How to Make a Camera Strap from a Scarf

 

I’ve always been a photography nerd for as long as I can remember. From the times when I’d do happy dances because my mom granted me permission to use her camera to take photos of my American Girl dolls to now when the clicking shutter of my Nikon D40 comforts me and the chemical smell of a new Polaroid gets my heart racing. I am always prowling for ways to make my camera accessories unique because my camera collection is such a big part of my life.

(Some of my Polaroids.)

Now when you work for a scarf site like Scarves.net and you think about scarves all day you kind of get scarves on the brain. So when my little brother told me a story about silk that he heard on Mythbusters, I had an idea. The story is that Mongolian warriors used to wear silk shirts underneath their armor so that when they were shot with arrows in battle, the silk would not break and it was easier to remove the arrow from the wounded warrior’s flesh without digging around too much and causing more damage. (Sorry for the gross image.) Why silk you ask? Well, did you know that a silk rope is stronger than a steel cable? (Seriously! Believe it.) Silk is just too expensive to manufacture in those industrial quantities.

So the whole silk strength discussion with my brother got me thinking. If a silk shirt can protect a Mongolian warrior, then a silk scarf can totally support the weight of my cameras. So I made a camera strap from a scarf!

What you need for this project:

♥1. A silk scarf. There are some great silk scarves here at Scarves.net. I especially think this geometric print scarf would look awesome as a camera strap.
♥2. Some extra leather or pleather. This is optional, but I think it adds a nice touch to your strap.
♥3. 3 Key rings. These are to attach the camera to your strap.
♥4. Scissors.
♥5. Chalk or something to mark your scarf.
♥6. A dress form or a nice volunteer to help test your strap.

Step 1: First you need to lay your scarf around your dress form’s neck or your volunteer. You need to mark where you want the strap to fall and then mark about an inch and a half below where you want your camera to fall around your neck. (You need to have room to stitch the scarf up.)

Step 2: Next you need to cut below your line. Easy.

Step 3: After you’ve cut your scarf where it needs to be, take your key rings and slip them on the end of your scarf and stitch them in place. I would leave like an inch of wiggle room so that you can easily use the key rings to hold your camera.

Step 4: Now you need to make two little tubes out of the leather to slip on the ends of your scarf camera strap to cover the stitches. You don’t have to use leather, you can use ribbon or anything that you want. :)

Step 5: This is how you slip the tubes over the scarf. Make sure that the inside of the tube with the stitching is facing you so that it won’t show when you wear your camera.

Step 6: Next you need to stitch your leather tubes in place over your stitches. Make sure it is secure!

And voila! Your camera’s stylin’. ;)

Snap away! If you need any more tips or help, just leave a comment below! Good luck. :)

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