Natalie Chanin’s Rag Boa Craft

SUPPLIES

DIRECTIONS

1. 1. Make Pattern

   On your 9" x 23" piece of pattern paper, draw a line parallel to one long side, and label the line “Grain Line” and the rectangle itself “Boa Center.”
   
   Repeat this process with your 7" x 23" piece of pattern paper, labeling the line you add “Grain Line” and this rectangle “Boa Middle.”
   
2. 
   Repeat this process with your 5" x 23" piece of pattern paper, labeling the line you add “Grain Line” and this rectangle “Boa Outside.”




2. Prepare Fabric for Cutting

Deconstruct your two T-shirts so that you have a sleeveless tube of fabric that’s separated at the shoulder seams. Then cut each T-shirt tube from the bottom edge below the center of one armhole straight up to that center armhole, so the tube can open out flat as a single layer.



3. 3. Cut Boa Center and Outside Pieces

   Place your Boa Center pattern on top of the deconstructed T-shirt you want to use for the boa’s middle, or center, layer, making sure the pattern’s marked grain line and the T-shirt’s grain line run in the same direction. With tailor’s chalk, trace around your pattern’s edges, remove the pattern, and cut out your Boa Center, cutting just inside the chalked line to remove it entirely. Repeat the process to cut two more Boa Centers from this fabric.
   
   Working with the same T-shirt fabric, repeat this process, using the pattern for the Boa Outside; and cut six Boa Outside pieces.




4. 4. Cut Boa Middle Pieces

   Place your Boa Middle pattern on top of your second deconstructed T-shirt, making sure that the pattern’s marked grain line and the T-shirt’s grain line run in the same direction. With tailor’s chalk, trace around your pattern’s edges, remove the pattern, and cut out six Boa Middles, cutting just inside the chalked line to remove it entirely.




5. 5. Assemble Boa Center

   Place one Boa Center piece on your work surface, and overlap by 1" one end of that piece with a second Boa Center piece. Repeat at the opposite end with the third Boa Center, so the three Boa Centers make up one “continuous” 67" x 9" strip of cotton jersey (see the illustration).



6. 6. Add Boa Middle and Boa Outside

   Repeat the above process, layering three Boa Middles on top of the Boa Centers, and then layering three Boa Outsides on top of the Boa Middles, staggering the positioning of the overlapping edges slightly on each different layer.
   
   Pin the layered pieces securely, and turn the unit over to the other side. Repeat the layering process, adding and pinning as before, the Boa Middle and Outside pieces to the unit (see the cross-section illustration below of the layered boa ready for stitching).



7. 7. Stitch Boa

   Thread your needle, “love” your thread, and knot off. Begin stitching down the middle of one of the Boa Outsides, inserting your needle down through all the layers. Bring your needle back up to the top; and, using a straight stitch, stitch straight down the center of the five layers. Knot off after stitching to the opposite end of the boa.




8. 8. Cut Fringe

   Using your garment scissors, make a series of parallel cuts 1/2" apart on one long edge of the boa through all five layers, stopping 1/2" from your stitching line. Repeat this process on the opposite long edge.




9. 9. Separate Fringe

   Working outdoors or over an old sheet, shake your finished boa vigorously to separate the individual strands of fringe and remove the excess fibers the cutting process produced.






To learn how to create more of Natalie Chanin’s magnificent cotton projects, purchase the  Alabama Stitch Book.
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