Fleece Hat with ear flaps- DIY TUTORIAL

by on in Sewing (General)

Cozy Fleece Hat Days

Brrr! It’s been chilly here in North Central Florida. We’ve had several nights now where we’ve had to cover plants or bring some indoors. Frost and freezing nights are a little more than what we are used to here especially when my kids want to spend all day outside. I whipped up an easy pattern and tutorial for this super warm and comfy fleece hat with ear flaps. I think it will come just in time for a lot of you who live in waaaay colder climates than us! It’s especially important for kids to keep their heads warm in cold weather.

 

The fleece hat is fully reversible and really easy to sew up. If you are a beginner definitely think about giving this project a try! I also enjoy working with fleece because the raw edges don’t fray and it’s very forgiving.

 

A few tips for sewing with fleece: 
– Check your machine’s manual to see if you can loosen up the presser foot tension {not the top thread tension- two totally different things}.  The bulky layers of fleece can be difficult to keep even if the presser foot is biting down on your fabric too tight.

– Use a walking foot (Amazon affiliate link) on your machine if you have one. It always makes my sewing life easier. If you don’t have one click HERE (Amazon affiliate link) to find a compatible one for your sewing machine.

Side view of the fleece hat. Super soft & comfy!
 

To get the FREE fleece hat PDF pattern in two sizes- Adult and Child head over to my shop to buy it for $0.00. Just sign up and get your pattern for FREE! {Patterns are one size fits most.}

 

Note: When printing your patterns make sure your printing settings are set to 100% or the original size. Do NOT select the “fit to page” option.  You want to make sure they print out at the proper scale and I’ve included a little 1″ x 1″ square to help you check that you printed it out correctly.

 
 
Gotta keep my babies warm while we harvest veggies from the garden!      
Now I’ll leave you with the step-by-step video tutorial where I will also share with you…. my new haircut!! Let me know what you think of it.  I’m trying to start 2013 with a fresh new look. Hope you enjoy!
 
Click HERE to watch the video.
Happy New Year, everybody!

CLICK TO BUY PDF PATTERN FOR $0.00
 
When you’re ready to level-up and create the CUTEST fleece hats you’ve ever seen, check out these peeker fleece hats with an adorable bear on top!

95 replies on “Fleece Hat with ear flaps- DIY TUTORIAL“

  • Katy

    Love the pattern! Will definately be making this hat this week for my grandsons. Will have to check out the fleece fabric on sale at my local fabric shoppe.
    Love the new hair cut! A new year with a new and fresh look. Reminds me I need a hair cut too! Lol..Honestly, you look fab.

  • Anonymous

    Great pattern and tutorital. Love working with fleece because it doesn’t ravel. I may make a matching scarf. Your hair looks great. Great length for you. Happy New Year to you and your family.

  • kim kruse - - - the sassy crafter

    Cute pattern! Wish I had seen it before I headed to Idaho for the holidays. I could’ve whipped up a cute hat for my little one using some of the felted wool sweaters I have lying around the house. Oh well — I’ll file it away for next year. Love your new haircut!

  • Sewing Susi

    oh yes! I am going to go through my stash of fleece. I have 6 grandchildren. One is 3 months old so I will have to make an adjustment for his little head. Thank you. You are very good.

  • Sarah's Fingers

    Thanks for the tutorial,It seems easy,I hope it is!^^
    I had the same problem with my hair,and I love yours!:) Mine are always thin…:p
    Thanks again,and i’m going to like your page on FB! See ya!:)

  • Anonymous

    gonna do this. you do a very good tutorial and your instructions are so easy to follow.
    i just wonder why you dont have your own tv show?

  • Anonymous

    Great pattern and tutorial~! It was absolutely perfect for a costume of mine, thank you for making the pattern available!
    (And, your hair looks friggin’ fab.)

  • Blossom

    I was looking all over the Internet for a fleece hat pattern for my 15 and 10 year olds. This is perfect! Stylish enough for older kids and teens. We went to Joann’s today, so they could pick out fleece for their hats. I’m going to get started on them tomorrow. Thanks so much for the tutorial! Very cute hair, too, by the way!

  • ferrelli

    I just finished a hat for my grandson. I put a Mohawk strip on the center seam and clipped the fabric every 1/4 inch to give it the fun fringed look. This tutorial was simple and fabulous. Thanks for sharing! By the way, I pinned your tutorial on Pinterest so you might get lots of hits! Thanks again!

