Baby blanket and hats (knit fabric)

Okay, part 2 is here.  

Did you see the knit baby blanket tutorial yesterday (found here)? 

Well, here is a great way to complete a little baby set.......by adding a simple, 

yet cozy, knit baby hat.  Or, hmmmm, maybe 3!

The hats are made from cotton interlock knit.....so they are perfectly stretchy and comfy.

And while making one,why not make a couple more?

And don't forget the fluffy little knit flowers.  Yummy, right?

If you're making these for boys, you could applique a shape or a name right there on the front too.  Just as cute.  

But those girls, they need some flowers!

Did you make the blanket from yesterday already?  

Or at least buy/order some knit?  

If not, hurry it up.........you'll love how both of these projects turn out.

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Ready to make some little knit hats?
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Before getting started, keep in mind......that the shape of these hats are one dimensional.  But because they are knit, they will stretch and the proper hat shape will form as you slide them over those little baby heads.  So while making your own size, remember to make them smaller than the actual head so that they will stretch and the side seam won't look like a side seam across the top of their head.  Make sense?

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As mentioned in the baby blanket tutorial from yesterday, I found my knit here.  But the colors I selected are gone.  (So in case you want to search for it elsewhere, the fabric is Michael Miller Interlock Knit.  Designer: Patty Young.)

First, I pre-washed my knit. (Why prewash? Read this post.)  Then, I used an old knit hat from when my little girl was a tiny baby, as a pattern.  I placed the hat on top of 2 layers of the knit and cut around it, adding a 1/4 inch on all sides.  (But the height from top to bottom isn't as tall as this entire hat.  If you look at a knit hat like this from the inside, the main hat section doesn't go all the way down to the bottom.  The fold creates some of the height.  The finished hat is about 5 inches tall.......but the main hat section is only about 4 of those 5 inches.  You'll understand what I'm talking about later on in this tutorial.) 

I made my hats a size 0-3.......and are assuming they'll fit just fine.  I patterned them after the light pink hat shown above, which is a Carters hat, size 0-3 months.  So hopefully they will fit just fine a few weeks after she's born......and will still fit for a few months.  The knit will allow for some great stretch, so I'm not too worried. 

**If any of you are interested in the size 0-3 months, here is a sketch of the pattern I used.  I didn't include the outline of the bottom fold of the hat because it's just a rectangle.  And the circles are for the flowers later on.  But click on the image below, save it to your computer, copy and paste it to a document with the margins set to zero, and print it out.  I shared the dimensions below, so that you can verify if your printer is printing it out at the right size.  But keep in mind, this was a quick sketch, and is imperfect.  I just thought it would help to use as a guide.  (You'll have to adjust for making smaller or bigger hats.)  And please don't use this to sell hats or the pattern.  This is for personal use only.  Thanks!

So next, I cut out 2 of the main hat pieces and then cut a rectangle piece that was 5 1/2 inches x 14 1/2 inches.

**Make sure that the stretch of the knit is going left to right......so if you hold the pieces below on the left side and right side and pull apart, the pieces will stretch.  It doesn't need to stretch top to bottom.  This will give the hat the proper fit on the head.**

Next, place the 2 hat pieces right sides together, and sew along the top curved edge, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Then fold the rectangle in half with right sides together and sew the two 5 1/2 inch ends together.

 **I used a serger but you can still do this project with a regular sewing machine.  Try using a zig-zag stitch (or check out this stitch here) and make sure to always lift and adjust your presser foot, to make sure you are not pulling or stretching your fabric too much.  Then iron/steam your seams to shrink the knit back up.

Then, fold the tube in half down inside itself, creating a more narrow tube, with the right side of the fabric facing out.

Then slide the tube down inside of the main hat piece (which is still inside out), with the raw edges lined up with the raw edges of the hat.

Pin the 3 raw edges together, all the way around the bottom of the hat.

Then zig-zag or serge in place.

Next, turn the hat right side out, and slide your iron inside of the hat the iron that seam upwards, along with pressing that bottom fold flat.  Then rotate the hat and continue pressing that seam upwards and the fold flat.

And since we're talking about ironing/steaming, I always, always, always steam/iron my knit........which kind of shrinks the knit back into place after sewing.  Even after a plain old seam like the ones above.  (Keep in mind, you don't want to iron like you do with a wrinkly cotton and pull your hot iron across your fabric.  You just want to place the iron down and let the steam shrink it up.  Then move the iron and repeat.)

Next, fold up the bottom of the hat about 1 1/2 inches (maybe a tad more) and iron the fold in place.

Then I used a needle in thread to tack the fold in place, along both side seams of the hat.  (Need help with hand-stitching?  Click here.)

Onto the flowers.

If you're using the pattern pieces from above, cut out 5 knit flowers from the larger circle and 4 knit circles from the smaller circle.

Start with your bigger circles and fold them in half, and then in half again.

Arragen 4 of them on top of the fifth circle, creating one full circle of folded circles.

Now, either hand stitch those little corners in the center to the base piece, or use your sewing machine.  Be careful if using your sewing machine, to not pull the fabric too much.  You want to keep the pieces in a circle shape.

Then fold your 4 smaller circles the same way and place them on top of the larger circles.  But offset them a bit, so the folds aren't lined up exactly.

Stitch the centers in place the same way as you did above, but sew a little further out this time......to help keep the petals down a bit.  (Sew through all of the layers while attaching these top circles.)

Then attach the flower right to the brim of the hat with a needle and thread, making sure to make several stitches to secure the flower to the hat.

And that's it.

Now make a few more.  Keep some.  Gift some.  Enjoy them all.