Tutorial Tuesday - Fun, felted, & funky hat!

It's been a while since i've done a tutorial! I bought a hat at a garage sale that I loved, so I created a pattern loosely based off of the design (don't worry, I didn't copy it... it is my own). I don't know how to make online patterns to scale (i'll have to give that a try one day when I have some extra time), so pictures & loose measurements will have to do! Below are the pieces you will need. With the headband, you have 3 ways to make it... 2 pieces sewn at either end then folded over (what I did in this tutorial), one long piece sewn & folded over, or the ribbing from a sweater. You will also need some seams (seams from the sweater/sweaters) for the tassels (sorry, forgot to add the seams in the first picture).


Take half of your seam pieces & place them in the center of one side piece and fold it in half, "wrong" side out. I suggest leaving the seams long... you can always cut them shorter when you are done.


Now fold your middle piece in half, wrong side out, and see where the top of the fold meets with the side. Sew up from where the fold meets (on mine that is the top of the green stripe, where I put the safety pin).


Now you can sew the open part of the side to the middle piece (where it is pinned in the picture below).


Repeat that with the other side, and it should look like the picture below. Now you are ready to put your headband on. I sewed the 2 pieces of headband together & flipped it inside out, so it is ready to sew on the hat.


Now fold your headband in half (unless you are using ribbing with a finished edge & don't need to), so the right side is out (no seams showing) and the edges are together. Place the headband on the inside of the hat (should still be inside out), and sew the 3 unfinished edges (2 if you have a finished edge) together. If you have a smaller head, or are making this for an older child, you can make a smaller band and just stretch it evenly as you sew it onto the hat. It will pucker a little when laying flat, if you do this, but will look fine once it's on the child's head.


Flip your hat right side out, and voila! Cute hat!


I liked making these so much, that i'll be selling them at my next show, Fiber in the Park, and i've already made a bunch.

As most of you know, I am not photogenic, but I wanted to show some things you can do with the hats (they are so much cuter in person!). As is...


... tie the 2 ends together to make a ski cap like hat with tassels (I know.. I should have taken a picture of the back!), or tie the tassels into little "buns" for a cute look...


Let me know if you make one & how it turned out! Please feel free to post pictures on my Facebook page (link in sidebar). I love seeing your finished recycled wool projects!

It's Sweater Sunday! ... and some Resweater updates

My thrift stores are starting to carry sweaters again!!! That combined with a city wide garage sale this weekend, and my stock is booming again! I will be listing some mystery lots shortly. What are mystery lots? I offer lots of sweaters in my shop, that I choose, in a similar theme or fiber, for a discounted price. For example, I might have a cloth diapering mystery lot with all soft 100% wools, or a lot of just lambswool. It depends on what I have a lot of at the moment. Why do I do this? It saves me oodles of time to not have to take pictures & list the individual sweaters, while saving you oodles of money! You are more than welcome to make requests, but I only have what I have, so please understand that it is not a totally custom lot.

Whew, it has been, and still is, a busy summer! So sorry I have been neglecting my blog here, but my son will be starting school in 2 1/2 weeks, and I will be blogging full force again soon.

I have created a new winter hat that I love, and will be posting a tutorial for that soon. I have also created a few more designs for my diaper covers that I hope to post soon too.

On with the sweaters! Here's the wool & wool blends...


the merinos...


the cashmere...


some stripes...


a couple of fair isles...


a merino argyle, a embroidered merino, and a pretty floral lambswool blend.

More diaper cover action shots!

A friend of mine let me use her adorable baby to model some of my diaper covers. She is a "size small" baby, so some of the medium size stuff we put on her is a little big, but still cute!

I love how my pumpkin pants turned out! These are a bit big on my model here, but with the adjustable rise and rollable cuffs, will fit for a long time!


These were supposed to be pumpkin shorties, but everyone thinks it's an apple, lol.


These are a bit big on our model, but still really cute!


Here's a couple of soakers that i've posted on my blog, but aren't they much cuter on a baby? :)

Wanna see one of my diaper covers in action?

I always tell people that my soakers (wool diaper covers) look so much better on a baby, than they do on the rack. Now I have some more proof! Thanks Elizabeth, for sharing these pics of your adorable son!


Also, I just realized that I never posted the pics that Alissa took of her super sweet baby in one of my cashmere soakers.



MUCH cuter on babies for sure!

Here's are some of my latest ones... I was a stripes kick that day ;)


Here's the front on the one... I did the stripes horizontal in the front & vertical in the back on purpose, but I think I prefer both going horizontal. What do you like better... horizontal stripes, vertical stripes, or both together in the same soaker?


I managed to make a couple that weren't striped that day too...


I promise i'll stop posting about soakers soon ;) , but I am just working on a lot of them right now, so I have enough for a good selection at the store they'll be in, as well as for the fiber fair in September.

Yet another thing I never thought i'd make out of wool

My son brought home a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sword from the garage sales this weekend, and while I was working on some new soakers, asked me if I would make a scabbard out of wool for his sword. Of course I did :)

Yet another great use for recycled wool ;)

Do you make recycled wool, or knit, bags & purses?

Among the fabulous booths at the fiber fair, I found this shop, Homestead Heirlooms, that make leather handles, and supply all the hardware necessary for making a felted bag look fantastic.

New soakers, and instructions for a man to cloth diaper a baby (lol)

More than half of my wool soakers (cloth diaper covers) sold at the fiber fair (yay!). The girly designs & bright colors were the first to go, and many asked after that if I had anything girly. I have been trying to get my inventory back up, so at least I knew where to start. Do you think pink bunnies is girly enough ;) ? I was actually quite proud that my bunny template came out as good as it did! Even my husband said "Oh, that's cute!" (shhh... don't tell him I told you that he said the "c" word!) when I showed him the first finished bunny soaker.

The monster face ones were the most popular of all, but I haven't started on a new batch of those yet.

The polka dots were popular too, so I made another today...


I like how my owl turned out, but dang, that took a lot of work... I think i'll stick to some less time consuming designs!


In my experience, most babies grow taller, more than wider, so I love to make them with an adjustable fold over rise. They last longer, and also the rise can be raised up at night for more protection, so there are no "up the back" leaks.


I will be selling my soakers in a local shop, and will post the information as soon as they are all set up there.


My booth neighbor at the fiber fair, Esther's Girls, sold gorgeous handmade stitched greeting cards and journals, with whimsical quotes & old stamps. I bought a card from them, and was amazed at all the work that went into it for only Hallmark prices! Anyhoo, I have many cloth diapering readers, and hope you find this quote as funny as I did. I think with these instructions, any man can cloth diaper (click on pic to enlarge if you can't read it):