Fleece Hats Tutorial & GIVEAWAY! (Finally!)

Finally!

After sickness & health, computer crashes & migraines this doggone post is finally done. And I'd like to say it's SO amazing that it's completely worth the wait but at this point...well...you decide. Regardless it's here, woohoo!!!

I absolutely love the kitty & doggie hats but they're just too small for Samster. I've been wanting to find a way to say thankyou to all of you for your sweet comments & wonderful support so I figured giving away some extras of the crafts I make might be nice. If this one goes well I'll be sure to do it with future tutorials too!

I'd say these are good for anywhere around the 3-9mth age depending on your little one's noggin size. Enter by leaving a comment letting me know a.) which hat you'd prefer & b.) if you're getting your little one and/or yourself vaccinated for swine flu. Random, I know, but it's totally on my mind since the family's been sick & I'm curious what other mom's thoughts are. Samster will choose one doggie comment and one kitty comment randomly on Wednesday at 7pm.

Now for the personalized pompom hat, here's the tutorial:

(click on any images to enlarge them)

To make your pattern cut out two pieces that are shaped similar to the one below, it's basically a rounded square that's slightly flared at the bottom. I think it's ok if it's not perfect because the hat is supposed to look kind of whimsical anyway. Just make sure the bottom width is 1/2 of your child's head size + 1/2" for seam allowance. For example Sam's head is 18" around so each of my hat pieces were 9 and 1/2" wide along the bottom. Make sense?

Sew them together leaving a 1/4" seam allowance & leaving the bottom of the hat open

Turn the hat right side out and sew a 1/4" hem along the bottom. Fleece doesn't fray so this technically isn't necessary but I think it looks nice.

Now for the pompom fun. You ready? Are you sure? It's gonna be crazy! You've been warned. (clearly the cold meds haven't worn off yet.)

Ok, 1st thing you'll need is a pompom maker. You can buy these in the knitting section of your craft store but to make them all you'll need is some thin cardboard. (I always keep the cardboard inserts on fat quarters for stuff just like this) You'll want to draw a circle (I used the bottom of a mod podge bottle) & then a smaller center circle. Cut this design out of both pieces.

Set aside your pompom maker for a minute and cut your fleece strips for the pompoms. Make them nice and long & 1/2" wide. The length of your strips depends on the size of pompoms you'll make. Each of my pompoms took two 28" long strips. Don't worry though, if you don't cut yours long enough you can just add on while you're making the pompom.

Next pick up your pompom maker and begin winding the strips of fleece around the cardboard. (I'm holding the two cardboard circles together by the way)

Continue winding strips until you've covered the entire pompom maker like this,

Now to finish you're going to wiggle your scissors between the two layers of cardboard and snip through all of the fleece strips while being sure to hold the layers in place with your other hand. Next take the end of your fleece strip and wrap it between the two cardboard circles, pull tight & knot. It sounds confusing but if you follow the pics below it's actually really easy.

Fluff it up and your pompom is done!
To attach it to your hat you're going to make two small holes in each of the hat tips and pull the pompom strings through. (the hat should be right side out)

Firmly knot them together on the inside of the hat.That's it! Embellish the hat however you'd like, you could use fabric paint, beading, embroidery or hand stitch on some other fleece shapes like I did. Sam's has a big pink "S" on it.

The doggie & kitty hats are basically the same technique just slightly different pattern shapes, some hand embroidery & minus the pompoms of course.

Have fun & stay cozy!