A pashmina scarf can be everything from cozy to elegant. You can wrap up in one on a cool autumn evening with a book and a cup of tea, or wear one out on the town for a sophisticated look at the theatre or a cocktail party.

With this kind of versatility, a pashmina wrap is more than a simple accessory; it's a must-have member of your wardrobe. And, by adding embroidery to it, the pashmina wrap becomes an expression of your own unique style.

The word "pashmina" comes from a Persian word (pashm) that means "wool." Some pashmina scarves are a fine, cashmere wool -- and they can be quite expensive.

Less expensive varieties are a rayon blend, and those are the type that I worked with. They're lightweight, and are found in many, many gorgeous colors.

I've seen pashmina scarves at places like Target and Walmart, but the ones that I used are from one of my favorite sources, AllAboutBlanks.com. I've always had terrific service, and great prices, from this company.

Pashmina wraps are quite light (to the point of being see-through in some places). And, they flow when being worn. As I planned the embellishment, it became important to me that no stabilizer be visible on the wrap.

That meant that I couldn't use cutaway stabilizer, or even tear-away stabilizer. Instead, I wanted to use water-soluble stabilizer, which would disappear entirely.

When using water-soluble stabilizer on a lightweight fabric, it's important to choose very light and simple designs. This is to make the fabric drape well, and also to avoid any puckering or rippling of the fabric. I decided to use the "Lot Like Lace" designs, which have simple stitching and open areas. Other choices are toile, vintage, and Redwork.

Pashmina wraps are big (70 x 28 inches!), so I spent some time planning where the designs would be placed.

I'm embellishing the wrap with snowflakes, and I want the effect to be as if they were falling from the sky.

This is where using templates is so very useful. A template is a printout of the design made with an embroidery program. If you don't have a program that can print templates, try Embird or Wilcom's TrueSizer, or Buzz Xplore. Or, stitch a quick sample of the design that you'll be using, and use that as a way to plan where you'll place the designs.

I use templates to arrange the design, mark the center point, and mark the design's horizontal and vertical axis lines. This helps me to stitch the design in the right place, and to experiment with different layouts before I sew the designs.

My vision for the pashmina wrap is to have the snowflakes falling down, as though they're falling from the sky. This gives me a lot of room for error, so I don't need to be entirely precise about positioning the designs on the fabric (whew!).

Now that I have the areas of embroidery marked, I'm ready to embroider the first design.

The rayon wraps are so lightweight that it's possible to skew and warp the fabric by mishandling it. I took an extra precaution with hooping: I opened the outer hoop farther than I normally do, and rested the stabilizer and fabric on top. Then I pressed the top hoop down very gently, and tightened the screw on the hoop.

I clipped the excess fabric out of the way. Chip clips work great for the job!

After the design has finished, I'm ready to embroider the next one! Remove the hoop from the machine, and rehoop the fabric with water-soluble stabilizer to embroider again.

And after a bit more stitching, the snowflakes are sprinkled around the pashmina scarf.

The last step is to remove the excess water-soluble stabilizer. I tore most of it away, then used a tweezers to remove other big portions. The small, remaining pieces will be removed when washing. Or, you can blot with a wet paper towel, too.

Most of the pashmina wraps that I saw recommended hand washing. Some plumbing or septic systems can get clogged if sending massive amounts of water-soluble stabilizer into the pipes.

To be on the safe side, I removed as much stabilizer as possible. Then, I soaked areas of the wrap to remove the stabilizer.

Some stitchers will dump that water outside instead of running it down the drain. However, so little stabilizer remained that I felt comfortable disposing the water down the drain.

I made two pashmina wraps -- one for autumn, and one for winter.

This autumn pashmina features the A Lot Like Lace Autumn Leaves designs. The designs are not freestanding lace -- they are lacy.  Light interior stitching, interesting open fills, and sleek satin stitches performed beautifully on the lightweight pashmina wrap.

This wrap has bold color contrast. The vibrant autumn colors are striking against the dark wrap. I also used some metallic thread for extra shine.

The winter-themed wrap features the  A Lot Like Lace Snowflakes designs.

For this wrap, I wanted a more subtle color scheme. I selected shades of blue that were slightly brighter than the pashmina, and metallic thread for extra sparkle. And, I added snowflakes on the upper corners of the pashmina wrap to show off the design scheme.

A note about working with metallic thread: on a lightweight wrap, you'll be able to feel it. If your wrap is for wearing during "leisure and relaxing time," use metallic thread sparingly, if at all. Avoid using it in satin stitch columns, as you'll find that the metallic thread is hard and scratchy and can be uncomfortable to wear.

If, however, you're planning your wrap for a formal or dress-up event, then metallic thread will be a beautiful addition.