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Upcycled Sweatshirt Hat

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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!

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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.

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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!

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