  • Flyboy

    My wife is a quilter, and is helping a friend complete 10 quilts for Christmas presents. That produces somewhat of a scheduling problem, if I want to finish another project, This was my second sewing project. The first was a pair of pajama pants. .No, actually, the hat was the third… I got a shirt that was my XL size in the body, but had 32 in. sleeves, and my arms are 35-36 in. (NO, my knuckles don’t drag on the ground!) That made a great short-sleeved shirt!
    I had to enlarge the basic hat pattern about 5%…unenlarged, it is a bit tight.. It is the best winter hat I have!
    Great tutorial; so far, I have made 3, and have enough fleece for another.
    Maybe I’ll make one with ear flaps, for standing in the cold and snow, photographing guys in fast cars sliding around on a motocross track.
    What will they think of next? Men with sewing machines…do we call ourselves Seamsters.?
    One day, when experience is sufficient, I’d like to make myself a hooded fleece robe, but am having trouble finding a pattern in my size.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you so much for this tutorial. I adapted the pattern to add ears, eyes and a mane of hair for little pony hats. They are adorable and I know I will have one happy grandchild on Christmas morning. Your tutorial is so easy to follow, and great that if one gets a bit stuck on what to do next you can just call it up and watch it again. I am looking forward to more tutes from you. 🙂

  • J Mizforx

    Pattern was perfect in the download. Watched the tutorial twice to make sure I knew the process. Put it together in no time at all. What a great hat for our grandson to find on Christmas Day. Thanks for every thing! You are a sweetie!

  • Recycling Booklady

    I’m a school librarian and had been looking for a way to make one of these hats so I could add the details for it to be a Pete the Cat hat to go along with that series of picture books when I read them to my young students! THANK YOU for sharing both the pattern and the excellent tutorial!

  • Liszt

    Hello Vanessa,

    Happy new year !

    I am french and I am a sewing beginner (I began on september 2013 with no knowledges at all). I discovered your blog at the end of december and I wanted to make your fleece hat with ear flaps. Although I do not have the sewing vocabulary in english (neither in french :P), I understand really well your explanations because they were really clear and I appreciated the step-by-step video where each step is well described.

    With your advices, I bought a walking foot and it changed my life. I tried once to use fleece, and it was a disaster. Today is my first success with fleece, and I am proud of it. I will give this hat to my husband and make lots of them for me and my family.

    Just would like to thank you a lot 🙂

    See you on your blog and on other tutorials 🙂

    Stephanie

  • Anonymous

    Since coming across your tutorial and pattern for the earflap hat, I have made three, using polar fleece for the lining and felted wool for the outside. They turned out so well! It’s very generous of you to offer your well articulated demonstration and pattern to the WORLD. You are helping to keep a lot of people “rockin” in very cool hats and cozy warm as well. Thank you so much!

  • Anonymous

    I am making one of these for my wife tonight. Actually, I have it all cut out and just checking back to the video to make sure I remembered the directions 🙂
    Ready to sew it all together now.

    Donnie

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  • Gracie

    I found you when I was looking for inspiration to make a ram costume for my son’s nativity play at church! So glad I found you! Thank you for the inspiration and your great tutorials! Love your new haircut, by the way!

  • Gwen

    I just finished making the fleece hat with ear flaps for my 9 yr old daughter – its so cute and she loves it! She wouldn’t wear her Hanna Anderson hat anymore bc a 5th grade boy made fun of it on the bus, so I thought she might wear one if I made it. I had been looking for an easy fleece hat pattern with flaps and found your site. Your tutorial was very clear and concise. I used some fleece leftovers I received from a fellow quilt guild member; one was white with flowwers and the other light green with white polka dots (which I used for the inside). My daughter wanted pom-poms, so I made them with strips of the green/polka dot fleece and added them to the ear flaps and top of the hat, making it not exactly reversible : ) I made a simple scarf to match. I don’t have a facebook account but would love to send you a photo; let me know if you have a public e-mail address and I’ll send it there. Thanks!

  • Peggy Parker

    I just wanted to let you know that I have now made about 45 of these hats for my “If you need one, take one!” project for the homeless in my community. They are so easy to make, so incredibly cute and I can get 3 complete hats out of 1.25 yards of fleece! Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing your pattern!

  • Diana

    Thank you so much for the awesome video tutorial and precise instructions on the fleece hat.
    I have made two for my grandsons. Wow! I am excited because it was easy and I will be making more.

  • Anne Catherine

    Thank you so much for this great pattern!! We live in the South too, and I thought we’d be ok with my son growing out of his winter hat because it’s usually getting warmer about now; it seems like that’s not the case this year. So I’ve been scouring stores trying to find a winter hat and there is nothing!! This came in handy at the perfect time, and I had a blast making it. I put a ball on top for extra baby cuteness. Thanks so much again!

