Upcycling Old Shirts into Baby Pigtail Hats

Yesterday, I found this awesome hat tutorial at The Winthrop Chronicles. In her tutorial, Sarah demonstrates how to transform an old t-shirt into an adorable baby/toddler hat. Inspired by her creativity, I made a few slight changes and created a pigtail hat.

These hats are quick and easy to make (even for a beginner sewer like me). To illustrate how simple they are to make, let me just say that as I begin to type this post,  my daughter is still napping and I have three completed hats by my side.

Plus, by repurposing old clothing, it's also a free project. Gotta love free!

The first hat I made, the brown one, follows Sarah's tutorial fairly closely. I used an old cotton/cashmere blend sweater (formerly my husband's) and used the zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine.

I heeded Sarah's advice in step two and inverted my sweater before sketching a pattern. I also pinned the two layers of fabric before I cut (both layers at the same time). I used the side seam of the sweater to minimize the amount of sewing needed.

Then I had a brilliant idea: make a hat with two knots on top. You see, I'm totally infatuated with my daughter's new piggie tail look (because her hair has only recently become long enough). I absolutely love her piggie tails! So, I cut my next hat pattern with bunny ears, for two knots on top.

When my hat model awoke from her nap, I was able to snap some pics of the hats in use. I'd love to show you her excited little face when I first put on the hat, but short winter days =  minimal light = slow shutter speed = happy active baby looks blurry. Nonetheless, here are a few pics I snapped during a still moment.

The pink hat (shown at top of page) is my favorite of all. It started out as an old swimsuit coverup with a thick elastic band at the top. An elastic band that was apparently too thick for my fabric scissors because the handle snapped right off! Seriously?!? Those fabric scissors were only a few months old! Fortunately, I was able to finish the project with my regular household scissors.

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