Easy to Sew Fleece Hood

My brother likes to ski, and he told me that they aren't supposed to wear scarves while skiing, because you don't want to wear anything that might catch on a tree. We had a hood like this at the time, but it was light blue and covered in penguins, and my then 15 year old brother wanted nothing to do with a light blue penguin covered hood! So I looked at it and figured out how to make it, and he got a nice black one for Christmas that year. Then dad decided he liked it for working outside, so I had to make another one. The one I made in this instructable is going to mom, who wants one when she has to go outside too.

It's really easy to do, doesn't require any pattern, and can be made in under an hour.

Besides being really easy, it's also rather inexpensive. It takes:

One large chunk of fleece, about 3 feet by a little over 1 foot (It was a scrap I found around the house)
One shoelace (I'm sure you can find something to do with the other one on Instructables somewhere)
Pins
Scissors
A sewing machine

Fold the piece of fleece in half (right sides facing each other) so that you now have a 1 1/2 feet by 1 foot piece. I found that one of my ends was wider than the other, so I trimmed it all until it was equal.

Let's call the side with the fold "the top" so that I can explain this more clearly. On the left side,  starting at the bottom, pin about 9 inches up the side, making sure your fabric is lined up.

On the right side, pin about one foot up the side, then start arching deeper into the fabric, until you're 5 or so inches in. You want to do this in a curve.

Use the sewing machine to sew up the left side where you have pinned, making sure to backstitch at the beginning and end to keep it in place. I use a 1/4 inch seam on everything in this instructable, unless otherwise mentioned.

Start at the top, and place your fabric in the machine so that you're sewing along the top at first, not the side. Start at the beginning of the arc and slowly follow the curve of your pins until you're sewing along the right side. Go all the way down the side. (And of course back stitch at start and finish)

Unpin. Trim all the excess thread created by the sewing. Then use your scissors and trim the fabric around the curve, keeping a 1/4 inch seam between the end of the fabric and the sewing.

Fold the bottom edge over once, and then once again to create a finished edge. Pin it in place. Sew. Unpin. Trim the thread again.

If you start to get little bubbles between your pins, stretch the fabric a bit while you sew. This usually helps. Also, there will be two hard spots where you go over a seam and your machine is trying to go through five layers of fabric. It should go just fine, but you might need to hand crank your machine a little to get through that part, and/or pull the fabric through a bit if it isn't feeding through by itself.

Presume from now on I'm going to have you back stitch every time you sew.

There should be a hole on the left that you haven't sewed in. Fold the edge over just a little, and then fold it again about an inch in. Pin all the way around. Leave about three inches on both sides between your last pin and the place where you sewed on that side.

Below your end pins cut a small slit about 3/4 of an inch in. (And since you rolled the seam 1 inch in, it shouldn't show on the front in the end.)

Sew the rolled over part as close as you can to the inside part of the fabric. You need to leave a nice open tunnel so that you can pull the shoe string through it later.

Remove pins and trim thread again.

The cuts you made formed two triangles. For each of those fold a little and then over again, as you did in the previous step. Between those, fold the fabric over just once. Pin. Tack all of these down by sewing over them a few times.

I find that sometimes threading the string through the fabric is easier if I tie a knot in one end. I then pushed this through the large tunnel of fabric. (I used a method of scrunching up the fabric around the tip of the shoelace, and then grabbing the tip and pushing the fabric past it. But I know there are other ways out there, like pushing it through with a knitting needle. Do whatever works for you). Untie the knot. Slip each end under the two triangles you sewed down.

Just pull right-side out, and you're done! Ready to give to your family or friends, or to keep for yourself, if you prefer.

(Or give to your nutcracker? You have to admit he's kinda cute with the drawstrings scrunched up around his face)