Quilted non-winter scarf

My mom's birthday was last week. A few weeks before that, I decided I wanted to make her something, rather than buy something. When I bought fabric for the baby quilt, I got several bundles of a variety of remnant fabric, all Hawaiian prints. A few weren't right for a kid's item, so I set them aside.

Included in that bunch were two fabrics of the same print -- a big floral and palm frond print -- in cream and black.



I had six rectangles of each and pondered the different ways I could use it. Coasters? Mini quilt? Placemats or table runner? No, none of those would do. I thought a quilted scarf would be best -- if I set the cream pieces short end to short end to make one long strip, it was a nice scarf length and width.



I did the same with the black rectangles (mind you, these remnants all came cut to roughly the same size, so I didn't have to worry about measurements or cutting at all), too. I then set them back-to-back after pressing all the seams, and sewed them together on one of the short ends. Because the rectangles varied slightly in width and length (by about a 1/4 of an inch or less, nothing major), it doesn't match up perfectly, but I made sure it matched well overall by situating the two lengths of fabric on top of each other and making sure it was straight.



Then I pressed the seam and flipped it so they sat wrong sides together. I used my iron and a few pins to fold the edges to the inside and keep them there. I didn't use a specific seam allowance, but it was about 1/4" or less. I started with one of the long edges and nearest to the joining seam I just stitched and worked my way to the other short end. Then I sewed it, making sure to keep close to the edge so I didn't leave out either side of folded-in fabric. When I was done with that edge, I made sure it hadn't stretched or pulled oddly during the sewing, and then I pressed, pinned, and sewed the remaining sides (short side, then last long side).



I actually sewed around the edge on this scarf twice, because my machine was acting up and some of the stitching wasn't smooth (bad tension, I deduced). But it made it sturdier, I'm sure, and didn't look bad in the end, as I concentrated on sewing directly over the original stitches. Here it is finished:



And here it is all folded up, ready to be mailed to my mom!



I think the only thing I don't like about it is that the fabric is cotton/poly and not just cotton. But the fabric is nice and perhaps it'll hold up better. I washed it and dried it (machine dried it for a while, then hung it to dry when I went to bed, as to not hog the dryer) before I sent it, too. I'm also not sure if it's really "quilted," technically, but it's sewed together, so I thought it fit. Also, it's not a cold weather scarf -- it's more of a fashionable scarf or wrap, but using a warmer fabric or batting inside of it could make it so. My mom said she really likes it and could use it in many different ways, and I thought the print fit her style well. Also, it's technically Hawaiian, right? So it's a fitting gift for me to send right now.