A Guide to Scarf Tying Tutorials Available on the Web

The Good

Here are some of the very best scarf tying tutorials on the web.

There is really no question about it, in terms of enthusiasm, delivery, style and pinache – Wendy’s LookBook takes the crowd by storm… Not to mention, have you seen her view numbers? This gal is the cream of the crop, the crème de la crème – the cat’s meow – the… Well, never mind. She just is the most enthusiastic and most excellent presenter of scarf tying tutorials you can find online, bar none.

Wendy’s LookBook – A Tutorial Series of Videos by Wendy Nguyen

If you’re into scarf tying at all, then you may have seen this series already. But just in case you missed it, here’s a great way to get a whole lot of tying tutorials all in one place – fast paced, fun and definitely a mover and shaker in the scarf world:

Wendy’s video “25 Ways to Wear a Scarf” is a super fast front end video and then, a clever breakout series of four full tutorials to walk you through them one step at a time:

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf – Companion Episode 1

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf – Companion Episode 2

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf – Companion Episode 3

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf – Companion Episode 4

Coldwater Creek

Next is a series of simple yet well done interactive tutorials by Coldwater Creek. The company started as an alternative family owned business working with manufacturers and producers domestically and abroad and building their company on a promise of unique artisan quality products and excellent customer service. They have devoted their entire retail business to stellar marketing and impeccable customer service and support. And sell all those fabulous prints, patterns and clothing that leave you just drooling for more. Great colors, great contrasts and combinations, great fun!

Their Interactive Scarf Tying Tutorial of 10 different styles leads you through the steps in a series of images strung together in a slide show including written instructions along the side of the images. Left and right arrows in the slide show allow you to stop it, go backwards or forwards, and review the steps at your own pace:

http://www.coldwatercreek.com/shops/how-to-tie-a-scarf.aspx

The Rules of Style – A Scarf Tying Tutorial for Men

The third video tutorial we like is a tutorial for men.

Men look great in scarves, and though it’s true they most often only wear winter scarves, these are also capable of being utterly stylish and good looking in their own right.

While American men seem to have a bit of a fear of a great scarf, European men have no such problem – so perhaps this little tutorial can help to ease the hearts of American men and convince them that scarves are really for men, too.

So if you’re looking for ways for a man to tie his scarf, these are some fairly simple and yet classic scarf tie styles for men:

The Bad and the Ugly

Unfortunately, there are quite a few scarf tying tutorials on the Internet that can be frustrating to view, as anyone who searches for them will have discovered. We will refrain from naming any particular sites here, but want to say a few words about what makes them “bad and ugly” so you can spot them right away and don’t waste your time wading through page after page of useless images and bad instructions you cannot fathom.

Many scarf tying tutorials unfortunately use lots of artsy drawings and pretty scarves with colorful prints that make it impossible to discern how the scarf was tied. Great floral prints, exotic colors, and designer patterns are lovely, but not useful when you are trying to figure out how to tie a particular knot. In fact, that is why these scarves are so brilliant when we wear them. They make even the simplest knot look amazing and exotic because we cannot see how the knot is tied. What we see are voluminous puffs of pattern and color that fool our eye into thinking it is quite a complex arrangement, when it is the patterning and colors that are providing that effect.

So lots of patterns in scarf tying ideas doesn’t help us to see the ties, but then, if there is nothing really to see, we suppose it really doesn’t matter. Which brings us to the second group of bad tutorials, the ones that show knots and styles that are so simple that really, you don’t need any instruction. At least they don’t have to worry about the patterned scarf problem.

Also not very useful are numerous tutorials showing you images of the finished knots with some text to explain how they got there. This is better than only showing the knot, but hardly constitutes a real tutorial. And finally, there are the Pinterest “tutorials” which may give you ideas on scarf styles but not much more. Browsing Pinterest collections of amazing and lovely scarf ties makes you WANT to find a tutorial on how these knots are tied.

So to avoid frustration and wasted time, we recommend you stick with one of the three tutorials we listed in our “Good” category.

Happy tying!