Upcycle Tutorial: Turning a Sweater into a Baby Bear Beanie

Somebody please stop me.

This is too much fun.

I keep finding items "to donate" around the house. I am depriving a Goodwill somewhere of some really nice clothing.

This is a great project for those of you whose sewing skills fall somewhere around the "I know where the on switch is" set. Please don't be insulted. This is a very easy project that you can finish in about 20 minutes. What a fun gift idea! Make two or three and tie them up with ribbon to give to a new mommy.

Okay. Let's turn your husband's soft old sweater into a super-cute little bear beanie.

Note: When working with knits, spray each piece with starch and iron flat before beginning your project. It will go much easier. Trust me.

1. Roughly measure your little one's head. My baby is 10 weeks old and his head circumference is about 11 inches. So each of my hat pieces were 5.5 inches wide.

2. Use the stretchy trim at the bottom of the sweater as the bottom of your beanie. Cut out an elongated arc shape. You will have two hat pieces. Make sure you cut these two pieces two or so inches longer than a normal beanie as you will be rolling up the bottom of the beanie.

3. With the sweater still lying flat, cut two sets of ear pieces. Again, make these a bit longer than they appear to be on the hat. You will be sewing them inside the beanie.
4. Sew the ears. Pin each set of ear pieces, wrong sides facing out. Sew the arc, leaving the straight bottom seam open so you can turn it right side out. Use a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
5. Pin the wrong sides of the beanie together. Arrange the ears in your desired position and pin. See where I have mine? Note that you pin the ears with the raw edges of both the ears and the beanie together.

6. Now you will sew your beanie together. Make sure you catch the ears when you sew. IMPORTANT: Start sewing at the top of the stretchy trim. Leave the entire length of trim open. We will sew it later. Sew around just the sweater portion of the arc. 7. Turn your beanie right side out. The bottom sides should be open.

8. Now we will sew them together. Sew your outside seams right where your inside seams ended. These seams are so that, when the hem is rolled up, you will not be able to see any protruding seams.
9. Now flip the bottom up. You have a rolled hem little bear beanie. So cute! Great job.
10. Go find a cute, chubby, not-impressed baby to try your hat out on. Then email me a picture! And whip up some pants from the sweater sleeves to match! I will try to post that tutorial soon.