How can I make this shrug?

October 3, 2014 12:38 PM

I love this shrug. It's no longer available, so I would like to make one just like it. How do I do that?

I realize it might just be a draped scarf but I don't care, I want a shrug that looks like this. I couldn't find anything similar enough in the "shrug/bolero" category on Ravelry. I guess I could knit a super-wide scarf in the round using worsted or aran yarn and then sew the ends to the long side, but I'm not convinced that would work.

posted by snownoid to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (10 answers total)

That is beautiful! My approach would be to get some cheap knit fabric and experiment with constructing a one piece shrug (no sewing or anything -- just play around with volume and figure out where you'd need to cut in for the neck, sleeves, etc.). Once you have a rough "shape" in fabric, and once you figure out the stitch pattern and swatch it, you can probably use graph paper to figure out the basic pattern. It would be a lot of trial and error, but perhaps worth it!
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 12:52 PM on October 3, 2014

Knitting the super wide scarf in the round is a great idea. Make certain that the middle part is wide enough to cover your back and taper both ends for a smoother finish when you connect it in the back. You can start the taper at the color change.
posted by myselfasme at 12:59 PM on October 3, 2014

Hard to tell without a pic of the back, but I think that shrug is woven (out of two contrasting bulky yarns) and is maybe a big tube with the ends seamed together. Like a big fabric donut, or really just an infinity scarf with more bulk. So you could knit a big donut and graft the ends?
posted by clavicle at 1:13 PM on October 3, 2014 [3 favorites]

Ask r/knitting--they are good at pattern-finding.
posted by chaiminda at 1:14 PM on October 3, 2014

On second thought, knit large rectangle, fold so that long edges meet, sew together at either end, leaving opening in middle for neck.

Ed. To add: you will have a long tube with a hole in it, not a donut.
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 1:22 PM on October 3, 2014

In other words, sew long edges together with gap in middle. Yeesh! I'll stop now.
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 1:25 PM on October 3, 2014

A long, rectangular scarf wrapped around your arms and knotted in the back should do the trick, worn as a shrug. You just need to get the width correct (18" or so, depending upon your body size) and the length can be adjustable. Alternatively, make an infinity scarf and wear it as a shrug, making the width and length appropriate to turn it into a shrug. In knitting, the moss stitch might be closest to the original design. Based on the one photo - it does look like a woven textile. You could send the photo to Marcy Tilton's team and see if they have a matching fabric.
posted by apennington at 2:15 PM on October 3, 2014

This is a rando example of the construction Mrs. Rattery's describing, and it would work for the shape in the pic if you made the sleeves very short and the back fairly wide.

Or another way to do it would be something like Shrowl. Like, this pic is close to the shape you want.

And now that I'm picturing the "sewing the ends to the long side" idea (it took me a few minutes), I think it would work, except it wouldn't be quite as simple as sewing the ends. You'd have two layers to sew to another layer, if you knit it in the round, and those would be some bulky seams if you did it with the cast-on and bind-off edges. I would provisional cast-on, knit the tube, and knit each end of the tube shut, like a three-needle bind-off without binding off, so you'd have one flat row of live stitches on each end, which you'd then attach to the long edge. (I'm picturing something like the vertical to horizontal seam pictured here.)
posted by clavicle at 2:34 PM on October 3, 2014

Here's a video showing how to do it.
posted by tamitang at 5:57 PM on October 3, 2014

I think it's basically a circle scarf - you can see how they did it here, with knit material - http://www.comeonilene.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/scarf_options.jpg - it's just a rectangle, with the short ends joined to make a big loop. You'd have to experiment to get the measurements for the right size, but that'd at least tell you where to start.
posted by lemniskate at 10:52 AM on October 5, 2014