My First Hat!

Here is the fruit of all my Grandma's long-suffering  patient teaching. She taught me how to do ribbing, and darn if I'm not proud of myself. I love how this turned out. Unfortunately it is just a hair small for my daughter, but I am going to save it for Operation Christmas Child. 

My Little Pumpkin

Over Christmas break my Grandma taught me a few more knit stitches. As in, I have moved beyond your basic one-stitch repertoire. I'm moving up in the world! This is the second hat I made, and it is not the purdy-est thing you've ever seen. I cleverly came up with an alternating stitch scheme to make a pattern along the edge. I somehow botched it. And the edge curls up. Alas, I have a lot to learn yet.

Closet Flashbacks: Toddler Sized Bucket Hat

Tomorrow my firstborn turns 8. Eight! I can't believe it. Way back in ye olden days, when he was but knee high to a grasshopper, I made him this little bucket hat. It is made from some cute firetruck fabric and he wore it a lot until he grew out of it. The hat has floated around and been worn on occasion by my littlest but he has never had a particular fondness for it. We recently went on a camping trip and the hat made another appearance. It is way too small for him but he loves it. I asked him if I could make him a new one in his size but he declined. The boy is a sucker for nostalgia. I am happy to say that there are no design quirks or sewing mishaps that would make my blood pressure rise every time he puts it on, so I can't complain. It has lasted 6 years, closet flashback indeed!

Dr. Seuss Hat

I made this hat for my son's Dr. Seuss party at school. I used my very limited math skills to determine the circumference of the hat, and I 'eyeballed' the rest. And it fit! I used white felt and sewed red felt stripes to that. The reason the hat stands up is because I did a welt seam up the back and it did the trick. 

Ear Flap Hat! McCalls 6665

My son has been asking me for an ear flap hat. He was very specific: the outside was to be plaid and the inside, fur. I found this awesome flannel on fabric.com and I love it, so much that I am tempted to order more and go all logger-chic and make myself a flannel shirt or something of the sort. The fur was an entirely different story. I perused pages of faux fur on fabric.com and found that fake fur is expensive. Fake fur that looks real is even more expensive. And sold out. I was stumped. Until! I had an idea! I went to Sal's Boutique, also known as Salvation Army, on their family day. I found a large women's coat made of this sheepy-type stuff. And it was half off! For $1.99 I got enough fur to make a few hats. Score! The hat was simple to make, even with adding a layer of cotton batting in the middle for added warmth. If you make this pattern, it runs big...in my opinion. The last hat I made for my son was way too tight, so I decided to use 3/8 inch seam allowances on this to give it a bit more room. The hat is pretty huge, and in fact fits my head just right. I have enough left that I am going to make him another one that fits better, so that the ear flaps actually do their job. 

Bacon and Egg Fascinator

I'm not even going to say this is the weirdest thing I've ever made. I keep saying that, but really? I have made a spiked dog collar, a librarian sweater for a Smeogal bobble-head doll, an embroidered dog portrait on an apron, and now...this! A bacon and egg fascinator! Here's the back story: recently my niece came to visit me. We made bacon roses, per her request. Then, we found bacon fabric to make her a bag. (Pictures coming soon) Then, my crazy mind decided that she needed this to go with it. She actually talked about giving her prom date a bacon corsage so if she does, this will be fabulous! And if she doesn't, I won't care if she never wears it. It was so fun to make! The egg and bacon are hand stitched from wool felt. I gathered the bacon with large running stitches to make it more...bacon like? And of course, any good fascinator needs feathers! These and the netting are courtesy of Rachel. Now my wheels and turning and I am determined to make myself an awesome (non-breakfast food) fascinator to wear to Jeff's Christmas party...because that is the only place I could ever get away with wearing one.

DIY Easter Bonnet/Hat

This year, Tar-jay was peddling Easter hats for a mere one dollar. Can't beat that with a stick. I bought one for my daughter thinking it would be a cute topper for her Easter dress (photos to come). As usual, I couldn't leave well enough alone, and decided transform it into a jaunty chapeau. It is quite possibly not jaunty, or chapeau-like, but it sounds cool, right? I took off the existing ribbon and hot glued a velvet ribbon on instead. I browsed Pinterest for a few felt flower tutorials. Whatever did we do before the internet? Oh, yeah, we actually came up with original ideas. But I digress. I whipped up a few felt flowers, and despite the complicated look of the middle flower, they were really quite simple. I added a cool vintage button I have from my Aunt Phyllis and a lavender gem to the flower centers. The whole thing is hot glued together...gasp! That kind of makes me cringe, but I couldn't see hand sewing everything on when she probably won't wear it a ton. She was quite happy with the results, and that is all that matters!

Hurry! Hurry! Read All About It!!

A while back, I made a newsboy cap for my oldest son using this tutorial. For a while, he wouldn't wear it. Then, he decided that if Chappy (Grandpa) had a 'nettie boy' hat, it must be alright. He also decided it was 'farmer-ish,' thus fitting his qualifications for clothing. Somehow the whole 'newsboy' got lost in translation, becoming 'nettie boy.' Since he has decided to make friends with the hat, it has been pretty much glued to his head. Someone asked him the other day if he slept in it too. Almost. He puts it on his pillow. Now that my youngest son's noggin is larger than a grapefruit, I decided that I could probably rig one up to fit him. I had just enough remaining from the shirt to make another one, and all I did to 'downsize' it was to use a 1/2 " seam allowance instead of a 1/4". It fits perfectly and he likes it because its the same as his big bro's.

Note the scrumptious little tufts of baby hair!

Look, Ma! We match!

Mini-Chimney Sweep