there is frost on the ground, a chill in the air, and right now is the perfect time to whip up your very own upcycled owl hat! the thing i love most about this hat is that i didn't have to run out to the store to buy a single thing in order to make it... yay for hoarding old clothes responsibly saving worn-out sweaters for reuse! note: this post originally aired last february here at Sew Sweetness.
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see that silly hat on my head? well, last winter we found ourselves with a 2yo that refused to wear a winter hat (no matter how cold it was) and we simply could not find a solution. when i started seeing funky animal hats pop up all over the place, it seemed the logical thing to try my hand at making one.
spoiler: she didn't like this one either. this year, though, she's suddenly fine with hats. *sigh*
all that you need to make your own owl hat is a random selection of ill-fitting or otherwise unwearable sweaters, a few pieces of felt, scissors, and thread.
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see that silly hat on my head? well, last winter we found ourselves with a 2yo that refused to wear a winter hat (no matter how cold it was) and we simply could not find a solution. when i started seeing funky animal hats pop up all over the place, it seemed the logical thing to try my hand at making one.
spoiler: she didn't like this one either. this year, though, she's suddenly fine with hats. *sigh*
all that you need to make your own owl hat is a random selection of ill-fitting or otherwise unwearable sweaters, a few pieces of felt, scissors, and thread.
1. lay sweater flat and cut out two squares. this will be the main part of your hat. the size that you'll want your squares to be is really going to depend on both the stretchiness of the material you're using and also how large you want the final hat to be. assuming about a 1/2" seam allowance, here are my suggestions for sizing:
toddler: 6-6.5" square main material
children: 7-7.5" square main material
adults: 8.5-9.5" square main material
toddler: 6-6.5" square main material
children: 7-7.5" square main material
adults: 8.5-9.5" square main material
2. fold both squares in half and cut out a quarter circle on the fold (fold shown at top of photo below). from the fold, your quarter circle should cut about 1/3 of the way into the material. on the raw side (shown on bottom in photo below), cut a slight angle to form "horns."
3. lay main pieces flat, cut one half circle from another sweater, and center along bottom of the front hat piece.
4. from your felt, cut a triangle for the beak and three circles for each eye (i used dark purple for the small and large circles and light pink for the medium circle).
5. pin your half circle to the hat front and stitch around. embrace the exposed seams and make it fun... i used a zigzag stitch in a contrasting color.
6. pin your medium circles on top of the large circles and stitch.
7. pin the small circle on top of this and stitch.
8. once the eyes are together, pin them on the front of the hat and stitch.
9. do the same with the beak.
10. now that the front of your hat is ready, pin the front and back hat pieces, right sides together, and stitch around the sides and the top.
11. turn your hat right side out (you may want to add a little "hoo hoo" here, unless someone is around). cut a band of ribbing. the size of your band will depend on the material and desired hat size. here are some general suggestions:
toddler: 2-2.5" wide and twice as long as main material minus .5"
children: 2.5" wide and twice as long as main material minus .5"
adults: 3" wide and twice as long as main material minus .5"
toddler: 2-2.5" wide and twice as long as main material minus .5"
children: 2.5" wide and twice as long as main material minus .5"
adults: 3" wide and twice as long as main material minus .5"
12. sew the ends of your ribbing bad together so that it forms a circle. i just overlapped the ends of mine 1/2" and used a zigzag stitch.
13. pin the ribbing band to the iside of the hat as shown (wrong sides together).
14. stitch the band to your hat.
15. try it on!!! depending on fit, you can wear the hat with exposed seams or fold up the ribbing (as shown in the first picture).
i hope you enjoy your new hat! as always, if you whip something up inspired by this (or any other) imagine gnats tutorial, please share your pictures in the imagine gnats flickr group.
happy crafting :)
happy crafting :)
