Before beginning, I carried out some small experiments to see how I could manipulate small pieces of denim using different types of stitching, which I would then include in my final design.

For this challenge we had to re purpose old denim clothing into something new. As I have limited experience with textiles I decided to create a bobble hat as I felt it would be the best item for using scrap denim and the running stitch. I managed to gather three pairs of old jeans, one black, which allowed me to introduce different tones. I began with the bobble by cutting squares of denim and placing a running stitch up the middle and pulling it through to ruche the material. Once I had made around 30 of these, using a needle and thread, I pulled the thread through the middle of all the squares to create a chain. Then using the two end parts of thread, tied them together to create a circle.

For the main body of the hat, I cut four pieces of denim, two black and two blue, I used the running stitch on the inside of the edges and joined them together to create a tube shape. To create the large hem at the bottom, I added an extra piece of denim, and tidied up the edges with the stitching. I found this the more difficult and fiddly of the two parts as I had to be careful of where I was stitching to make sure I didn’t join the wrong parts.

I am pleased with the outcome of this hat as it is recognisable as a bobble hat and I feel my stitching is reasonably tidy and secure. However, I would have preferred to make the bobble lighter and smaller so that it wasn’t as top heavy and in proportion.