I’ve always loved hats.  I think that’s the only thing I like about cold weather…it’s a good excuse to wear a cute hat.  I’m constantly on the hunt for fun and trendy hats to buy and embellish with fabric or wool flowers, beads, and the like.  It was fun having the embellished hats at the market this summer, watching people try them on and pose in front of the mirror (insert tilted-head kissy face look here).

I’ve been ready to take the hats one step further and make some warm winter hats from scratch, going through the whole process of cutting out the pieces, pinning, sewing (then removing the stitches and re-sewing correctly), and my favorite part of embellishing the hats with flowers and doo-dads.  Last weekend I was home with nowhere else to be, so I got out my bins of soft fleece that I’ve been stockpiling for just this occasion. 

The hats were surprisingly fun to construct (except for the removing of stitches and re-sewing correctly part).  Let me tell you, it makes life so much easier when you’re using the right kind of sewing machine needle and thread.  I was prepared for a wrestling match with my machine, but we didn’t have a single altercation during the process of making these five hats.

These warm and cozy hats will be for sale at the shop in the Wisconsin Museum of Quilting & Fiber Arts near Milwaukee.  Now for the next batch…one in hunter’s orange for me to wear while walking the dog during hunting season.  And a matching one for the dog.  You’ll definitely see us coming.