Fleece Hat How-To

In addition to finishing up some handmades for Christmas, I have been looking for the perfect fleece hat pattern. If I could knit one if I could, but my feeble attempts with yarn and needles have left me with a whole lotta nothing. But sewing I can do.

We usually travel to New Mexico to spend Christmas with our families. Our parents live above 7000 feet  and more often than not, it's cold and snowy at Christmastime. Being the desert dwellers we are, I scramble about trying to thrift or borrow warm winter outerwear for my children. I hate to buy it as the coats and hats and mittens we need for the trip will probably only be used once, twice at best before they are outgrown. It seems like such a waste. I lucked out this year. Their coats still fit. Just a little short on the wrists but no big deal. But hats and mittens? Not so lucky.

I happened to receive a flyer in the mail informing me that fleece was 50% off at the craft store. That, combined with TWO 50% off coupons and I was in business. New hats and mittens here we come! I let each child pick their fleece, and found a great tutorial from Martha herself here. I fiddled and fudged it a bit as I am a lazy seamstress and hate measuring, but I turned out a hat in a little less than twenty minutes. Cute cute cute and cheap cheap cheap! I have enough fleece left over to make hats for all my other desert Mom's who are heading out into the snowy blue yonder for the holidays. Here's the lowdown:

I measured their noggins and added a half inch for your seam allowances. For example, my daughter's head measured 19 1/2 inches so I cut my fleece to be 20 inches long.  I measured down around their ears so the hats will have enough give to cover them. I made the hat 10 inches tall so I ended up with a fleece rectangle 20 x 10.

 With right sides facing, sew down the open end. You'll end up with a fat looking tube thing. Fold the bottom end up about three inches and than under about 1/4 inch to make a cuff. Stitch all the way around.

Stitch the top of the hat closed. Turn right side out. Join the two corners of the top of the hat together with a single stitch. Using strong thread ( I just doubled regular old thread), bring the needle through the inside of one corner and down through the other. Pull thread tight so the corners meet at the center. Tie it off.

To make a pom pom, I cut a strip of fleece and fringed both sides, leaving about 1/4 inch uncut in the middle. Again, you don't have to measure anything unless you really feel the need. Roll that bad boy up burrito style and using a strong thread (or doubled thread)  bring the needle through the core of the pom-pom, and wrap the thread tightly around the center a few times. Bring needle through the core again, and tie a knot as close to the pom-pom as possible. Sew it to the top of the hat.

 

Presto! Warm heads. Are they perfect? No. Not by a long shot. These hats were number #1008 on a list of a million. I rushed the job. The seams are crooked, I didn't pin ANYTHING, and I would never let anyone inspect them up close. But you know what? I'm still pretty stinkin' proud of them. Now to find a fleece mitten pattern. Any suggestions?