Re-purpose those old sweaters & shirts to celebrate the holidays.

Step 1: Materials & Pattern

There's not much to the materials list. You'll need 1 sweater for each basic project, and any embellishments you want to add on.

Create the pattern using the dimensions shown on the grid. (The pattern turned out to be too big for the brim. Cut it down to 13 inches wide, then you can fit it from there. I included a metric conversion chart from my grid.)

Step 2: Mark the Pattern & Pin

Usually, you cut the material and then sew it, but after making th owl, I thought I would try sewing the edges, and then cutting it out. The material is very soft and stretches easily. Having it in tact to begin with really helps.

You can see that the sweater was too small for the entire pattern; use part of the arm, then sew it to the top of the hat. (turn the arm inside-out before you start.)

Turn the material inside out, then draw a line around the pattern.

If you are using a non-stretch material, or one that has a tight weave, you should be able to cut and then sew.

Step 3: Sewing

Sew along the line of the pattern.

Turn the arm inside out, cut into a tall triangle, then sew to the top of the hat.

Cut the brim off.

Turn the bulk of the hat right-side out, but leave the brim inside-out.

Sew the brim to the bottom of the hat. The wrong side of the hat should be facing the right side of the brim.

Step 4: Add the Embellishments

Hand sew on the yarn ball and you're done.

Step 5: Variations

You can start mixing up the sweaters, shirts, and embellishments to make whatever you want.

For the blue hat, I used 2 sweaters and feather trim left over from the corsage project. The belt buckle middle section was covered by hand sewing on a piece of the white sweater. The ball on top was made by knotting up the feather trim and hand-sewing it on.

The Texas hat was made from the middle of the shirt. Batting, plus some stars were added to the top. The brim was made of felt.

Be creative, and watch for the soon to be displayed upcycled stockings!

I wanted to thank the following Instructables for inspiring my brain on this project.

Make a Child's Sleep Cap From an Old T-shirt: by shabbychef

Make Mittens From a Used Sweater: by gridworks1