Sewing: City Cowl (Tutorial)

This "City Cowl" is one of the cowls I made for luvinthemommyhood's "Comfy Sews vs. Cozy Knits" boxing match. If you read the post you already know I couldn't decide between the two so I decided to do both! See here for a few ways you can use this soft and sleek cowl and if you want to sew one for yourself click below to see the tutorial.

City Cowl Materials:
--1 yard zebra (or some other animal...) printed velboa
--coordinating thread
that's it!

**PLEASE NOTE**: After much trial and error trying to figure out what should have been a simple little project I figured out the counter-intuitive, but necessary, method for sewing this double-sided cowl. But then I did the tutorial all wrong(!) because somehow I was still hanging onto the idea of the way it seemed to me it should have worked. So the following tutorial is updated/correct using a combination of  photos with a small scale "model" and the real deal--the velboa cowl.**


1.  To begin, cut two pieces of velboa 18" long/high and 41 inches wide. (This makes a very generously sized cowl because I wanted the option of pulling it over my head too; you could make it narrower--just make sure you can pull it comfortably over your head as it's not all that stretchy.)

2. Pin the two pieces right sides together along the long ends and stitch per the photo below (shown in scrap fabric/small model for illustration purposes):

You have just sewn a hollow tube shape:

3. Now you will turn the tube of fabric inside itself, right sides together, like so (shown in my scrap/small model and the velboa fabric):

4.  Align the seams you stitched in step 1, and pin together along the top edges so you are sewing right sideas together and forming another hollow tube (this one is shorter than the original since you have folded it on itself). Stitch, leaving a four inch opening in the seam for turning the cowl right side out. (I am showing a photo of the small/scrap model.)

(I tried putting this cowl together a number of ways and though this seems strange this method was the easiest for me. It was a bit counter-intuitive constructing this without any seams showing...I ended up with a really tall skinny tube instead of the shorter wide tube I wanted. Still can't figure it out in my head, let me know if you can!)

5. Now pull the cowl right side out through the hole you left in the end seam.

(Here's how it looks in the small/scrap model)

6. Pinch the ripped seam together and top stitch very close to the edge to close.

 

7. Now you have your cowl! I am showing the end seam, closed shut, which you can wear in the back (flip the end seam with the top-stitch close to the inside of the tube so it doesn't show at all.)

8. Final step is to top stitch the top and bottom seams you created in step 1. With topstitching the fabric lies flatter--sort of a flat tube. If you want to skip the top stitching it's a bit more free form, which is also fun.

Easy enough. Hope you enjoy it.