T-Shirt Beanie

I don't know about you guys, but I have t-shirts that I have saved from over ten years ago! Most of them are wearing thin and are destined for the trash heap. But, I came up with an idea to salvage a few of them. The best part about this tutorial is it's fast, easy, and you don't have to be an expert seamstress to get it to look virtually perfect.

First take an old t-shirt and a beanie that fits whoever it is you're making this for. I'm making mine for my 3 month old daughter. Lay the beanie at the bottom hem of the t-shirt, using the beanie for a pattern. Trace an outline with a disappearing quilting pen, or just hold the beanie firm and cut around it.

After this step, you should have 2 sides for your t-shirt beanie.

Next you're going to cut strips out of another portion of your t-shirt. Do a basting stitch down the center of the strips, being sure to do a reverse stitch at one end to hold it in place.

Pull on of the end strings of the basting stitch, gathering the strip of t-shirt into a ruffle.

Now, start stitching the ruffled strips to the front of your t-shirt beanie. Do strip after strip until you get something like this.

Then, pin the two pieces of your t-shirt beanie right-sides together and sew around the top. The original hem of the t-shirt will act as the bottom of your beanie and should remain open.

Ta-da! You have yourself a very cute, one-of-a-kind beanie. Although I did mine with ruffles, you could do it however you'd like. Just get a little clever and embellish it to your fancy.