Super Easy Hat Tutorial

Oscar had a hat I loved from Baby Gap that I paid a pretty penny for and wouldn't you know it, we loose it in the mall parking lot before snow is even on the ground! I looked at every Baby Gap in Minnesota (I even called one in Wisconsin) and looked around on line for one to replace it, but no such luck. I pouted for a little while and got upset with myself that I didn't check to see if we had it before I drove off, and then...while I was hanging up clothes in my closet, I realized that I had a old sweater that I hadn't worn in a while, and came up with the idea to make a hat for Oscar out of it.

You can use this tutorial for a hat for anyone in your family, but all the instructions I have provided here are for a infant/toddler hat. I plan on making one for myself soon, and will post pictures of it once I am done.

Here is what you need
* an old sweater
* measuring tape
* scissors
*sewing machine
*needle and thread


If you have a hat that you like the fit of, I suggest you use the measurements from that hat as a template.



1) Take your old sweater and lay it out flat

2) Measure around your head and subtract around 1 1/2 inch. (I made this hat 14 inched around)

(Use your judgement on the circumference of the hat, the weave of the sweater was pretty loose,so I took a little more than 1 1/2 inches off, but if you have a sweater with a tight weave don't subtract as much.)

You may have to play around with this a little bit. I ended up taking O's hat in a little bit more after I was finished because it was still a little loose. Error on the side of it being a little loose at first, you can always take more off, but you can't put more on.

3) cut your sweater to the desired length using the base of your sweater as the "bottom" or "brim" of your hat.

4) cut up the length of the sweater creating a flat square of material. I wanted this hat to be on the floppy side so I cut my length 9 inches. (once cut, my material measured; width 14inches x length 9 inches)

5) fold your material in half, if you are following my measurements your material should now measure width  7 inches x length 9 inches.

6) sew up the side of your hat. Now you will have a open end on the bottom (where the head goes and an open end on top.)

7) Do a running stitch along the open "top" of your hat. You can do this by hand or with your sewing machine.



8) pull your stitches tight and tie off your end.

9) trim any loose threads, turn right side out, and you are all done!