January 17, 2017

Simple Lightweight #Pussyhat

angelleconant Art, Living, Politics, Sewing art, cat ears, crafting, creativity, DIY, easy, houston, lightweight, love trumps hate, pink, pussyhat, rib knit, sewing, simple, stuffing, women's march 1 Comment

Final Product

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’ll be marching in the Houston Women’s March, Sister March to the Women’s March in DC this Saturday. Many of the women in both marches will be wearing ‘pussyhats,’ an idea crafted by the Pussyhat Project. As the Houston march will be in the mid to upper 70s, I’ve created a simple, lightweight pussyhat tutorial for any warm weather marches. For those who don’t sew, there is also my Super Easy Paper #Pussyhat.

SIMPLE, LIGHTWEIGHT #PUSSYHAT

Disclaimer: I am a sewing novice. If you see areas that could be improved or mistakes, please let me know! 🙂

What you’ll need: Lightweight rib knit fabric in pink, matching thread, scissors, sewing machine

1. Cut a rectangle 18 inches x 7 inches – if you’d like bigger ‘ears’ go to 19 or 20 inches. MAKE SURE the fabric ‘ribs’ are running parallel with the longest side.

The ribs of the fabric are running vertically in this photo.

2. Fold the fabric in half, hamburger style, with the ‘right side’ of the fabric facing in and pin the sides together in preparation for sewing.

3. Sew the sides of the hat up using a zigzag stitch. I used #4 on my machine.

4. Trim any excess from the sides.

5. Turn the hat right side out and roll up the bottom two times. Pin it in place in preparation for sewing.

6. Sew the roll of the hat all the way around the bottom using a zigzag stitch. Make sure not to sew the bottom shut! 😉

If you’d like, this can be your final product! I tried it on at this stage and it was a perfectly acceptable #pussyhat. 😉

7. Cut up some fabric scraps into ‘confetti’ – these will be the stuffing for our cat ears.

8. Use your confetti stuffing to stuff your ‘cat ears’ and then pin them in place. Make sure to use enough stuffing so they ‘stand up.’

9. Switch to a straight stitch on your machine and sew your cat ears shut.

10. For added texture and to help your ears stand up, use a straight stitch to sew a little ‘pinch’ into the backs of each ear. I did this by folding the cat ear in half and sewing there. Mine were about a centimeter in length.

11. And that’s it – your final product should be pink, stretchy, and have realistic-ish cat ears!

January 16, 2017

Super Easy Paper #Pussyhat

angelleconant Art, Living, Politics art, craft, creativity, DIY, easy, love trumps hate, paper, pink, pussyhat, women's march 2 Comments

Final Product

My husband, daughter and I will be marching in the Houston Women’s Sister March this Saturday to support the DC march and stand together to show that love trumps hate. Many of the women in the march on DC will be wearing pink ‘pussyhats’ (more info at the PussyHat Project) to give a strong visual statement and while I support their efforts to make a statement while simultaneously keeping people warm, I won’t be wearing a fleece, knitted or crocheted hat at the 78°F Houston Women’s March. 😉

Instead, I’ve created a SUPER EASY paper pussyhat (crown, really) that can be made in literally five minutes or less, and requires only 4 supplies. Perfect for any warm weather sister marches or last minute hat needs.

I’ll also be attempting to sew a hat out of thin, stretch knit in the next few days so stay tuned for that if you’d like something a little more permanent.

SUPER EASY PAPER #PUSSYHAT

BY: Angelle Conant

Gather supplies: pink construction paper, marker and tape or glue.

Fold construction paper in half lengthwise and draw a pattern for your cat ear crown. Place the ears approximately an inch and a half apart.

3. Cut your pattern out. You should now have 2 identical pieces.

Take the band that will make up the back part of your hat and cut off the ears.

You now have your two pieces and are ready to assemble. Overlap the band approximately half an inch and tape or glue together.

Wrap the hat around your head and see how much you need to overlap the other two sides of the band to make it fit your head properly. Adhere with tape or glue.