fleece hat tutorial

[felicity869.livejournal.com]

Since tons of people asked for one I made it but I can't promiss that it will make sense :)

There are patterns for making fleece hats so you might want to just go
buy one of those. Personally I'm too poor :) This is how I made them
and probably not the best, fastest or easiest way...
Normal Fleece Hat:
1. Cut out two large half circles. (see figure 1 bellow) I'm not sure how big it needs to be but try to think of the size and shape of a normal beanie and then make it bigger than that. It's best to have it be too big than too small
because after sewing it you can always make it smaller but you can't make
it bigger.
2. Lay your two half circles on top of each other with the part that
you will want to be the outside when you're done on the inside. Fleece
usually looks the same on both sides so it doesn't really matter.
3. Sew along the edge in the big U shaped part. (fig. 2)
4. Now flip it right side out and try it on, if it looks good and fits
right on top then skip to step 6 but if it's loose or bumpy try step 5.
5. You can try either A or B or both:
a) flip it inside out again and sew along the U shaped part, this time a little inside of you last stitches so that it is smaller
b) with your hat inside out fold it so your existing seems are going down the middle and there are no seems on the side (fig 3). Then starting about halfway up on the side sew along the edge until you get halfway down on the other side. Make sure your stitches start at the edge so you don't end up with a funny looking spot that pokes out. (fig 4)
Fleece is really stretchy and you can usually get a nice rounded
shape without doing part B but I've noticed it usually does help make it
more rounded and look better (but sheesh it's a pain)
6. With the hat inside out, fold the bottom edge over. (fig 5) Sew along that
edge, making sure to gently rotate your hat as you go so it doesn't
stretch and to keep the bottom edge even. (fig 6) You could pin it down and/or
iron it down but I never bother.
7. Cut the excess off the edges so that your seams are small and don't
look weird when you have the hat on. Cut any threads that you didn't
cut along the way.
8. Flip it right side out and enjoy.(fig 8)








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Animal Hat:
You do everything the same way as above except for adding the animal
parts (ears, whiskers, eyes, nose mouth etc). Adding the details on the
face before you actually sew the hat makes it easier but since the
fleece usually shifts and stretches while making the hat I usually do this
step last so everything is even.
To make ears: Do step 1 first and set that aside. Cut 4 pieces of the
same shape (which depends on what animal you're making). Take two of
those pieces, and lay them on top of each other, inside out. Sew along the
otter part (the part that won't be touching your head). Flip them right
side out. Do that for both ears. Now sandwich them between the two hat
pieces with the ear's edge barley showing and the rest in the hat. Keep
in mind that at this point everything is inside out and backwards so if
you want the ears to point up when your done they should be pointing
down when you sew them. Then follow the above instructions starting at
step 2.

Whiskers: can be made out of fishing line, yarn and embroidery thread.

Eyes & nose: can be a bit of fleece or felt sewn on, buttons, painted
on or you can buy 'buttons' from the craft store that are for making
stuffed bears. If you buy the eye and nose 'buttons' they look like
plastic screws in the back and they will dig into your head if you don't cut
off some of the excess plastic and or add some padding around them when
you're done.

Mouth: (Don't use a sharpie because it looks awful and smears easily).
You can use yarn, paint, embroidery thread, or whatever you want.

Other things to try: make tail to go on the back of the hat, I realize
most animal's tails are not located on their heads but I've seen it
done before and it looks cute. Make a dinosaur hat by having the front
piece be a half circle and the back be two pieces that when sewn together
make a long oval that gets pointer towards the bottom and sew lots of
little triangles down the back.
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The cat hat was made without step 5.b and the panda had did use step 5b:


This is what it looks like when it's inside out:

I realize the pictures look bad and the tutorial is probably confusing. If you have any questions feel free to ask.