Every morning I sit at my computer and I click the Pinterest bookmark and I “leaf” through for a couple minutes. Pinning things that I might want to look at later. In my little feed there was a pin with 5 different beanie hat tutorials. After looking through I realized that one of them was from a talented lady I follow on Instagram @imaginegnats. Her blog had the tutorial up in the free section and I immediately dived in. I created my own tutorial here, not because I didn’t like hers, but because I didn’t use her pattern. And instead I figured out the size I need by measurements. I wanted to show how I did that. If you like a pattern please pop right over and print hers. Cause its great too. And yes that’s it sitting next to my shirt on the table.
To get started find an old t-shirt. I grabbed one for me, and the girl and boy. I did his first and messed it up a bit. Then her and overcompensated. By the time I got to mine I knew what I was doing wrong. I made all three in about 20 minutes. (20 mins!!!)
- T-shirt or knit fabric. CHECK.
2. Turn it inside out and fold it in half lengthwise
3. Measure your head at the point where the hat will sit. Mine is 23 inches. I went with 22 because I’d like it to not fall off. I allowed 1/4 seem allowance. After you know your measurement, divide it by 4. Do you see how there is 4 layers in the picture above? Ok good. Now cut it down to that number. 22/4=5.5
5. Now, how long do you want it? Tight? Slouchy? Hipster Slouchy? I went moderate slouch. I measured from the bottom of my ear to the top of my head and added 3 inches. That was 12 inches.
6. One more cut. Lay it out flat and trim off just the bottom corners. This will keep it tight to at your hairline.
7. Now we sew! Put your machine on the knit/stretchy stitch. And doesn’t forget to change your stitch length and width. I move mine to 3 and 3. Then switch your needle position to the left or right. Which ever is closer to the outside.
8. Make sure you are still right side together and sew only the sides of your hat. Leave the top (the slouchy part) completely open right now.
9. Now we are going to turn it so that the seems that you’ve just created are in the center of the fabric.
10. I like my slouch slouchy but not pointy. So I used an 12” embroidery hoop for a guide to cut my top into a half circle. ( This is not an exact science, as you can see. But it works! ;))
11. But then I cut just a bit more off to make sure it didn’t point.
12. Now we sew. Just follow the edge around. Allow at least 1/4 seem allowance. Mine is wonky cause I did it with the kids hanging on me. But it totally doesn’t matter!
13. Flip it inside (rightside?) out and rock that beanie, hipster!
