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Yesterday, I made a trip to the local Goodwill AS-IS center, which sells items that don't sell fast enough in the regular Goodwill stores. It takes in items from as many as 15 near-by Goodwill's, so they have quite the selection. Items are marked down according to what they are, and how much it was to begin with. Nothing is more than $3.29, or cheaper than $.29, though.After seeing so many neat tutorials lately using sweaters as a base, I decided to try my hand at some. I scooped up probably 7 or 8 sweaters for $.79 each, and 1 children's sweater for only $.29. I didn't get real fancy, just quick & easy projects.
Sweater Hat & Scarf Set
You'll Need:
1 old sweater- For children, get an XL children's sweater, or SM adult sweater. For adults, XL works best. This is more for scarf length than for the hat, though.
Sewing Machine
Thread
Scissors
Yarn* Optional
Carefully cut the sleeves off the sweater first, right at the seam.
- Turn the sleeves inside out. You'll notice that in the large opening, the top where it met the shoulder is going to be wider than the bottom part of the opening. Smooth the sleeves flat, and turn one upside down, so that the curves meet each other- wide to narrow. If you put it narrow to narrow and wide to wide, you'll have a V shaped scarf!
- Pin the edges together, and sew the seams together, taking care not to sew the tube it forms together.
- Turn it right side out, and you have a quick, easy scarf! You can embellish it further, if you like.
- For the hat, first measure the person's head. You'll want to add 1 inch for seam allowance to that measurement. Measure it out on the sweater. I measured half of it, and cut using the side seam. For the height, children's hats work good at 10 inches in height. Adults work good at 12 inches. Make sure to make use of the waist line, if there is a different stitch- this makes for a great band on the hat!
- Once you have cut the fabric for the hat, stitch the open seam straight up with the machine.
- For the top of the hat, you can stitch straight across, but for a more fitted look, I made a cross style seam- I sewed an inch inward on the two edges, then puffed out the open section to create two side seams doing the same. You will want to round this off, or you will have a "crown" on the hat, and (not that I know this from personal experience -innocent-), your 13 year old daughter will look at you like you are nuts in requesting that she wear it to school. Of course, I did not get a photo of this. Here, have a nifty drawing!
- Admit it, I should have been an artist. Here is another drawing, showing how to curve the seam.
- Once you have rounded it off, turn it right side out for a cute little hat! I also made a "puff ball" (I use that term loosely, since it was not a ball, but rather like curly cooked spaghetti) for the top of my youngest daughter's hat set. To do this, I wrapped a lot of yarn around my fingers, then tied it together, and cut the loops. It was too long, but I still thought it was really cute. I hand stitched the puff ball to the top.
Pretty easy, huh? It took me maybe 20 minutes to make this set, and cost me all of $.29! I still have enough sweater left over for another hat, or a pair of mittens, too! However, since my almost-8-year-old refuses to wear anything but gloves, I skipped the mittens.
I made a set for my 13 year old daughter, and one for myself as well. I also did a scarf for my step-mom, but haven't completed the hat yet. Each set was under $1 to make, and they look great. Most of them were made from thick, bulky sweaters, for warmth. My own set was made from a thin white sweater, but it matched my jacket!
My next project after this set, is the set of hats below, also made from just 1 sweater! Are they not adorable? I love them!
Next, using a tape measure, measure your head circumference- or the circumference of the person who will be wearing the hat. If it's for a gift, use a comparable sized head. ;)
If you want to use just 1 fabric, you'll want it to be 16-18" wide (tall) for an adult, or 14-16" wide (tall) for a child. If you use 2 fabrics, you want the adult width to be 14-16", and 12-14" for children.
Next, we start the sewing. You want to pick a side of the fabric that you want to face "out". Usually, one side has a slightly fuzzier side. I usually put that side to face inward.
So, lay the fabric with the right side facing down on the work surface (which for me is the floor), then lay the shorter strip along the bottom edge (which can be either side if it's unpatterened, or without a specific direction to the pattern). This strip should also be right side down.
In comes the sewing machine! After it's lined up, sew a straight edge along the bottom edge of the two fabrics. Once it's done, snip the excess thread, and fold the flap so that both of the right side's are facing out.
Now, you want to fold the top edge of the 2nd fabric inward, and pin it into place. Sew another straight edge, this time along the top edge of the thin band of fabric to hold it into place.
You can sew another line under that one, and a third along the bottom half if you choose.
Now that this is sewn into place, you need to fold the fabric in half, so that the two side edges (the short edges) are lined up, and the hat is inside out again. Sew a straight edge down the side, but leave the top 3-4" of fabric unsewn.
From here, you'll need either yur scissors or a rotary cutter to fringe the top 3-4" of fabric. Turn the hat right side out. Gather the fringe, and take a spare peice of fleece fabric to tie around the top of the hat, gathering a "puff ball" of fringe.
Viola! You have a cute hat that took about 20 minutes, and only cost a dollar or two. To keep the price low, and your options high, I recommend scanning the remanent bins every time you go to a fabric store.