Charity Sewing and Wintertime Growing

It’s not officially winter yet but the daytime weather has cooled into the 30s and 40s while the nighttime lows are hitting the low 20s and teens. In other words, it’s chilly. While my 4 little bundles of joy (yes, there are 4 of them) possess all the coats and snow-pants and snow-boots they could possibly need this winter, they lacked adequate headgear. The hats they had last year are either gone or too small or so disliked that the kids won’t wear them. Daunted by the very idea of finding kid’s hats for my pumpkin-headed offspring, I did what any other moderately handy parent does: I searched Pinterest. Within minutes I found this post and knew I’d hit the jackpot. It has a kid-sized version too, but my munchkin’s noggins are enormous so even the baby can easily wear the adult hat.

Then I had to find a pattern for mittens because I knew the kids would enjoy matching hat and mittens. This post has kids mittens in 3 sizes and is super easy to sew as well. (For adult mittens, I plan to use this pattern.)

Seriously, if you want to sew some hats for your kids or as gifts or to give away, these patterns are pretty much perfect. They work well for batch cutting and sewing. Color-blocking or adding a little ribbon tag to one seam makes them unique and easy to personalize.

I bought four colors of fleece: purple, royal blue, neon green, and orange. A half-yard of fleece made either 2.5 hats, 2 hats and 2 pairs of kids mittens, or 1 hat and 3 pairs of kids mittens. Just because I hate sewing pairs of anything, I plan to make more hats than mittens, but I do find the mittens a great way to help use up random scraps that aren’t quite big enough for a hat.

The ultimate destiny for these hats and mittens is the charity just down the road that hands out clothes and other necessities to those in our area who are struggling. We have worked hard this year to instill in our kids the idea of giving to others those things that we no longer need or have outgrown. The kids actually enjoy getting rid of stuff they don’t want anymore and will eagerly help make room in their toy bins and dresser drawers by donating toys and clothes. I hope this idea grows with the kids and that they never hesitate to share their own bounty with those in need.