My mom was recently diagnosed with cancer (you can read more about that here). But she is starting to lose her hair. I made her a few hats. It was super easy and fast so I thought I’d share this DIY Hat Tutorial!
- Cut out your fabric. Exact measurements will depend on the size of your head, but here are the measurements I used.
- The top of the hat: 19″ x 19″. To cut a circle, fold your fabric in half, draw a dot on your fabric to measure the middle of the circle. Measure 19″ vertically. Fold the fabric the other direction, keeping the dot in the middle of the line, then measure 19″ the other direction. Open your fabric, you should have a dot and a t or x (depending on how you look at it). Connect your dots with an arch. I like to cut my circle while it is still folded to make sure the sides are even.
– If you are using a lining of any sort, make sure to cut out two pieces - The band: 8″ x 22″
(I made two hats. The all white one was softer fabric so I only needed those two pieces. The black polka-dot one wasn’t as soft so I added a white lining for the top of the head)
- The top of the hat: 19″ x 19″. To cut a circle, fold your fabric in half, draw a dot on your fabric to measure the middle of the circle. Measure 19″ vertically. Fold the fabric the other direction, keeping the dot in the middle of the line, then measure 19″ the other direction. Open your fabric, you should have a dot and a t or x (depending on how you look at it). Connect your dots with an arch. I like to cut my circle while it is still folded to make sure the sides are even.
- Close up the band first.
- Fold the band right sides together and serge (or sew zig-zag) the short edge (the 8″ edge).
- Fold the band right sides together and serge (or sew zig-zag) the short edge (the 8″ edge).
- Now you will have a serged band, and a circle for the head
- With wrong sides together, pin the head band into a circle. I like to start with the seam first, then do a pin exactly opposite.
- I end up only using 4 pins.
- With right sides together, pin the circle to the head band. Just use the same 4 pins, don’t add more pins. Since the circle is perfectly round, it doesn’t matter which part of the circle matches up to which part of the band. Just fold the circle in half and pin two sides. Then match the other two sides.
- Now serge the circle. Check out this tutorial for help on serging circles. Make sure to take out the pins before they reach the blade
- When you make it around to the end cut off the tail then turn off the blade to finish a serged stitch.
- Keep serging with blade off
- Pull fabric towards the left as you serge
- Cut the chain
- Cut the chain about 1/4″ away from the stitch
- Pull the remaining thread. Two pieces will pull out, two pieces will pull tight, see below. This will lock the stitch.
- Cut those last two pieces of thread.
- Check out this tutorial for more details on how to finish a serged stitch.
- Flip the out right side out and enjoy!!
If you loved this DIY Hat Tutorial, you might also love some of THESE tutorials.