Giving New Life to a Torn Men’s Silk Scarf

Last week I decided to tackle a project that I’d been wanting to do before it got cool out, which was to fix Nick’s favourite scarf. It was a vintage silk piece which had torn along both seams. By the end of last winter he was still wearing it like that, but it looked pretty ragged. His intention was to wear it out and then toss it. Of course, I couldn’t just sit back and let that happen!

This was something that he had bought himself from one of the vintage clothing stores in the neighbourhood a few years ago. He had been out on his own, so the purchase was solely his idea. This being so, I knew he liked it, so I decided to take the time to fix it for him.

I did it by hand, with a blanket-stitch over the raw edges. I had considered using my machine, which would have taken a fraction of the time, but I didn’t think it would turn out well. Also, I was in the mood to do some hand sewing.

In the end it turned out quite nicely, giving me the satisfied feeling of a job-well-done. Nick was happy (and surprised) to have his old scarf fixed and I look forward to seeing him wear it later in the year!

By the way, did you know that the little strawberry dangling from the type of pin-cushion I have (seen in the first pictures) has a purpose? For the longest time I thought it was just a decorative feature, but it’s actually filled with rough sand and is meant to be used to sharpen your pins and needles. You just poke them in and twist/turn them and they come out with a nice clean point. Works really well on broach pins too, so they don’t snag the fabric.

[Follow up in March 2014 : Here we are 3 winters after fixing this scarf and it is still being worn regularly. So in the long run it was really worth taking the time to fix something that looked like it was destined for the trash.]