Rainbow Beanie & Cooler

Well I know I haven't been around much lately, but I have some time for a bit of a catch up, so here we go!

Firstly, I've started crocheting some coolers, which are in the ICAN@7 Gallery. Lovely Courtney from the Red Kitchen made a request - she wanted a rainbow cooler, with a matching beanie. So this is what I came up with:

Don't you just LOVE the texture of the beanie and the cooler?!

I've done a puff stitch, and spiraled the 6 colours around (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple). The puff stitch I used is: 4xTR in stitch, remove loop from hook, insert hook at beginning of 1st st, pick loop back up and pull through. I started both with a magic ring, with 2 TR of each colour (ie 12TR in the magic ring). By the way, the coolers are made for the 'girly' drinks, like Cruizers, which are smaller than a standard can.

Oh, and here's a 'in progress' shot of the cooler:

Notice that I am working with all colours at once? Center pull yarns are great for this - stand all your yarns together in a basket, so all the "center pulls" are free to come out the top.

Boys Cheese Cutter or Flat Hat

Here is my little man's new hat:

I know I'm a bit biased, being his mum, but isn't he the cutest?! Even when eating bits of grass!

Being a practical mum, the hat is of course adjustable (using the button hole elastic on the inside of hat band so the button is away from his head). This should last him a couple of years (it nearly fits his 4 year old sister!).

If I get some sewing time soon, you may see these at the ican@7 gallery, or in my madeit store.

New hat for El-Hannah - Girly cowboy style

Happy Birthday to El-Hannah!
When we see her tomorrow she gets this lovely new hat...hope she likes it! (Lilly assured me that here favourite colour was purple!)

  

 

The fabric flower has a snap on the back so it can be clipped to the side of the hat. Both sides of the hat can also be clipped up - cowboy style, or single side only. There is an extra snap on the left side so that the flower can be snapped to the clipped up side. Lots of choices, but only 1 hat!

Chela's cowgirl hat

Today Lilly played at Chela's place. So last night we made a new hat for Chela:

This is an improvement on Lilly's cowgirl hat, and I think it's just right now! I like the way the brim sits when it is down - much better than Lilly's. (It doesn't sit down on the glass head, as this is an adult size head, but toddler size hat.)

Next is one for Seth, Oliver & Isac ... then maybe I can make some to sell!

Evolution of a hat

I promised the 'evolution of the leftleg hat' so here it is:

I started with a very 'girly' pink hat for Lilly (she's just over 8 months in these photos). This hat took me quite a while to make. All edges are turned under, and fabrics were all cut straight (not on the bias). There were different types of fabrics too: corduroy, quilters cotton, flannel, retro & upcycled. The inside was calico, which I found shrunk quite a bit in the wash.

Then we did a green one for Oliver (who was going to Ireland for a holiday), and an orange one for Isaac:

The leftleg hat now looks like this:

The first two are for sale, the last one Lilly has been wearing for about 18 months. It's been through the wash plenty of times, Grandad has even lost it at the park before, but it always manages to find it's way home!

The strips of fabric are now cut on bias - I have a box for each colour! They are still quite time consuming to make. Here is an interesting fact: there is 180", or 4.5m of fabric strips (1.5" wide) needed to make a toddler hat! That's a lot of cutting and a lot of sewing - but damn they look good don't they!

New hat for Lilly - cowgirl style!

Lilly needed a new hat... and I need to test out my new sewing machine. The style of hat I usually make is quite time consuming (you will see what I mean later on when I get around to doing a blog on the 'evolution of leftleg hats'). So I made a new style of hat (excuse the grubby face!):

It can be worn two ways, wide brim sun hat, or grooving cowboy/girl style:

I just have to work out an easier way to construct so I can make some for my market stall - I'm sure there's got to be a few kids out there want a cool hat that no-one else has! (PS. Can you see that I haven't quite finished and there are pins holding up the sides? I'm deciding between snaps and buttons - leaning towards buttons.)

Baby Hat & Short Set for Mel

My sister asked me to make something for a friend of hers that recently had a baby boy, and this is what I came up with:



My neighbours daughter kindly modelled the outfit. The hat I usually make with lots of strips spiralling around the hat but I thought I might try something different. The hat is bucket style and fully reversible. I don't use fusing or interfacing in the brim. I find an extra layer of fabric holds nicely. I put a bit of elastic in the back of this one too.