Reversible Slouchy Hat (Beanie) Picture Tutorial ~ Sewn With Jersey Knit

Wanna make a reversible slouchy hat? Cool. This is the tutorial for you.

If you don't want your hat to be slouchy, the principle is the exact same, your hat just won't be as long.

Materials:

-0.3 metres (1/3 yard) of jersey knit with a good stretch

-matching thread

-pins

-fabric scissors

-a sewing machine (failing that, a hand-sewing needle and some extra time)

-marking chalk/pen/pencil

-a hat you already like the fit of, if such a thing exists. If you have a hat that isn't quite right, you can use that too and just adjust your measurements accordingly.

The easiest way to get your size is if you have a slouchy hat you already like.

 If you have one, make sure your fabric is folded in 2 with right side together (a lot of jersey doesn't have a right and wrong side, so you may not have to worry about this) and lay the hat out on top of it and trace around it, leaving 1/2" around the curve and 1" along the bottom.

If you don't have a hat you like, then you'll have to guess a bit. Keep in mind that once something's cut and sewn, it's much easier to make it smaller than larger. Also keep in mind how slouchy you want your hat to be, how voluminous your hair is, how big your head is and where you want the hat to sit and how tight you want it to be.

The polka-dotted hat in this picture is the smallest regular size for adults while the brown and black I made for this tutorial is probably the largest regular size for adults. In the picture, you can see the difference between the two.

To figure out the circumference of the opening of your hat, measure the circumference of the part of your head you'd like the hat to rest. I'd say you should add 2" to this measurement; that might be a bit loose, but it'll be easy to change later.

Once you've decided on a size/hat to trace, trace it out, making your tracing about 1/2" larger than the finished size you're aiming for, 1" larger at the bottom. I've used chalk here and made my hat quite a bit larger, especially around the base, because the polka-dot one was a bit tight.

Now cut it out.

Preferably without moving the fabric at all, pin the two pieces together.

And sew it together. Make sure to fix your stitches at the beginning and end and to take out your pins before you sew over them.

Turn it inside out and you have one layer of your hat.

Go try it on in the mirror to make sure it fits and looks good. If you'd like to change something, now's the time.

Now repeat all the above steps on your other fabric, using the first half-hat as a guide.

And you'll basically end up with two hats. Turn both of them inside-out.

For each half, fold the edge over about 1" and pin it in place. Depending on your material, you may not need it to be folded over a whole inch, but especially if your jersey knit rolls or it's your first time, it's always best to have a bit extra.

(Sorry for the blur, I was doing this at night and the only way to get the black hat stand out against the brown table was to use a weird setting on my camera.)

Now turn one half right-side-out and put the inside-out one inside of it. Line up the seams and pin them together, keeping your 1" seam allowance. Your wrong sides should be together so that you can't see them.

It helps a lot here if you remove any extension tables or storage containers so that you can slip the hat onto your sewing machine.

And start sewing about 1/4" away from the edge. If you're unsure, it's fine to be a bit further away from the edge; I just think it looks better the closer it is. Make sure you're sewing through 4 layers of jersey. If you're not, then you're not sewing your seam in place and it could flip out.

Remember to fix your stitches and pull out your pins as you go.

This is what my edge ending up like.

And there you have it! A cool new reversible slouchy hat.

Ain't I pretty?

Anyways, if you have any comments or questions or just want to throw me a bone, comment on this blog. You'll get a response from me and you'll make my blog look cool and popular; win-win.

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Super-Easy 10 Minute Infinity Scarf!

Want a shabby chic and fabulous scarf, but you don't want to pay $25+ from a store?

Or do you have difficulty finding exactly what you want in stores?

Well this is the scarf tutorial for you!

It only takes about 10 minutes to make and depending on what kind of fabric you get and from where, you can make it very inexpensively. Plus you get to choose your size and material.

All you need are:

-fabric scissors

-potentially a tape measure

-pins

-sewing machine

-a non-fray fabric* such as jersey knit or nylon tricot **

*  If you wish to use a fabric that frays, you will have to serge the edges if you don't want it to fray. This is not included in the 10 minutes. If your fabric frays and you want it to fray, that's fine, but remember that it will continue to fray over time, especially if it gets washed. If you want to slow down this process, you can sew a small zig-zag stitch along where you want the fraying to stop and/or use fray check along that same line. You can use a straight stitch instead of a zig-zag stitch if you want it to be less noticeable, but it might not work as well.
** You can make the scarf pretty much whatever size you want, but the scarf shown in the pictures is made from a 40" x 60" piece, which is about a metre of any 60" wide fabric. The material used here is bamboo jersey knit which is particularly thin (and soft... and expensive), so if you're using a thicker material, it'll look bulkier, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just go with whatever measurements you think will look the best or with whatever you can get. :)

Put first things first and cut off the selvage of you fabric. The selvage is on the very edge and will look different than the rest of the fabric. Sometimes there will be traces of an adhesive used or small holes where something has clamped down on the fabric.

  Then make sure that the shorter edges of your fabric are the same length. If your fabric has stripes, just follow the stripes and they usually won't lead you astray. If your fabric doesn't have stripes, use your tap measure to make the appropriate markings and cut off any excess.

 Now fold you fabric in half the short way (hamburger style with the shorter ends together) If you're using the same size of piece as me, your fabric should be about 40" x 30". Pin the two short ends together.

 Make sure that any stripes or plaids on your fabric are lining up.

Now sew along the pinned edge and you're done! 

Don't forget to fix your stitch at the beginning and end and to pull out the pins before they got under the machine's foot.
Make sure the ends are still matching up. If they aren't, just trim them with your scissors.

See! That was probably the easiest thing you've ever made!

Casually not including my face in the picture. (I usually blog on my days off)

If you want your scarf not to have any raw edges showing, then check out my other infinity scarf tutorial here.

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