How to sew a baby Santa Hat tutorial

I was searching for a tutorial on how to make a baby Santa hat, and found crochet and knitting tutorials and patterns galore but nothing for sewing with knits or fleece.  I played around and made a couple cute versions for my daughter, so hopefully this very loose tutorial can help someone else.

If you choose to do the traditional santa hat, it is a bit easier.  I used a serger for this project, but it was really just because I have a new serger that I was excited and wanted to use.  A regular sewing machine would work just as well.

1. Measure your child's head.  My daughter's head was a little over 18.25 inches in circumference.

2. Make hat width about half of the child's head size.  I made it 9 inches wide.  Cut bottom 9 inches wide, and then go up about 2 inches on the left and right sides of the hat.  For the band, cut white fleece rectangle 18 inches (double the red part's width) by 6.5 inches.  Make sure the direction of stretch is widthwise when cutting all pieces.

3. Cut the angle for the Santa Hat.  I made mine 60 degree angles using the marking on my quilting ruler.  I just cut up and let them intersect.

4. I cut the top part off because of how I was attaching the fleece pom pom.  If you are hand sewing, I would just leave the angle and sew it on once completed.  Don't try to serge the fleece with the pom pom in it.  Don't ask me why I know that.  Just trust me… it's not worth trying to do no matter how clever it seems.

Example pom pom tutorials: 

Fleece pom poms from "What does she do all day?" 

Fleece pom poms from "Pretty Prudent"

Wool pom pom from "Parenting Fun Everyday"

Looped thread pom pom (blog not in english, but has self-explanatory pictures)

Purl Bee method using special pom pom maker

Cardboard circle method from "One Crafty Mumma"

5. Sew together the red top angled part of the hat.  If you are using a regular sewing machine, a straight stitch would work for this part.

6. Sew the white rectangle band piece with right sides together on the short end.  Fold the band in half with right sides together.  Sew the white band and red hat together.  If you are using a regular machine, I would use a zig zag stitch for this part so that it will have some stretch to fit on your child's head.

7. Fold the band down and it is ready for wear!

The skull cap version is a little bit more complicated, but not if you have a hat pattern.

Step one: Get hat pattern.  If you have a knit hat on hand that fits, you can trace it and then add seam allowances to get the proper size.  If you want to make a size 0-3 months, you can use the pattern provided at Zaaberry.  Her instructions on how to assemble the hat are very good and very well photographed, so I recommend using her tutorial for assembly.  

Step two: Cut out two hat pieces and one band piece.  The main hat pieces will be red and the band will be white.  Take care to make sure the direction of the fabric stretch is horizontal so that it can stretch and stay on your little one's head.  

Step three: Make white pom pom or get pom pom for top of the hat.  Or buy some pom poms from the store, whatever is easiest.  Whatever method you use, make sure there is some thread or fleece or other method of attachment to sew into the hat.  If not, you can hand sew it on at the end.  

Step three: Prepare and Sew together the hat pieces.  Fold the hat piece in half and sew the cut out portion first.  Repeat for second piece.  Then put the right sides together and sew the half moon shape leaving the opening for the head.  Sew the rectangle band piece with right sides together on the short end.  Fold the band in half with right sides together.  

Step four:  Sew the band and hat together.

I originally had planned to sew a pom pom on the top, but it really fits better under a hood without one. The colors still read Santa hat without the pom pom.  Enjoy!

Linking up to: Make it, Wear it from The Train to Crazy, Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story, You Flew Tuesdays at Feather's Flights, "We did it Wednesday" at Sew Much Ado,  and Friday Favs Party at Nap Time Crafters.

Chambray shorts

I often feel like an impostor when I sew clothing.  I am self-taught and learn a lot of things the hard way.  Then, when I was watching Project Runway several weeks ago the winning designer (Alexandria) used chambray and the judges loved how she used the fabric!  It made me feel a little better about myself.  I am not an impostor when I used the same fabric in these shorts, and used it before Project Runway did.

That is not to say I am by any means anything other than a beginning seamstress when it comes to clothing, but I think I make nice quality garments for my daughter.  If they weren't, I would not let her wear them and I wouldn't waste my own time to make them.  There are already too many cheap, ready to wear options to waste time and fabric on substandard homemade substitutes.  I aspire to fully support high quality and ethically produced clothing, but time and financial constraints exist.  That was slightly deeper than I originally meant to go.

Now, on to the shorts.  These are the ever popular Elegance and Elephants Bubble Shorts in size 6 months.  The fabric is a blue chambray that is a nice weight for baby shorts.  It was a little more challenging to sew with than regular quilting cotton because of the edges fraying more than I am used to.  However, the fraying issue was not bad enough to deter me from sewing with this fabric again.  It is enough of an issue that the seams need to be finished though.  I used french seams to finish mine.

My daughter's favorite part of these shorts are the tie.  What's better than a string to play with that you can't drop or lose?

One final parting shot of her adorableness and the irony of childhood - every toy she could ever want and one of her favorites is an old remote.

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