How to Sew Full Head Ski Hat and Mask

If you live in weather like Wisconsin's, you better ski. If you ski in weather like Wisconsin's, you better have a full head ski hat and mask to avoid frostbite. After searching for ski hat and mask to buy, the only things I found aren’t quite right. I decided to make them myself for my daughter and my husband who go cross country and downhill skiing a lot in Wisconsin's long winter. I want the hat and mask to cover the full head, allow them to see well, allow them to wear prescription glasses, allow them to breathe without moisture condensation at nose and mouth positions, allow my daughter to wear horse tail outside the hat so her hair doesn't tickle her neck. In this instructable, I'll show how I accomplished that through trial and error.

Please follow along the following simple steps if you want to know how I come to the finished hat and mask. If you just want to make an one size fit all children's hat and mask, you can skip to the last step for the pattern to use, and the best news is the sewing part takes less than 3 minutes once you have the pattern I provide in the last step.

Things used:

Sewing machine

Universal ball point sewing machine needle

Fleece fabric

Clover Chaco-Liner Markers

Tailor's scissors

tape measure, ruler, thread, etc.

Note: This article may contain affiliate links as references for the same or similar products used in this project. If you click on the links and make purchases I could receive a small percentage of commission from the advertising company with no extra cost to you.

I started with a tube concept and then I'm going to cut out for eyes, nose, and mouth. So for children, I started with a rectangular piece of fabric that is 20" wide by 17" tall, on fold it's 10" by 17".

If you are completely new to sewing and working with fabrics, make sure the stretch-ness direction of the fabric is across the head not up and down the head.

After I stitched the rectangular piece into a tube and pulled it on a head, I found I need to trim a portion at the bottom to fit the back neck shape and remove excessive fabric to fit the shape of the back top of the head. The pattern piece became what is shown in second photo here.

Place the pattern on fold on fabric and cut the fabric.

Mark the front center.

Mark and cut the openings for eyes, nose and mouth.

As shown in the picture.

Fit the hat and mask so far over a head.

Pin along where it needs to be stitched/darted to remove excessive fabric.

Stitch along the pin line.

Remove excessive fabric to the stitching line.

Turn it right side out and you can call it done. it's totally functional.

After fit it on my daughter, I decided to make minor modifications: Make the slit for nose about 5/8" higher/closer to eyes; Cut a slit for mouth too instead of sharing the opening with nose to breathe.

There are only two pattern pieces for this project which are attached. Place the first pattern piece on fabric and cut the fabric. Place the second pattern piece on the fabric cut from the first pattern piece and cut the openings for eyes, nose, and mouth. Stitch the top two side seams and then the back seam. The whole process takes literally about 3 minutes to make an one size fit all children's ski hat and mask with a horse tail hole on the back.

If you are interested in the patterns for making children's ski hat and mask without horse tail hole or adult size ski hat and mask, head over to my etsy shop.

Please vote it for Homemade Gifts Contest and Design For Kids Challenge if you like it. Thanks.

Stay warm!