MADE: Sun Hats Galore: Burda 05-2009-141

For Mother's Day gift, I decided to make sun hats for my mom, mother-in-law, and grandmothers. I originally was going to use Amy Butler's Blue Sky Hat pattern, but did not have it in my stash. One day I was browsing through my Burda magazine archive and noticed this pattern 05-2009-141... it was perfect!

I ended up making five because my first one was an utter failure (more on this later), and I have one more cut out for myself. It might be awhile before I finish mine because I need a break after the first 5.  The 5th hat is not picture, but it's the same fabric as the bottom hat.

Searched to see if anyone had made it and turns out there were some already made up. Reviews can be found here on Pattern Review. One of the reviews said she just used a serger to make most of the hat. I thought that sounded pretty good and that it would make the process quick so wanted to give it a try. Big mistake for me! I could not get the tension correct even after several attempts. The stitching on the crown could be seen in the right side, and I didn't have enough control to line up the crown pieces easily.

Also, I realized I cannot serge in the round very well, which resulted in the brim being partially eaten up. :(

I just didn't have enough control/experience with my serger to actually use as a main method of construction. After that mess, I decided to mostly machine stitching and some hand stitching. I ended up having to buy more fabric because I didn't have enough of the first one to make a second hat, which my mom consequently chose to be her fabric. The results are much better!

Pattern:  Burda 05-2009-141
Fabric:  various quilting cottons from Joann
Notions:  fusible woven interfacing
Cost:  no idea... various costs for each of the quilting cotton pieces.
What I loved:  2 pattern pieces!
Notes:  With careful layout, 1 yard of exterior and 1 yard of lining can make two hats.

The Burda directions were ok, but their finished hat's crown seams didn't line up. I pretty much followed Melissa's steps listed in her review here. My detailed steps are listed here for reference.

1. Trace pattern the two pattern pieces (crown and brim) twice.
2. Add 1/4" seam allowance to one set of pattern pieces.
3. Use the pieces with seam allowance to cut out exterior (6 crown pieces and 1 brim) and lining pieces (6 crown pieces and 1 brim).
4. Use the pattern pieces without seam allowances to cut the fusible interfacing.
5. Fuse interfacing to exterior pieces.
6. Stitch exterior crown pieces in pairs.  Press seams.
7. Stitch two of the pairs together, and then carefully stitch the 3rd pair to the other two while carefully matching the seams.  Press seams.
8. Repeat for the crown lining.
9. Stitch the single brim seam for both the exterior and lining.  Press seams.
10. With right sides together, stitch the exterior and lining brim pieces together at the outer brim.
11. Flip right sides out and press seams.
12. Pin exterior crown to both layers of the brim with right sides facing each other and stitch.
13. Press seam allowance for the crown lining.
14. Drop crown lining into hat with wrong sides of the crown exterior and lining facing each other.
15. Pin in place and slip stitch crown lining to brim lining.
16. Press all seams.
17. Optional: Topstitch a few rows on the brim beginning at the outer edge.

More on the dress coming soon~!

MADE: Candice House Slippers

Pattern:  Candice Slippers by iThinkSew
Fabric:  blizzard fleece leftovers for exterior and cotton flannel leftovers for interior; both from Joann
Size:  8
Cost:  $3.90 (pattern on sale) + $0.00 (scraps of fabric)
What I Love: Simple, easy pattern that does not require much fabric
Notes:

• Made without adding seam allowances so sizing was not correct. Read the pattern and instructions because it clearly says it needs to be added... I just didn't read. 
• Interfaced the lining, but not on the exterior and instead added another layer of fleece. It could use more stiffness and maybe more cushion as well.
• Used fabric paint on the bottom for anti-skid properties as well as marking right and left.

I have small feet (usually wear 6.5) and these barely fit me lengthwise... I need to be careful and read the pattern and instructions before proceeding.  I was just WAY TOO overconfident and this is where it got me. :(  Many people request for slippers when they come over to our house, and I'm not sure why... Could it be because we keep it at 62 in the winter?  Hehe... well there will be more of these in the future and hopefully they will be the correct sizes.

Tops:

Bottoms:

Please ignore the unfinished areas... :)

MADE: Scoodies Galore

Long ago one of my brothers asked me if I could knit him a scarf, and then some time later he requested that this scarf have a hood.  I want to say this happened many many years ago. Well finally for this past Christmas, I made him this scarf with a hood known as a scoodie, except it wasn't knitted... I didn't get to take a picture of his particular scoodie, but here's one of out of the 6 that were made.

Pattern: Scoodie (free pattern found here)
Fabric: Exterior - blizzard fleece (1.25 yds) from Joann; Interior - cotton flannel (1.5 yds) from Joann
Costs: $0.00 (free pattern) + ~$9.80(fleece $4.49/yd and flannel $2.79/yd or $3.99/yd)
What I Love: Super easy to make with 4 pattern pieces
Notes:

• The middle piece of the hood did not match up with the sides of the hood at the notches. I just cut the middle and added 3/4". 
• Added pockets to the ends of the scarf, which are just 8"x 10" rectangles in fleece. About an 1.25" of the top was folded over and then topstitched prior to attaching the the scarf.
• Used 1/2" seam allowances instead of 5/8" for no particular reason except that I had blue painters tape marked for 1/2".

Overall:  This was a fun gift giving pattern.  I made these for our siblings plus one for myself and husband for a total of 6!  The long straight stitching on the scarf portion was a little boring especially after doing them so many times, but other than that it's easy peasy and the recipients loved them!  I may even make 2 more for friends that saw ours and loved them, too.

Mr. So and I are sporting ours inside our house... I think we may have worn them a total of 2 times since they were finished... maybe we need to go to Chicago to get more wear out of them. :)  There's also not a good way to wear the scarf.  If you try to wrap both of them around the neck the pockets are super close to your face.  I ended up just throwing one end to the back and keeping one end in the front. RTW scoodies have a detachable hood that can be placed at different intervals to help with this, but I didn't want to do the extra work.

Coming up with the different fleece and flannel combinations for the different scoodies was pretty fun.  There are only 5 swatch combinations because one of them (black and white plaid flannel) was made twice. :)

In the end, my brother didn't even remember requesting this scarf, but nonetheless he was the inspiration behind making these!  :)