Fleece hat

Happy 2011 everyone!

To start off the new year I made a little something for Cal J. A super easy fleece beanie. Here's how you do it.

Cut out your beanie from two different fabrics. One for the lining and one for the outer hat. You should have a total of 4 pieces. I used one of his beanies and traced it adding an extra 1/4" for seam allowance. And cut it 10" in length.

***Note: I should have actually allowed more width to the beanie. I'd suggest marking it a 1/2" wider all around the beanie your tracing. ***

Fold over the lining like shown...

and cut a slit 2 inches deep straight down. Repeat with outer pieces of hat.

Your slits should look like this.

Fold your fabric so it's in half again and sew your slit closed using a 1/4" inseam, backstitching at the beginning and end. Do this on all 4 pieces.

I got ahead of myself and didn't take pictures of the next step - just pin your fabric together with the seams you just sewed facing out and sew together.

Now you should have two hat pieces. Both with seams facing out.

****Leave a 3 inch opening towards the top of your lining piece like this. Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and the end of the opening****

Leave your outer piece inside out and turn your lining piece right side out like shown.

Place your right side out lining piece INTO the outer hat piece.

Stuff all the way into the outer hat piece lining up the seams. Pin in place.

Sew all the way around the hat opening so the outer and the liner are sewn together.

It should look something like this.

Now pull the lining piece outward so you have one big oval shape with the seams facing out.

Now take your un-sewn opening on the lining piece and start to pull the hat right side out.

Keep pulling....

Here is the hat with the right sides out. Hand stitch the opening that you just pulled your hat through shut.

You're almost finished...

Now just fold upward so some of the lining is showing and you're done!

Now, I know I said this was for Cal J. But apparently my measuring was off. It fit Ry-pie's head perfectly. I'll guess she'll be sporting a cool alien hat. Oh well.

I hope your new year has been off to a great start!

Melted snowman cookies

It's been a pretty frigid winter thus far - and it's only the beginning. Yikes!

Here are some melted snowman cookies that I made.

I originally saw them from Smashed Peas and Carrots, go here for the recipe and directions.

I have a feeling that people in certain parts of the country really wish they had some snow melting!

Enjoy! And stay warm out there! :)

Ear warmer

Winter weather is right around the corner. I can't actually feel it yet, but that's what the weather man is claiming anyways!

I had some leftover fleece fabric from a lining of a coat I'm "attempting" to make for Ry-pie, so I decided to use that to make a cute little ear warmer for her.

Trace pattern onto your fabric. I used an ear warmer of CalJ's that I got at Wal-mart last year for a $1 as my template.

Cut out two pieces of your fabric. Even though Ry-pies head is obviously smaller then her big brother, I didn't make my pattern smaller so I could allow for the seam allowance. And if you need to shorten it up you can just cut it shorter before it's complete.

Lay pieces of fleece on top of one another, right sides facing. I actually used two slightly different shades of fleece but since these are not printed there actually isn't a right or wrong side. Just go with me on this. ;) Sew each side using a 1/4" seam, or so. Leave each end open and on one end stop sewing about 1 1/2" short of the end.

Pin a safety pin to the bottom end that you DIDN'T stop sewing short on. Turn right side out, pushing the safety pin all the way through until it looks like the picture shown above. The reason you need to stop sewing all the way on one side end is because this makes it A LOT easier to turn inside out. The ends will be too small if you don't, making it almost impossible to turn it right side out. Trust me. I know. ;)

Now, stitch around the entire ear warmer leaving a 1/4" seam like shown here.

Wrap the ear warmer around your little munchkins head and mark with a water soluble marker where it's secure. This picture shows the open ends on top of her head but they will actually fasten at the base of the head. Ry-pie's not much for co-operating these days, so I have to take what I can get. It will still cover her ears when I flip it around.

Take your sew-in Velcro and cut a large enough piece to start at the end of the warmer to the mark you just made.

Cut another piece (the same length as you just used) of the opposite side of the Velcro and sew to the other end of your warmer. Make sure that your ends will line up and attach when placed around the head.
Here's what your Velcro ends should look like when they're sewn and fastened into place. You could tuck the ends of the warmer before you add your Velcro so your ends look nice and tidy. I skipped this step so my ends are unfinished. Which is fine with me.

You still with me?

Good, I'd hoped so!

You can stop there, which is fine. But let's keep going, shall we?

Now onto the decorative part.

Draw circles onto your fleece material.

And cut out shapes.

Sew a straight line - just a little off-centered -starting with one circle and adding an additional circle when your stitch reaches the center of the circle. I pulled on the fabric a little bit while I stitched it in place - creating a slight oval shape. Be real careful as you feed each circle through. The fleece tends to wiggle a bit, so make sure it's lying flat and doesn't fold over onto itself.

Your first stitch of circles should look like this.

Then stitch another line, just like the first, about 1/4" parallel to the first stitched row.

Place onto a piece of felt (in a similar color).

Glue onto felt.

Cut out felt so no felt will actually be showing. Adding the felt will give your circles a little more stability.
Lie it next to the warmer and mark where you would like them placed.

Glue onto warmer.

Thanks for hanging in there!! Lots of pictures and lots of instructions - but all in all it's not that difficult a project.

I hope you enjoy!