How to Make a Kitty Hat (for Humans!)

Lee Meredith, contributor

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Some simple sewing and embellishing can turn a recycled sweater into this supercute hat!

Pete Bejarano

My kitty can look around with his shank-button eyes!

Lee Meredith

This one was made with a recycled T-shirt and machine topstitching for the whole face.

Lee Meredith

Some simple sewing and embellishing can turn a recycled sweater into this supercute hat!

Photo: Pete Bejarano

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First, you need to cut out your rectangular hat shape. Decide how wide your hat should be-I wanted my hat to be extra wide so it would flop down on the sides, so I cut it about 12 inches wide for my 22-inch head. You'll get kitty ears from the rectangle-shaped hat whether or not it's extra wide. Remember seam allowance, and if you want a more fitted hat, then cut it a little less than your head size divided in half. And for the height, I cut it about 7 inches high, but if you're not making yours extra wide, then you should make it higher by an inch or two. One side seam of the sweater will be a side seam on the hat, so with the sweater lying flat, just cut through both layers straight up for the other side and straight across the top. You can always cut in more, so if you're not sure how big to cut it, try bigger than you think is good, hold it around your head, and trim more where needed.

My somewhat short hat will flop down on the sides because of the extra width.

Now turn it so the right sides are facing, and sew up the side and top using a zigzag stitch. Try not to stretch it at all while sewing-the more it's stretched, the more it'll ruffle!

The ruffled edges look bad here, but when the hat's on your head, it's not noticeable.

You can leave it at that, or you can sew back over all the seams for extra security and neatness. Turn the hat right side out, open it up, and sew right on top of the seams with a zigzag stitch, so it zigzags from one side of the seam to the other side.

Go slowly and carefully over the seams, since they are bulky to sew over.

It's a bit tricky going over the pointy ear parts, but if you go slowly and stretch out the fabric at the ears, you can sew from the side to the top and back down the other side without stopping.

If your sweater fabric is felted, you won't have so much of a problem with the ruffling due to stretching.

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Comments (6)

EchoLin writes: creative idea, i never thought the old clothes can be used in this way. Very useful , thanks for sharing.
Posted: 1:28 am on March 12th

cRaFTista writes: They are too cute to pass up! =0.0=

Will make some for my niece. Thanks for sharing :)
Posted: 6:54 pm on April 24th

sassysewer writes: Too cute! An organization here collects caps and mittens for neighborhood children in the winter. What a fun way to use all those sweaters I got sick of this winter and bagged up for donation. I'll make kitty hats instead for the kids! Ooohhh, a new fun project. Thanks so much!
Posted: 10:25 am on April 18th

miss_kodama_loli writes: ...there is a name for this kind of hat in Japan- it's called "Neko Mimi" (kitty ears)
Posted: 1:52 am on March 27th

Eternal_Clouds writes: OMG my friend would totally love this thanks so much for posting it now i know what to make her for her birthday!!!!!<3 :)
Posted: 9:48 pm on March 7th

ImaMes writes: Very cute! I'll have to make some for my grandkids next fall.
Posted: 1:04 pm on March 1st

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