Skip to Content

Upcycled Sweatshirt Hat

Ideas for sweater upcycling aren't always this cute; see how a frumpy sweatshirt turned into the coziest winter hat ever, with a hidden wool layer! Recycle sweater hats are cozy and cheap to make.

If you have a plain, unremarkable old sweatshirt hanging around, I have some fun recycle sweater hat inspiration for you! I sewed up this cozy winter bonnet as a gift and am finally sharing it; it’s made from one of my favorite winter patterns that seems to fit kids’ heads really well. It’s just icing on the cake that I used scraps and upcycled materials to make it!

{This post contains affiliate links, indicated by an asterisk*. Please refer to ‘legal stuff’ in the top menu for more info.}

It’s the ‘cozy winter hood’ from Oliver + S Little Things to Sew: 20 Classic Accessories and Toys for Children* by Liesl Gibson.

You can see the first version of this hat that I sewed up a year ago above; I used a different upcycled sweatshirt for the outside and then an upcycled merino wool sweater for the lining and ties. I sewed it as a part of my sewing book review series, see more pictures of the hat and read the full book review in this post.

I love this beautiful knit, an Art Gallery Fabrics print that I used on this peplum top for myself a while back.

I was drawn to this sweatshirt for its vibrant orchid color, but the shape wasn’t doing me any favors. I doubt anyone was going to snatch it up from the racks so I felt good about transforming it into something new!

I didn’t want to give up the warmth factor of wool but couldn’t find any in my stash that matched, so I made it a hidden layer. All I did was cut out each pattern piece a second time in the wool, and then basted all the edges together, treating it as a single piece as I continued to sew.

Doesn’t that look warm and toasty?

My son tried it on to model and I just love how snug it cinches up. You can see that I ran out of length for the ties and had to piece together some cuts on the bias. This is the only thing I don’t love; they turned out pretty bulky and I wish I’d opted for ribbon or something less bulky!

Not every blog post has to be a full tutorial or Pinterest focused traffic driver; I’m just hoping this inspires you to look at something you have hanging around or are ready to throw away, differently.

Ideas for sweater upcycling aren't always this cute; see how a frumpy sweatshirt turned into the coziest winter hat ever, with a hidden wool layer! Recycle sweater hats are cozy and cheap to make.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Shelly Morgan

Wednesday 3rd of May 2017

Thanks for the shout out girl! You seriously are the upcycle genuis. What a great idea for an old sweatshirt. And of course Oliver + S has the cutest patterns. I totally need this book <3 Love your fabric tray tutorial as well. You are on fire this week!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.