Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Tutorial Tuesday - recycled wool berets & hats

♫ She wore a rasssspberry beret,
she made from a sweater from a second hand store.. ♪

Oh, no... my age gap is showing. Lol, that Prince song was in my head the whole time I made my raspberry colored beret (minus the improvised lyrics).

I originally found the tutorial through A Jelly Girl's blog, but the original instructions were found on a site called Mormon Chick. The instructions are so simple that I had my hat made, start to finish, in under 15 minutes... love it! Here are the original instructions:

"Step-by-step

1. Cut the following pieces: > Download the pattern in pdf

Cut 2 circles, 13 1/2” in diameter.

Cut a circle 5 3/8” in diameter from the center of one of the circles (this is the Brim).

Cut one strip of fabric 24” X 3 1/4” (This is the band).

2. Sew the 2 circles together, right sides together, using a 5/8” seam. Sew again, 1/4” inside first seam. Trim close to second seam.

3. Fold strip (band) in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Sew ends together and trim close to seam.

4. Sew the band to the inner circle of the brim, right sides together. Sew again, 1/4” inside first seam. Trim close to second seam. Turn hat right-side out."

Since I like things the way I like things, I tweaked mine a bit. I made the band 26", instead of 24", because I have a big head, and I also like a loose fitting hat. I wanted my beret to be a little less... well, beret like, so I made my circles 11". I also added an inch or to to the width of the brim. I made mine with a soft raspberry lambswool, and a brown pinstriped merino, so it is super soft. I'll bet one of these in cashmere would be heavenly!

Here's the one from the original site:


Here's A Jelly Girl's:


Here's mine:

The cool thing about these hats is that they are so easily customized and/or embelished! I added a couple of circles cut with pinking shears & great button, Jelly Girl added a ribbon (which is not only attractive, but makes it adjustable), and there are a dozen ways of making this hat your own.

Okay, now everyone go make one for yourself, & send me pictures!

5 comments:

300 North Jackson said...

Awesome! I love seeing the creative differences people come up with from using the same pattern! Thanks for the plug, too :)

sallymandy said...

These are sooo cute. And wow, how easy. Thanks Kris and Jelly Girl.

Anonymous said...

HAHA, all these years I thought he was talking about a raspberry beret ( as in a hair clip)! Never dawned on me it was a beret "hat". DOH!!

Resweater said...

Lol, so glad I could clarify for you! ;)

Arlene said...

You said you added an inch to the brim. How did you do that? Was it by making the circle bigger or the cut out smaller?