Monster Hoods! Keep Warm and Look AWESOME in Cold Weather!

Monsters in the Hood.

I wanted to make Monster Hoods for a while...it just took
a few days of freezing temperatures to motivate me!

Everyone designed their own hoods.
We all got in on the fun!

And, as usual, there's a ton of pictures!  Buckle up!

To begin,
I had each of my kids draw a sketch of what they wanted their monster to look like.

My husband said he wanted one too!  He sketched up his vision as well!

Then I bought a bunch of fleece!
I spent $15 and made 5 hoods...making them about $3 each.  Not bad!  I got about 2/3's yard of each hood color.
I was lucky and found the polka dots, red, black and
white fleece in the remnants bin...perfect!
Fleece is wonderful, because it doesn't fray...so there isn't a lot of extra hemming or edging!

You'll need some scraps of colored fleece for decorations!  (I got 1/8 yard pieces)

You'll also need some poly fill stuffing
A sewing machine
Embroidery floss or thick thread and a needle for hand-stitching
Felt  (we used white for teeth...you could just use fleece)
Snaps (optional)
scissors

I started with the youngest.
I took a hoodie of his that currently fits to use as the pattern.
Make sure your fleece is folded in half, so when you cut, you are cutting out 2 pieces.
I cut it about an inch or 2 bigger than the hoodie.

They fit loosely and can be worn right over a hoodie!
( I used an adult large hoodie for all the other hoods...for the 8 year old up to adults)

Then cut an identical set out of contrasting fleece...this will be the inside of the hood.

For the adult sized hoods they measured 18" tall and 15" wide.
I got 2/3 a yard of fleece and had some leftovers...good for the decorating!

Sew around the hood top to the back.
I had my presser foot right on the edge of the fabric, with the needle in the left position.

Based off the kids sketches...I cut out the shapes for the horns, spikes, eyeballs and accessories.
Cut your fleece about a 1/2 inch larger than you want it to turn
out to make room for seam allowances.

Then sew around the shapes, leaving the bottoms open.
Turn them so the seams are in the inside...or get the kids to come help!

For the cyclops, I knew we needed a large eyeball.
I cut a free hand circle almost as big as my scissors.

I stuffed everything with poly-fil.  We had a huge bag full ($7), but barely used any...

I hand stitched with embroidery floss around the outside edge of the circle.
In and out and in and out...the older kids (8 and 10) did their own hand sewing.

Stuff it with "cotton",
Pull it tight and tie it off.

Fabulous eyeball shape.  It just needs a felt or fleece pupil hot glued on.

The horns were a bit harder.
After stuffing them I pinned them in place on the hood.
You could just handstitch these on...but I used the sewing machine.
I just lined up my presser foot to the edge of the material
and held the horn while I stitched it slowly.

You can see the inside here...not a perfect circle,
but fine enough for monster horns!

Then I used the same approach for the spikes.
Just pinned them in place and sewed them on!

For the teeth I used white felt.
I sewed it on facing up into the face.
This way after the lining was sewn on, they would poke out.

I did hand sew the eyeballs onto the hoods.  Just stitched them on really tight...and tied it off.
It doesn't have to look pretty because the lining will cover it!  Yay for lining!

Okay, now sew your lining of the hood.
You will see I moved my presser foot about 1/4" away from the edge.
This will make the lining a little tighter than the outside of the hood.
Helps it fit nicely together!

Now.  You want to fit the 2 hood pieces RIGHT sides together.
So I have the freshly sewn hood with the seam exposed on the outside,
and the monster hood with all the accessories shoved inside the lining...
the hideous stitches are all showing.

Then you will sew the 2 hoods together starting the the big stretch that frames the face
(as opposed to the part that sits on the neck)
Just a straight stitch will do the trick!

Once you are done with that, you will be able to see down inside the hoods like a bag.
Flip them right side out!

And fit the lining of the hood inside the monster hood.
Then sew a straight stitch across the base of the neck part.

(You could sew this right onto a sweatshirt, t-shirt or robe!)

Oooh!  See how perfect!?

Then my dashing husband swooped in and saved the day!
He put a snap at the base of the chin!  Helps to keep it all in place!

Yes, huge success with the 4 year old!
He loved that his concept became the finished product!

And, no one bothered to wipe his face before our pictures...oops!

Next was the 10 year olds.
He wanted spikes, a tall horn and red eyes!
We might have made the horn a bit too tall...but it's cool how different his looks!

The spikes were just sewn on flat, and then fluffed up for wear!
They stick up just fine!

Right on with his sketch!

Next was our little girly girly age 8.
She wanted red horns, multicolored spikes and cat eyes with eyelashes!

The spikes were inserted and pinned into the outside of the hood before I sewed the 2 pieces together...
this way they stick up down the back seam.

We added cat-slit pupils and eyelashes

Eyeballs hand-stitched on, the teeth sewn in place and then the lining sewn on!

Cute!  We found rainbow fleece for her, so it's a little different than pictured...
but the face is the same!

My 3 little monsters!

he wanted black with gray horns and one eye.  Simple.
Easy!  This one went really fast!

My plan changed a dozen times!
I ended up finding this polka dotted fleece, so I went with a simple design...and 3 eyes!
Ta da!  I love the blue lining!
And these hoods are so nice and warm!
It was a cold and windy afternoon when we took the pics
and everyone was more than happy to wear their hoods!  So fun!

And there you have it!  One fabulous Monster family!

I am thinking I'll use these as Christmas Card photos! 
I love how these hoods turned out!

Thanks for sticking out the 17 steps of instructions!  (my longest yet!)
Hope you enjoyed it! 
Like, really enjoyed it...like on your way to get some fleece to make your own, enjoyed it!

These would be great gifts for little boys...nephews, grandchildren, friends...

Check out my blog doodlecraft for more awesome projects!

And please vote for me in the SEW WARM contest!  :)
I'll be your best friend!