Dare to Make It: Holiday

How to Make Hats from Recycled Sweaters

cal patch, contributor

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Give an old favorite sweater new life by turning it into a hat.

Cal Patch

The shape of your pattern should look like these.

Cal Patch

Using a tiny zigzag stitch will give more stretch than a regular straight stitch.

Cal Patch

Give an old favorite sweater new life by turning it into a hat.

Photo: Cal Patch

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Everyone has a favorite old wool sweater that's been shrunken and felted in the washer. But you may not realize what a bounty of craft material a shrunken sweater is! I've used them to make rugs, mittens, dog sweaters...and the most versatile gift item of all: hats. I'm going to show you how to make recycled sweater hats for the entire family, and everyone else on your list, too!

Felted knits are great to work with because the edges won't unravel, they're stretchy (as opposed to felt), and you're saving them from the landfill. You can get a second life out of stained or moth-eaten sweaters, too; just shrink them and then cut around the holes or stains when you cut out your pattern.

You'll need one felted sweater (you may get two or more hats out of one sweater, depending on the size of the sweater and the hats you're making). If you don't have any handy, a thrift store usually has loads of shrunken knits or ones you can felt yourself. Just throw them in the washer and dryer. Most sweaters will felt, as long as they are made from an animal fiber, like wool, mohair, cashmere, alpaca, etc. Avoid cottons and synthetics.

1. Measure the head of the intended recipient. You'll need circumference (around the fullest part of the head, just above the ears) and height (from the top center of the head down to the bottom of the ears, or however long you want the hat to be).

2. Make your pattern. This hat is made from five panels sewn together. To determine the width of your panels, divide the head circumference by 5, then add 1 inch for seam allowance (1/2 inch each side). My head measures 22 inches around, so dividing it by 5 gave me 4.4, which I rounded up to 4-1/2. Adding 1 inch gives me 5-1/2 inches. Add 1 inch to your length measurement. Mine was 8-1/2 inches, so I have 9-1/2 inches for my total length. Cut a rectangle out of cardstock or paper that measures the length by the width (mine was 9-1/2 inches by 5-1/2 inches). Fold the pattern lengthwise in half, and holding it with the fold on the left, trim the upper half of the right-side edge so that it curves toward the fold, ending in a point at the fold. (See the photo of my panels to get an idea of the shape.) Unfold the piece and you should have something like a beehive shape. Use this pattern to cut out five pieces from your sweater. If you want a binding on the bottom edge of the hat, you'll need another rectangular piece that measures (head circumference + 1 inch) by 2 inches.

The shape of your pattern should look like these.

View 2 member project galleries

Sweater hat sets
cynergyplus1

Recycled Sweater hat
Studiojules

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Comments (15)

Killdoomkid writes: Wow, I need to try this!!! :)
Posted: 4:17 pm on December 18th

szlata writes: I love this idea. As you can guess, I hate to throw away anything that can be given a new life. I enjoy thrift shops, now I can look at the sweaters tht are too small for me and see them as hats.
Posted: 11:45 am on October 25th

ringelpunkt writes: So lovely.
Posted: 10:42 am on September 21st

glittergrandma writes: Wonderful ! I have a sweater I did not want to part with, great directions thank you.
Posted: 6:10 pm on March 20th

billyjane writes: lovely!i'm making hats out of old tees and use cotton mostly,and i found one woolen and tried and it worked great,although mine is simpler,with only two pieces,but i like your pattern too,have to try it soon=]
Posted: 2:41 pm on January 3rd

cynergyplus1 writes: Thanks so much for a great idea! I made several of these as Xmas presents, and also made mittens with coordinating scarves. I came up with an alternate way to do the hat, if you have a sweater with an existing rib band that can work for the edge of the hat. I'll post the pictures. Thanks Cal Patch!
Posted: 1:07 pm on December 21st

scrunch writes: Thanks for this fabulous idea !!!!! I plan on making my brothers grandson one for the holidays !!!!!!
Posted: 10:01 am on December 9th

crafty1900 writes: I am going to make one of these!
Posted: 10:54 am on December 8th

ohnoshesews writes: This is such a great idea! Thanks for the well-written tutorial and pictures. This would be a nice club project to salvage old sweaters and turn them into hats for the local homeless shelters. You could get a standardized mens/womens measurement to fit most adults. I think it would be a nice way to help keep someone warm this winter and use up those shrunken wool sweaters that we all have hanging around in the closets. Can't wait to get started on this project!
Posted: 3:43 pm on December 6th

lilkiddos writes: What a great idea! I might have to consider it on my Christmas to do list.
Thanks,
Amy
www.CustomKids.etsy.com

Posted: 9:11 am on December 6th

Toffy writes: What a wonderful project. Excellent way to gift and use old sweaters. Kudos
Posted: 9:05 am on December 6th

granitatogo writes: I know what I'm going to give my daughters' boy friends for Christmas now! The only challenge: measuring their heads without their guessing why! thank you!
Posted: 5:43 am on December 6th

CalPatch writes: hi josefly! i do mean both; i use 1.5mm for the length AND width. it just makes a good stretch stitch without all the back-and-forthing of a real stretch stitch.
and for the shrinking, ususally only once is enough, but if you want it more felted, doing it two or three times may increase the felting (or it may not). every sweater is different, and sometimes the fibers are coated to PREVENT shrinking, so it won't work on every sweater.
thanks for your questions ;n)
Posted: 9:05 pm on December 5th

Josefly writes: Thanks so much for the idea and instructions. I have 2 questions, if you don't mind answering:

When you say "tiny zig-zag" do you mean tiny stitch length, or tiny zig-zag width, or both?

To felt the wool sweater, is it necessary to wash and dry more than once?



Posted: 1:35 pm on December 5th

LindaPermann writes: I'm going to try this one of these days. I have the sweater ready to go...
Posted: 6:09 pm on December 3rd

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