DIY: Creating your own Boot Socks & Baby Owlet Hat

Okay, so I posted this DIY project over on the blog that I write for almost on a daily basis (cincysavers.com) and thought I must share this with you because these projects were not only easy to do but so much fun to create!

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You know what, I bet somewhere in your home, you have an old sweater that you not longer wear. Perhaps your children outgrew their sweaters from last year? Well, before you donate them, consider using your old favorites for a variety of different DIY projects. From home decor to fashionable boot socks, old sweaters can be re purposed into some pretty cool things, all with minimal sewing skills needed.

What inspired me to try my hand at a few ‘sweater projects’ was Pinterest. If you haven’t been on this fabulous site of inspiring images, I suggest you check it out. You can start by browsing our DIY Sweater Projects Board to get inspired for this DIY Tuesday! There are some super talented and creative people out there creating some pretty amazing things out of sweaters.

Alright, so let us get started. I didn’t actually have an old sweater to cut up, so I made a trip out to St. Vincent De Paul last night and found this oversized gray sweater for $2.00. After bringing it home and staring at it for a bit, I though I’d attempt to create 2 different projects out of it. Hey, why not?

I ended up creating super cute boot socks and an owlet hat for my little guy.

Supplies Needed:

• Sharp Scissors
• Embellishments for your boot socks such as lace, buttons, fringe, ribbon, etc.
• Button Thread ( it is a bit thicker than normal thread)
• Needle
• Felt sheets in various colors (I purchased mine at Hobby Lobby 4/$1)
• Small buttons to use for the owl eyes

For the boot socks, I cut off the sleeves of the sweater with the end of the sleeve being the top of the boot sock. I then sewed little buttons onto the top of the sleeves. The idea for this came from this particular pin on Pinterest. You can get an idea of all the creative things you can do with your new fab boot socks. 


By the way, if you want them to be more like socks instead of leg warmers, you can sew the sleeves to a pair of warm fuzzy winter socks. I just choose to leave mine more like leg warmers, hemming the bottom of them by hand.

The second project conquered with the remainder of the sweater was a little owlet hat for my baby.

Just so you have a better idea of how I cut all this out of one sweater, here is an illustration:

The sweater I purchased from St. Vincent De Paul happened to have a turtle neck, so I used that as a band around the base of the that, but it isn’t necessary.

Next, I sewed the two pieces of the hat together, then sewed on the band last. Even though I have a sewing machine, I wanted to hand sew it using the thick button thread and an overcast stitch. It gives the hat a more handmade look.

After sewing the hat together, I gathered three sheets of felt from my craft room, a burnt orange, ivory and dark brown. In the dark brown I cut out 2 wide triangles for the owl ears and two large circles. In the ivory, I cut out two more circles, just a tad smaller than the brown ones. Lastly,  I cut out another wide triangle fromf the burnt orange felt for the beak.

                            

I then sewed the buttons to the ivory circles to create the owls eyes and glued the dark brown triangles to the top of the hat using the same overcast stitch I mentioned earlier. Using Liquid Stitch, I glued the eyes and beak on, allowing everything to dry overnight. This morning, I went around the perimeter of the eyes and beak with the overcast stitch to help reinforce the felt pieces.

And here it is below, the finished hat! I am so in love with it and it is even cuter when it is on my little ones head!

                                  

Let me know if you try any of the DIY sweater projects out... I would love to hear all about it! XO, Megan