Silk Shawl

I was recently asked to make shawls for an upcoming autumn wedding. The bride wanted shawls in two-toned style: an underside in a lovely eggplant color and the outward side in a formal black satin for her bridesmaids and a white and eggplant shawl for herself. Shawls are such a useful item to have and this project is relatively easy to complete. Between measuring, cutting, and construction, it takes about 1 hr to make each shawl.

As always, press your fabric first.

Using a cutting mat and straight edge, cut the fabric to your desired measurements. I cut mine to be 20" wide x 75" long.

You will end up with 2 long strips of fabrics - one for the front and one for the back.

With right sides together, pin the front to the back along the longest sides.

 Sew the 2 pieces together along the longest sides. Since these seems will not be seen it is unnecessary to have a perfectly matching thread but be sure to use a coordinating color regardless. I used a black thread and bobbin.

 I prefer to keep a pin cushion close by when I'm sewing long pieces of fabric like these. Often, it's  difficult to pin the fabric tight enough when pieces are very lengthy and the fabric will start to fold over on itself.

 Here you can see that the top black fabric was beginning to fold over on itself. Simply remove the pin and pull the fabric above and below the presser foot until it is smooth ensuring  fabric edges are aligned. Continue sewing.

 After the two long edges are sewn, pin one shorter side and sew along the edge.

 Turn the fabric right side out through the remaining unsewn side.

 Using a straight edge as a guide, fold over and pin the back piece of fabric.

 Matching the back piece of fabric, fold over the front piece of fabric again matching wrong sides together. This creates a even hem and only the right sides of the front and back fabric should be showing.

Since the fabric that I'll be sewing right side up is the purple fabric, I've kept my black bobbin but traded out the black thread for purple thread. This will ensure that the bottom black fabric will have matching black thread and the purple fabric will have matching purple thread since these stitches will definitely be seen.

 Beginning with the recently pinned folded over edges, sew the top purple fabric to the back black fabric.

 Continue the top stitch on both shorter sides and one longer side of the shawl. The longer side without the top stitch will be the top of the shawl. This will create a beautiful finished look on the 3 edges and a lovely draping effect on the top of the shawl.

 The finished product is the perfect accessory for any formal affair.