How to Embroider Knit Hats
Embroidery is an easy way to personalize otherwise plain knit hats. You can add the wearer's initials, flowers or other embellishments, even a company or team logo. When shopping for knit hats to embroider, look for solid colors or wide stripes to provide a good contrast to your embroidery. Choose a simple graphic design or letters so your design will stand out. Make letters at least an inch high so that they can be read from a distance.
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Things You'll Need
- Graph paper
- Pencil
- Worsted weight yarn in the colors of your design
- Scissors
- Darning needle
Instructions
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1
Draw your design on graph paper. Each square of the graph paper represents one knit stitch on your hat. Have someone put on the hat and count the number of stitches across the front. This will be the space available for your design.
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2
Mark the center of the design with a safety pin. Do this while your model is wearing the hat. Be careful not to poke him with the pin.
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3
Cut a 12-inch piece of yarn and thread the darning needle. Don't knot the end.
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4
Insert the needle in the center of the design area from the wrong side, and pull it up through the hat to the right side, leaving a long tail of yarn free. Start at the bottom of the V formed by a single knit stitch.
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5
Insert the needle in the side of the knit stitch above the one your yarn has just emerged from. Bring the tip out on the other side of the stitch you just entered, emerging on the right side of the hat.
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6
Insert the needle in the bottom of the V of the first stitch, back where you started and pull it through to the wrong side. You have just stitched a V of your embroidery yarn on top of the V formed by the knitted yarn--a duplicate stitch. You've also completed one square of your grid.
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7
Continue making one duplicate stitch for each square of your graph paper, changing yarn colors as needed, always leaving a tail of yarn beneath.
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8
Turn the hat inside-out and use your darning needle to weave in all the tails of loose thread, weaving them between the knit stitches so that they're invisible from the outside of the hat and neatly tucked in on the wrong side.
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Tips & Warnings
Stretch your hat over the outside of an embroidery frame to make it easier to stitch.
