Lamb Jackets and Hats

Dee at Peeper Hollow Farm wrote a great blog post about making baby sheep coats from sweat shirt sleeves. I got a bunch of cheap sweat shirts at the Goodwill but was left with the bodies. Recently I stumbled across a woman online making hats from sweater bodies. Well, that should work with sweat shirt bodies too!

So the sweat shirt above had the sleeves made into lamb coats and the body made into two hats.
First you need to measure your head circumference. Subtract 3-4 inches (so the hat doesn't flop around on your head), adding back an inch for seam allowances and cut your piece to that measurement. For example: my head circumference is 22 inches: 22-4+1=19 inches.
Next, fold the piece into thirds or fourths (depending on how many seams you want on the top of your hat.) The first hat I did fourths but I like thirds better.

Next cut out the hat shape, through all three or four layers, to form the shape of the top of the hat. The hem of the sweat shirt will be the band at the bottom of the hat. That band leaves a nice finished edge.

With the right sides together, sew the back seam up to the top of the curve/hat.

Now comes the trickiest part. You sew a seam up each side by side curve, always stopping at the top of the hat.

 The top seams may be uneven, but you can just trim those. I didn't feel like digging out my sewing machine's book to figure out how to set up a knit stitch so I just used a very narrow zigzag stitch to allow for stretching. You can use fabric glue if you don't sew but I don't know how the seams would hold up to heavy use. I have made four hats so far and they should be great for working around the farm. My husband likes his because it stays on his head. The tight knit hats tend to creep up and off his head.

I made some a little deeper so I can keep my hair tucked up inside the hat and not have my hair pull the hat off.