Tutorial: Super Easy Knit Hats

This easy-to-sew knit hat is great for dwarf, gnome, and pirate costumes.  I recently made a set of the for the dwarfs in "Snow White", and they turned out great!  It's versatile enough to wear it a few different ways so you can have a group of people wearing the same hat without matching.  You could also make it out of polar fleece for a winter hat!  

Follow the break to get the full set of instructions!

Easy Knit Hat Tutorial

Total Time: 10 minutes?

Materials needed:

3/8 yd knit fabric (will make 2 adult-sized hats) - could also use polar fleece, or old t-shirts

Straight edge

Marking pencil or chalk

Scissors or rotary cutter

1.  Start by laying your fabric out flat on the cutting surface.  The cut edge, which is also the stretchiest part of the fabric, is going to be the top and bottom edge of your hat.  The selvage edge on knit fabrics is usually wonky (that's a technical term) and dotted with glue so we're going to measure about 2 inches from the edge and cut it off for a clean straight end.

2.  Take the strip you just cut off and stretch it so it turns into a tube.  Set this aside for now.

3.  Measure out the circumference of the hat across the long edge of fabric.  If your fabric is very stretchy this will be your head size minus one inch.  If you're using something with less stretch like polar fleece, it will be your head measurement plus 1" for the seam allowance. *** If you use a serger to sew the seam, you do not need to add a seam allowance. *** 

Mark this measurement with your pencil or chalk, and cut your fabric piece out.  I have a rotary cutter, and I don't even need to mark the fabric - I can lay my straight edge across the fabric and use this as a guide for the cutter.

4.  Fold the fabric short edges together, and sew.

I used a serger for this finished edge - you can use a regular machine stitch

5.  Turn your sewn piece inside out, and now you have a tube!  Take the scrap piece we cut in step one, and position it about 2" from the top edge under your tube of fabric.  

Gently gather the edges towards the center along this line. 

And finally, tie the scrap piece around the gathered hat, finishing with a tight double knot.  Cut the extra tails off, leaving about an inch.

5.  Roll the opposite edge up until you get the overall size you want.  Note: for pirate hats, or even a night cap, you can skip this step and leave it long and floppy.

You're done!  Like I said, this is a great easy to make costume piece for a dwarf, gnome, or pirate, but it would also make a really cute winter hat if made out of polar fleece.  You could even cut the short end above the knot into thin strips to make a pom-pom look.  

Enjoy!

Hats for my Seven Dwarves!