Tutorials, Uncategorized

Reader Tutorial: Owl Hat

Welcome to Reader Tutorial week here at Sew Sweetness! Each day this week will feature a wonderful step-by-step sewing tutorial from one of my readers. Today’s guest post is from Rachael at Imagine Gnats. I have to admit that my favorite thing about Racheal’s site is her embroidery work and Etsy shop! Check out this cool Valentine that she designed, too! Thanks Rachael!

 

100_7556hi! i’m rachael and i post my crafty ramblings at imagine gnats. i’m so excited to be posting here today!! you can read more about me here, if you like, or check out some of the other things i make and sell here on etsy. i first stopped by Sew Sweetness for an echino swap (hmm… still need to do something with those squares), and i stuck around because i just think that Sara is so sweet and genuine. i’m wowed by her talent, and i feel pretty honored to be posting here today.

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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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

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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.”
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3. lay main pieces flat, cut one half circle from another sweater, and center along bottom of the front hat piece.
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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).
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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.
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6. pin your medium circles on top of the large circles and stitch.
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7. pin the small circle on top of this and stitch.
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8. once the eyes are together, pin them on the front of the hat and stitch.
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9. do the same with the beak.
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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.
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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″

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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.
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13. pin the ribbing band to the iside of the hat as shown (wrong sides together).
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14. stitch the band to your hat.
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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).
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thanks again to Sara for having me here today. happy crafting 🙂

9 thoughts on “Reader Tutorial: Owl Hat

  1. Susan says:

    adorable So cute
    hugs
    Susan

  2. rachael says:

    thanks, guys 🙂

  3. I just signed up to follow your blog! Please enter me in your giveaway. Thanks

  4. Anonymous says:

    love this!

  5. mamapin says:

    Kinda feel like I have seen that hat before, somewhere else.

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