Sewing Projects

Winter Sweater, Meet Winter Hat

We all have an old sweater in our closet that is begging to be turned into something else. Perhaps it has a hole in it; maybe it doesn’t fit or is out of date. Inspired by an article in ReadyMade magazine, Melissa Rannels, Melissa Alvarado, and Hope Meng, authors of Sew Subversive teach you how to turn it into a hat!

This easy project makes a great holiday gift. Just be sure you don’t give the hat to the person who gave you the sweater! 

MATERIALS

• sweater
• scissors
• manila folder (to make your pattern)
• thread (to match your sweater)
• sewing machine

Techniques you’ll use
Zigzag stitch and back-tacking when using a machine (or blanket stitch, if hand sewing)

Time to complete
Machine sewing: 20 minutes or hand sewing: 45 minutes

Preparing the sweater

1. Choose either an acrylic or a wool sweater.

If you have a wool sweater -  it’s a good idea to felt it, which we do by washing it in the washing machine on hot, then throwing it in the dryer on high. This will shrink the wool up and make it tight and a little stretchy for your hat.

If you are using an acrylic/polyester sweater - it won’t shrink, so you are ready to go as is.

Decide on the shape

2. Here are a couple of suggested shapes for your hat. Pick one you like, trace it onto the manila folder, and cut it out.

You’ll be using this to cut out the front and back of your hat. You can also use a hat you already have as a template—just lay it down flat on the folder and trace around it. Keep in mind that you’ll generally want the seams on the side so you don’t have a funky (or itchy) line on your forehead.

To make sure the size is about right, measure around the top of your head and divide by 2. Your template should be about this wide—adjust it if it isn’t. (You don’t need to add a seam allowance because you’ll want the hat to stretch a little when it’s on your head. Use your best judgment on how stretchy your sweater is, but err on the smaller side.

And if it winds up being too small for your head, your little cousin will surely like it! Um . . . you meant to do that, right?)

Cut it up

3. Lay your manila shape on your sweater and cut out 2 pieces of the same size.

Sew it up

4. Face the party pieces of the sweater together (this should be second nature to you by now) and sew around the edges on your sewing machine with a zigzag stitch set to a medium stitch width and length or by hand with a blanket stitch, leaving the part where your head will go open. The blanket stitch will wrap around the (sometimes) bulky material of the sweater and make a neat edge on the inside.

If you are concerned about your sweater fraying on the inside or on the edges, you can either do a zigzag stitch (which will make it sort of ruffly) around the outside edge or dab some FrayCheck on the edges to keep them tame.

Turn your hat right-side out, put it on, and rock out! Who’s cuter than you? No-one.
Once you’ve gotten this down, feel free to alter your pattern a little by making the back a little longer, adding earflaps or embellish with ribbons, buttons and patches or whatever you like!
 

Further information

This project is from Sew Subversive – Down & Dirty DIY for the Fabulous Fashionista (ISBN 1561588091) by Melissa Rannels, Melissa Alvarado, and Hope Meng. This book puts the ‘fun’ into sewing and converts a wardrobe of boring garments into exciting fashion statements. Aimed at trendy teens and the young at heart, the authors provide endless ideas for taking basic items and reworking them into something more interesting using basic sewing techniques and some creative ideas with the main part of the book focusing on embellishing and reshaping existing garments. This book is priced at £9.99 and published by Taunton Press and distributed by GMC Publications, call their credit card hotline on tel: 01273 488005 to purchase the book.

For a further information visit the ISEW book review page.