Recycled Wool Sweater, Part 1

Quite a long time ago, I got some ideas for using old wool sweaters for felted projects.  I went to a thrift store near my mom's house and bought several of them, came home, and threw them in the washing machine and shrunk them.  On purpose.  Two of said sweaters were cut up immediately and made into cell phone cases and coffee cup sleeves for our boutiques.  I still have them.  They didn't sell.  Not one.  So....I decided it was pointless to do any more.  Which left me with 3 felted wool sweaters.  Enter the chemo cap project.

I was web surfing, looking for chemo cap patterns, when I happened on a site for making caps out of recycled wool sweaters.  I neglected to note the website, and so cannot share the exact link for you, but if you do a search, you'll come up with dozens of other sites, all similar.  (I'm so sorry I didn't save the link.)

Anyway, that site jogged the memory of these sweaters languishing in a bag in the garage, so I retrieved two of them and got started.

The first step was to make a paper pattern.  I used the finished dimensions of another hat that I had, measured out the height and width, then "connected the dots".  After cutting out the pattern, I pinned it to one of the sweaters, and cut out two pieces.

Putting right sides together, and pinning around, I got this:

Well, okay, that's a different sweater, but you get the idea!

Sew a quick seam, using a 1/4" allowance, to get this:

Turn your hats right side out, and presto!

One hundred percent wool hats, in under an hour!  Plus, I not only repurposed something, I cleaned out a bag in the garage!