Kids Fox Hat

*** I wish I had a picture of the hat on a kid right now but I won't be seeing my niece or nephew for a day or so. The hat when it has shape looks a lot different than what is pictured when it is flat. I was just really excited about this hat though, so I wanted to post this right away. For now, enjoy my fat kitty Emperor Pilaf wearing it :)

You've probably seen those knitted and crocheted fox hats all over the place online. I know I have. I also know that I can't knit or crochet to save my life. I have always loved the idea of a hat that comes down and around to act like a build in scarf. I made this hat as a trial to test for fit on my niece and nephew, I hope to do more animals in the future.

The things you will need are :

- red, black and white fabric of your choice ( I used polar fleece)

- velcro

- thread

- a sewing machine

- scissors

paper or cardboard to make a template

- buttons (optional)

- stick pins

I didn't know exactly how to start with making this pattern. It took a little trial and error but eventually I got good shape. I'm not good with technology but I am willing to learn, for now I have a way you can make your own pattern. Hopefully soon I can learn how to make a PDF (not 100% sure what that is yet but I hear people mentioning it on here in regards to patterns and such)

As you can see I traced a medium sized mixing bowl to get a circle onto a piece of black bristol board. I then drew a line about 1/3 into the circle cutting it not quite in half. That straight edge will eventually be where the child's face (or adult's if you make it bigger) will peak through. I squared off the bottom slightly, but then quickly realized it would not make the pattern as long as needed. I then freehanded a long rectangle, this will create the "scarf" portion once everything is sewn up.

I drew a rounded triangle to make the ears. Make the ears as big or small as you wish, this will not effect the fit.

I had originally planned to make matching mittens, so please disregard the mitten shapes and white circle. The mittens will follow shortly, but I decided that this Instructable would be took long if they were in the same one.

You will need to cut out the hood shape 4 times and the ears twice in red. The black will be used just for the trim of the ears, you will need 2 of the same sized triangle as previously used for the red. Once the ear shapes were cut out, I trimmed down the ear pattern about 1 inch on 2 sides. I did this because we will be sewing it onto the black part of the ears and it will create the trim and inside of the ear. You will need to cut this smaller triangle 2 times in white fabric.

To make the ear you will need to first sew your white triangles onto your black ones. Polar fleece does not fray easily so I sewed them on without having to be concerned about the raw edges of the white. I then laid my black and white triangles onto one red triangle each. Be sure to put them together so the white triangle is on the inside, we are sewing "right sides" together. Sew up the sides but leave the bottom open, then the ear can be turned inside out. Do this step to both ears. once right side out I top stitched the two sides that I had just sewn and then added a small dart in the ear to add just a little cute detail.

As you can see by the picture I sewed the back and top of the hood shape, these started as two of the four hood pieces. Leave the bottom and the pacman looking mouth open. Once you do this to both sets you can put them "wrong sides together" and from here the placement of the ears and velcro can be mapped out.

With the two hoods together you can see how everything will come together once it is all sewn up. I used this time to sew on the velcro to the single hood so the final project would not have the stitching of it showing on the outside. I then used a marker and found a nice home for the ears, you can cut these lines just a bit smaller than the ears that you just sewed. I cut the slit slightly smaller because polar fleece has a lot of stretch and I knew it would fit it in.

When you find your desired spots for the velcro and ears, sew them on and in.

Sew both hoods together around the outside almost the entire way, you guessed it, right sides together. The gap you are leaving will make it possible to turn everything inside out. Once done, the next step is to top stitch around the outside. Top stitching this will make everything look neat and tidy, help hold all the layers together even more and seal up that hole we left.

You could add eyes or a nose if you wish at this point, I had every intention of doing so but changed my mind at the last minute. What I did add were completely useless buttons. All the pictures of these had I have seen that were knitted had gorgeous buttons and I loved them. I went out and got some cute buttons of my own. Once I had purchased the buttons I realized that they were not practical for young children. I didn't want to waste them, I thought they added a cute detail So here they stay, not functional but very pretty. I suppose this means one of my next Instructables should be the mittens! :)