Thursday, February 11, 2010

1 Seam Hat For the Crafting Impaired




Here is how to make a 1 seam hat. Perfect for Valentines or Christmas (Fits a Child 3-5)
It is super, super easy and super cute there is still time to get this hat made for valentines day..  it takes about 20min to make w/hearts and 1 hour with.


You will need the following:

1 yard of pink polar fleece (this is enough to make 3 hats) (a Printed Fabric is a great option as well)

thread

1/8 yard polar fleece assorted colors ( hot pink, purple, lavender) Optional if you want to add hearts

Pony beads (optional)


Tools:

Sewing machine borrow one

Scissors or rotary cutter/mat

Pinking sheers

Ruler

Straight pins


Cut your Hat:

Open up fabric- place the salvage (or short end parallel it the edge of the table)

Fold the fabric 9" in front the table edge on top of it's self .


Cut along the salvage making a rectangle 18"x36" (If you want to make for a bigger child make wider than 18")


Notch the center of the rectangle on the long or 36" sides at the 18" point to use as reference. (cut a small 1/8" snip ) 


Embellishing the body/crown of the hat:

Decorating hat with hearts… if you don't want to sew the hearts more skip to sewing hat steps


Using other colors trace a heart on a square and cut out hearts. 2" approximately 12 -20 (some can be saved for later in the project) I used pinking sheers so the hearts have a decorative edge
 
 


Place the hearts on either side of notch.. for brim place right up to the notch line for the crown hears place 5" off the center march line… (note place all hearts going same down direction, if you don't want the hearts being upside down)
 
 


Pin hearts in place and sew down


Sewing the hat:

Lay the hat down on the table place the 36" side together..face of the fabric (right side) together

Measure 6"in from the short end corner put a pin to hold the layers together (the pin will be on the 36" side)


Repeat from the other corner These 2 pins mark the starting and stopping points when you sew the one seam for this hat.Now pin in between the start and stop pins holding the fabric together getting ready for the machine


Go sew the one and only seam..Using a 5/8" seam allowance starting at the 1st pin and ending at the last one… be sure to "back tack" the you stop and start. Backtack=(go forward and reverse with a few stitches - this creates a lock of overlapping stitches not allowing the begging and ending stitches to pull out)


Cutting the fringe:

Take the hat back to the table, cut 1" wide 5" deep slits in the hat (short side) repeat on the other side


Fold the hat like a tube so the fringe lay on each other



Tie the hat

Out of extra fabric cut strips of fabric 1" 12"- you will need 9-10 strips

Lay the one strip down parallel with the edge of the table

Then place the other strips alternating colors vertically on top of the parallel strip.


Lay the Hat on top of the strips straight out the fringe
 
 
Tie the parallel strip tightly dbl knot
 
 


Fluff the hat fold back the brim ready to wear …read on to find out how to embellish 


Embellishing your hat:

Use the extra hearts and add the heart to the end of the fringe


Or add beads…(not recommended for kids under 3 choking hazard)

You will need to cut the fringe down the middle so they can fit through the pony beads


Taking a straight pin..put it through the end of the fringe and pull it through the pony bead


Tie a knot on end of fringe so the pony bead does not fall off


 

Enjoy you hat… it would also be great if it was made out of a print…no embellishments need
This would be a great item for a beginning sewer to make or for valentines Christmas gifts.