Today we have Irene from Serger Pepper! She has TONS of fun projects and patterns! Make sure to check out her blog!!

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Hi Chelsea and GYCT's lovely reader, I'm SO pleased to be here, thanks for inviting me one more time! As some of you already knows, I'm a frugal mum and sewist, that try to sew clothes that are useful and not (only) nice to see. My other goal is not to waste money (because we don't have that much!), so I'm a Refashionista inside (and outside as well)! With this in mind, the sewing project I'm here to share is a

Black Cat Hat

that you can use for Halloween as part of a costume, or you can use it only to keep head warm with an eye to kid's style.

Here is my tutorial and there's a FREE pattern for you to download if you have a 4-5 years old son/daughter/nephew/neighbour you want to gift with a Black Cat Hat!

PS: I took some old clothes and bed sheets (the same I used in my KCW summer for the t-shirt dress!) to make this one, you can buy fabrics, if you like ;)

As you can see, for the applique pieces, I used fabrics that don't fray (jersey/fleece); remember this as you choose your fabrics, or you'll end with some frayed edge! I added some light interfacing on back of the eyes fabric, because it was a scrap of light jersey (the one my family had for more than 30 years and I used to make my self-drafted cardi in the Pantone Challenge last Spring, remember?) that was curling a lot along hems and the pieces were really small! So: cut all the pieces accordingly with pattern instructions (seam allowances not included, use the smallest you are confident with to reduce the bulk - I use the distance between my sewing needle and the side of the foot!)

Let's go! Start sewing the center front seam joining the two first triangles.

Create the ears, sewing Right Sides Facing (RSF) a pink and a black ear for each one.

Clip the corner, turn inside out and topstitch all around.

Pin the pink ear inside, to create an ear shape (don't pin the back of the ear).

Now pin in place ears and sew them.

Sandwich ears by adding the two triangles remaining; sew eyes in place by stitching two times all around, just to be safe, using a short straight stitch.

Add the earband, matching the front middles, add the nose (sewing like for the eyes) and now sew whiskers using the widest zig-zag you have.

It's time to close the center back seam, all in one from top to bottom, matching seams.

Ta-Daaa!

Now, into the lining and braided cords: cut the pieces, accordingly to the pattern instructions.

Put together the lining of the hat sewing the triangles (leave the center back opened), then add the earband and close partially the center back seam, leaving a central gap. Press seam allowances opened, also where you left the gap (use your tailor's ham, here!)

Let's go on, adding the lining: put three of the long strips on the earflap, RSF, on the main fabric; sandwich with the lining (leave the gap on the center back, remember!) and pin in place; repeat for the other earflap. Serger-Pepper-Black-Cat-Hat-Sewing-DIY-refashion

Sew all around, turn inside out using the gap.

Close the gap (I'm lazy and I use my sewing machine... you can stitch by hand too)

Now topstitch all around to be sure the lining isn't showing on the outside (just to be more sure you can sew a couple of handstitches on the top of the hat, and the lining won't go anywhere!). Braid your cords and tie some knot on the very end (polar fleece is nice for this kind of things, it won't slide!) Now you can put it on the head you've sewn it for (or on your ham if you wanna take some pics) and look at him/her smiling (ehm... the ham isn't technically smiling, is it?)