Start with a thrift store sweater. This one was 50 cents on Wednesday at my friendly neighborhood thrift store. It’s mostly acrylic and a little bit of wool. Kind of itchy and way too small for me.
Cut up one side of the sweater.
Cut off the sleeves.
Cut a rectangle 1 inch larger than the circumference of your head (this allows for a half inch seam on each side)by 4 or 5 inches tall. (Depending on how tall you want your hat. I cut mine 23in x 4in. I might go a little taller next time by perhaps a half inch).
Next I used a lid to trace the top of the hat. This one measured 7 inches across.
Then cut out the circle.
Next choose some cotton fabric for the lining. I used the black gingham from an old tablecloth I bought at the Salvation Army, years ago.
Cut out a circle and rectangle with the same dimensions as your sweater pieces. Mine were 23×4 and a 7 in diameter circle.
Make a paper pattern for a brim. I copied a brim from another hat. I made the brims too big on my first hats and had to rip out the seams and make them smaller. It was so much work but I liked the smaller brims much better.
Cut 2 with about a half an inch around each side. Then cut two pieces of heavy fusible interfacing the same size as your pattern and iron on the wrong side of your sweater.
Place right sides together and pin in place.
Just sew the convex side with a half inch seam. (Now I’ll see who is really reading this and see if I used the correct word there. It’s been so long since I’ve had an opportunity to use that word:)) Leave the concave side open.
Turn it right side out.
Topstitch around the convex side. I put 2 rows of topstitching next to each other. You could do as many as you like.
Fold your sweater rectangle in half right sides together.
Stitch together starting with a bigger seam at the top and angling the seam down so the top with be smaller than the bottom.
Do the same with you lining fabric.
Right sides together, pin your circle piece onto the smaller side of the sewn rectangle piece.
Sew around the circle.
Next pin and sew the brim onto the larger side of the sewn rectangle. Right sides together.
Now it’s finally starting to look like a hat.
Pin and sew the circle piece onto the other side. Right sides together.
Now turn your sweater part right side out and the lining wrong side out.
Place the sweater part inside the lining part. The right sides should be together and the brim should be between the lining and the sweater part.
Sew all around the edge leaving a 4 inch opening so you can pull it through and turn it right side out.
Pull it through the opening so it’s right side out.
Fold the raw edges under and pin all around the hat. Topstitch around the entire hat.
And “Wah Lah”! You’ve got a sweater hat!!!!
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The Renegade Seamstress 