Ideal Bite

Make It: Baby Hat

Cap-tain Stubing

11.02.2009

Submitted by alara on Mon, 11/02/2009 - 12:00am.

KidStyle

The Bite:

Wanna turn an old sweater into something exciting and new? Come aboard...and use it to make a baby hat in 5 or so minutes, thanks to this how-to from craft maven and author Sonya Nimri. You'll be saving resources and sparing landfills, plus did we mention the cap's got kitten ears? Love (Boat).

The Benefits:

New clothing production goes overboard on pollution - from the pesticides used to grow cotton and treat wool, to the polluting fabric dyes and shipping emissions, so reusing clothes cuts back on toxic waste.
The average American tosses about 68 pounds of clothing each year. This easy craft (the real McCoy) keeps fabric outta landfills.
With a snip here and a stitch there, you've got a new hat for free - no cruising to dept. stores.

Wanna Try:

Kitten Baby Hat
5 minutes

What You Need:

The bottom 10 inches of an adult sweater sleeve (a soft, breathable knit works best)
Matching thread and a needle
2 little felt triangles
Embroidery thread to match the felt (optional; the regular thread works OK too)
Scissors

Directions:

Cut off the bottom 10 inches of your sweater's sleeve.
Lay it flat with the sweater's original seam on one side, and sew either the cut end or the cuff end closed, depending on which edge you want to be the the top. Sew it inside out if you want to hide the seam or let the seam show as decoration. It'll look like a rectangle with one edge closed.
To make the ears, sew pink felt triangles to each corner of the closed side of the rectangle (the top), sewing through only the top layer of knit.
Still working on the closed side, pinch the middle inch between the two ears and fold down a couple of times so the ears stick up on either side of the fold. Sew through both layers of knit to secure.
If the bottom edge is raw, it should roll up. For a more finished look, roll up enough to cover the edge and hold in place with a stitch on each side of the hat.

Make wrist warmers for yourself too with the sweater sleeve DIY in our Guide to Getting Cozy.

Timeout

Ever since her mom made her a mouse costume with big floppy gray ears at age 8, Jenifer has been especially fond of eared hats...though she admits she couldn't pull off a kitten cap these days.

Bang For The Bite

If 10,000 Mama Biters turn an old sweater into a hat for their kids instead of buying a new hat, we'll keep the weight of 40 Gophers in fabric outta landfills.

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