Tuesday, December 10, 2013

McCalls 3422: Santa Hat 50 years in the making

Santa Hat in the Snow!
It snowed today.  It's the perfect weather for my new Santa hat.

Santa Hat in the Snow!

I have been wanting a santa hat lately.

So on Sunday night I sewed up McCalls 3422 (A pattern dated 2001, which somehow survived many pattern cleanouts, somehow).  I used red furry fabric from my crafty grandmother.  My mom estimates this fabric to be at least 50 years old.

McCalls 3422
I loved how I could see a semicircle was cut out of this fabric with pinking shears. I imagine that my grandmother cut an entire tree skirt out of this fabric.
McCalls 3422
I even muslined it, which felt on one hand like going too far, on the other, if it was too small...there goes the fabric!

After measuring my head and muslining for fit (I took the largest hat size, 23"...which is what the circumference of my head is, ha ha). I sewed it up and tried it on, but the underside of that furry fabric was pretty itchy on my forehead so I took it apart and lined it with very soft Snoopy Christmas pj fabric I estimate to have owned since college.  I don't know how to describe this fabric other than it's the kind of fabric kids pjs is made out of.  Very synthetic feeling but also soft.

Santa Hat in the Snow!
I don't know where the white furry fabric is from, but there it was in my stash. The pattern calls for a 2" wide trim but I cut mine 3". Next time I would cut it 4" as the turn of cloth on fabric this thick is quite a lot, and the thicker the trim, the more luxe (there's that word again!) it looks.

The "pompom" is actually a 5" square where I brought the corners together and sewed, then sewed again...
makin' a makeshift pompom
 and then
makin' a makeshift pompom
makin' a makeshift pompom
and then
  makin' a makeshift pompom
and then
  makin' a makeshift pompom
and then it looks like this:
makin' a makeshift pompom
Close enough to a pompom!!!
SnowCat Bob 12/10/13
There's a cat that lives in the parking garage at work. He has a bobtail, so I call him Bob. Today, my coworker and I made a snowcat in Bob's likeness. It was the best lunch hour!

Greetings from Princeton, NJ!
Be well!

11 comments:

  1. What fun, the snowy landscape looks so pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Our Santa hat somehow ended up on top of the tree - a tree my husband got for free in all of it's five foot glory. The Santa hat gave it another three inches and the wood crate it sits on gave it another foot. I think there is a rule that your tree must be taller than you.

    Look what your stash coughed up? Just think if you had to go find these types of fabrics at joann's. One can never have enough fabric.

    {{IwishforsnowIwishforsnowIwishforsnow}}

    ReplyDelete
  3. How cute. The snow, Bob, your new hat, the lining, your grandmom and that bike!
    Be well too Kyle.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love that you had all the fabrics for your Santa hat in your stash! And snow - it's like a proper, storybook Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Look at that snow!!! So pretty! Maybe your grandmother sewed a sassy little circle skirt from that fuzzy red fabric. And I LOVE that your white fluffy fabric survived the ruthless fabric purge. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yay Santa Hat! You make me want to sew one too!

    ReplyDelete
  7. A santa hat from your stash! Perfect. Love the snowcat!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Heh. I had to chuckle at your comment about the santa hat pattern surviving the purge.

    That's some seriously aged stash fabric!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Adorable! ...applies to you & your hat and the snow cat. And, if that fabric had to pay storage fees, you'd be rich
    Christiana
    sewamusing.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love Bob the Snowcat! The snow is beautiful but it looks so cold out there. Great job on the hat -- super cute and yes, a luxe trim would be fab!

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a cool use of that fabric! I can't believe it's been around for 50 years. Now it can be festive for 50 years to come.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading! I love hearing from you! Because I've been getting lots of spam comments, I'm changing the settings to moderated comments.