each side of the cut you just made, and then diagonally take that cut towards your center cut making two triangles. or creating a "V-neck" look.

try it on to make sure it looks right, for me i did not like all the yellow in the center of my chest, and i thought there was too much bulky fabric.

so... i cut more of the material off to create a removed rectangle area as you can see in the picture below. so that it kind of looked like an oversized vest with sleeves.

then i tried it on again, and liked it, so i used my serer and serged around the unfinished edges along the opening of the kimono and the neck. if you do not have a serger, do a rolled hem, or simply use a zig-zag stitch right along the edge to create a make-shift serged finish.

cut off excess strings and your all done!

in the end it took a total of 3 seams, one on each side, and the one long serger stitch around the middle and only one cut. how easy is that?? and, because i used a bit thicker of a scarf i can continue to use this kimono in the winter for added warmth! i plan on making more kimono's using this tutorial later with much lighter material and i'll post those too so you can see how those look. i am sooo happy with the way it turned out and cannot believe how easy it was! next time, with the next project i plan on adding a bit of lace trim along the edges to give it a little more POP!

stay tuned to see how it turns out!