Fun Project

I'm teaching a basic sewing class at our co-op, and so far it's been crazy but fun. The first week we made t-shirt tote bags. Last class, we made water bottle totes out of old pairs of kids' jeans.  The class always whizzes by, and I'm really glad I have a helper who knows how to sew, because otherwise we would never get done.  

Our next project is a Trapper style hat,  based on http://www.fleecefun.com/trapper-hat.html

I made a practice hat last night, just so I could see if it would work out ok. I made the medium size, and it fits Sarah pretty well, but when I make one for myself, it’ll be a large.  I didn't bother with the optional front piece, because I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. 

I dug around in the basement for leftover pieces of polar fleece.  I knew Sarah would love the lime green, and I wanted the other piece to be purple, but there just wasn't enough, so I used some of the girly camo that I got years ago to make snow pants.

Assembling the pattern pieces and cutting out the fabric was really easy, as was sewing the front and back together.  When it came time to close up the V in a seam, I accidentally caught too much of the rest of the fabric in the seam. After I took it out, I carefully trimmed the seam so there wasn't as much bulk to get caught.

Then I made the tassels, but had a hard time knotting them at the bottom. I realized I should have just gotten another piece of thin fleece and tied it off with that. I'll carefully undo the knot and do that this afternoon. I tacked them to the flap pieces, keeping them turned up and out of the way. If I'd had safety pins, I might have actually pinned them, and I'm still considering that for the class.

Then it's just a matter or putting one hat inside the other (right sides together, of course) and pinning them. I always have my students pin parallel to the seam, so for this, the perpendicular pins indicate where to start and stop sewing.

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 Once it's sewn together, turn it carefully right side out, then tuck one into the other--it doesn't matter which is which, because this is totally reversible. Make sure the tassels are pulled all the way out, and the seams are nice and even. Tuck the opening in on itself and carefully topstitch around the edge, about a quarter of an inch in. This is the most fiddly part--the stitching shows, and the part on the flaps with the tassels is thick, so it's slow going

The whole thing took less than an hour, even with taking all the pictures and ripping out that one seam, and calling Sarah down to hold the strips while I braided them. I tried it on myself and it was a little tight, but it fits Sarah well--she's been wearing it pretty much non stop.  Lauren already asked if she can have one, and I'll be making one for myself as well. I really hate cold ears in the winter, and when it's windy, I worry about earaches, so those long flaps will be great. In fact, I can see myself making LOTS of these hats in the next few months!