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  • Mirian

    Hola , me encanto el gorro reversible que cubre las orejas y me encantaría poder hacerlo. Necesito el molde con los talles p niños y adultos. Me los podrás mandar por email por favor. Muchas gracias y felicitaciones por las hermosas cosas que haces

  • ant

    you are amazing! great pattern and such an easy to follow tutorial, probably one of the best i’ve seen!! thank you!!!

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  • Diana

    I made it! Wow! Thank you, Vanessa! You’re right, it’s super easy and comfy! My baby boy loves it!
    I used a green fleece blanket (both sides) and added 2 green and white ears, which I transformed into eyes, to make a frog!
    Thank you so much!!!!!

  • Luci

    thank you for the tutorial. While not able to drive for awhile I was looking for something useful to do, so was able to make 35 of these hats to be distributed to the homeless in our community.,and of course a few to some wonderful grandchildren.

  • madamlorna

    this is a wonderful tutorial!!! so easy… I made one last year for my grand daughter and made my own pattern and it took me forrrrrrrrever!!
    this it the easiest pattern ever and quick I think it will be a breeze for any one to follow the tutorial!
    thank you so, so, much Vanessa you are great!

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  • Leslie N.

    Thank you so much! I just made three for my kiddos to wear to school tomorrow. It is super cold and I wanted to make sure they had something that covered their ears! So happy!

    Thanks again!

    Fellow Gemini 😉

    Leslie

    • Luci

      used adult as given (100%) for grandkids (ages 9-15) increased pattern to 110% on ones I made for homeless and adult family HTH Luci

  • Kim

    Thank you for the excellent tutorial. So easy to follow! I am making Pokemon themed hats for my boy- they are so excited. Would you consider posting a tutorial on sewing fleece mittens to match? You are terrific and your youtube channel is my new crafting obsession!

    • Vanessa Vargas Wilson

      It works fine. If your web browser doesn’t let you access it try a different one. I use a system called Robora to distribute the free PDF patterns but some browsers block it for some reason.

  • Jen

    I used this for an afternoon’s project of making a Darth Vader helmet/mask for my son. It worked perfectly! I modified the ear flaps to look like the back “collar” part of Darth Vader’s Helmet (it continues around the entire back of the head as a straight panel, and is sewn back on each side of the face so that it lays properly), trimmed the front of the hat to come to a point, and then sewed on and embroidered a front panel for Darth Vader’s face. Having the easy to use hat measurements and sewing instructions really simplified the process. Although it doesn’t look much like your fleece hat anymore, it provided the perfect base for the project.

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  • Anne

    Brilliant tutorial! Made one this afternoon and am so pleased with myself!! Really a novice with regards to sewing but this was very clear and quite simple.

  • Pam

    Thanks much for the great pattern and tutorial! Super simple and looks awesome! Used superhero character fleece and the boys loved them!

  • joanna martin

    I was unable to find the PDF for the pattern on the page? Can you send it to me or tell me how to get it. this is for the Fleece child’s hat.

  • Sarah

    What a GREAT tutorial! After trying one other sub-par tutorial, I found yours. The video was so detailed, you showed and described every step really well, and the hat I just made for my little guy came out looking awesome! Thank you 🙂

  • Sharon

    This is fabulous! I am getting an embroidery machine for Christmas and can’t wait to make some of these and try out my machine with names or monograms on the hats! THANKS!!

  • BobbiA

    This is awesome!! thank you so much for sharing this! just made one in Pink and Black and love it! Plan to make one for each family member for Christmas now they are so quick to put together!

  • Denise

    Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I just recently started searching for a fleece hat pattern with ear flaps to make for the homeless in my community, you are an answer to prayer! I didn’t want to take the time to create a pattern, I appreciate you have allowed us to use your pattern. Happy New Year and many blessings to you!

  • EstherT

    my friends loved my hat so i sent them the link to your page! thank you so much for this pattern. I even made some child sized ones to gift to a friend’s littles.

  • Dian

    Awesome tutorial on the reversible fleece hat. Easy instructions, easy pattern all around east to understand two thumbs up ????????everyone gets hats ????

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  • Margo

    Thank you! I just made my first hat for charity. It goes together easily, looks great and the two sizes will fit the majority of kids. I LOVE the pattern!

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  • EstherT

    my sister and I just made 17 of these for friends who were going into the city to bring hats and scarves to the homeless. Thank you so much for the pattern

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  • celia celia

    Hello, I am French I hope it will translate well…
    I would like to do it for the Christmas of my 2-year-old nephew who has a head circumference of 50 cm (19.685 inch). Is this the boss child will go? or do I have to make changes?
    Thank you very much for your answer, it’s very important to me

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