Funky Fleece Mohawk Hat

My Sister in Law asked me to make Mohawk hats for her boys for Christmas. I searched the internet from one end to the other and couldn't find any tutorials for the hat I had envisioned in my head. I wanted a fleece hat with ear flaps and a mohawk on top. I found several tutorials that gave me a general idea of what I was doing. So I set out to make my own pattern. I am so excited about how well this turned out so I thought I would share it with the internets. My very first tutorial!

I used an earflap hat that one of the kids had to make the original pattern. I traced around the hat and then added about 1/4 inch of slack around the pattern for the seam allowance. Make sure you add a wedge in the top so that hat sits right on the top of the head. My pattern looks like this.

After you create a pattern, cut out 4 pieces. You will need 2 going one direction, 2 the other. This isn't a huge deal if you are using solid fleece, but if you are using directional or collegiate/team fleece it is VERY important that you FLIP the pattern over to cut out the second piece (I know from experience! haha!). I generally use a patterned fleece for the top and a coordinating solid fleece for the inside of the hat. So for this type of hat you need 2 of your printed pieces and 2 of your solid pieces.

You also need 6 - 12" X 1" strips for the braids (you can use whatever color combination you want for these. I like to use at least two different colors, 3 if I have a third color to throw in there. For this hat I had red, black and the printed fleece to use.)

In addition you need 15 or so 4" X 1" strips in varying colors for the mohawk on the top. (Note: I started this project using 6"X 1" strips for the mohawk pieces, making the mohawk just under 3". This made for a floppy mohawk that didn't stand up at all, so I opted for shorter pieces to make them stick up a little better, you can make them longer or shorter if you like)

 First take 3 of the 12"X 1" strips and pin them flat together. Sew along one of the short ends and set aside. Repeat with the other 3 long strips. (These will be the braids)

 Take the strips you just sewed together and pin them to the "right" side of outer layer of the hat. Repeat with the other outer side.

 Once you have the straps pinned take the inner layer and pin it to the outer layer with the "right" sides facing each other. You only have to pin the bottom half as you won't be sewing the top seam until the end. Once pinned together sew along the bottom where I have so elegantly drawn in a pseudo stitch line on the picture :) 

Once sewn together, turn it right side out and you have two halves of a hat! I couldn't get a good picture of the next step so I will do my best to describe it. See the V in top of the hat there? That needs to be sewn to itself. Clear as mud right!? Take one side of the V line it up with the other side "right" sides together and sew it from the "inside". This will create the curve of the hat and make the hat fit the top of the head better.

*You can braid the strips coming from ear flaps at any point after this. Once they are braided, secure them with a thin piece of scrap fleece. *

 Now to add a mohawk! Take the 4" strips fold them in half and pin them all on one of the halves of hat, on the "right" side, along the top of the hat, with the fold along the edge that will be sewed and the open end facing in. I put mohawk pieces all along the this seam, leaving about an inch at the top and bottom and about 1/4" in between each piece.

This blurry picture shows what it will look like once all the mohawk pieces are pinned.

(After all the mohawk pieces are pinned you can sew along the top seam to secure the mohawk pieces before you put the two halves of the hat together or you can just sew it all at once. I usually sew it all at once because I'm impatient but sometimes I do end up not catching one of the mohawk pieces with my seam when I sew, which is a pain. It's up to you. )

The final step is to pin the second half of the hat on and sew it up. (Using a serger here makes for a really nice finished look). I over-pin here and make sure the the two ends match up when pinning because nothing bugs me more than having a wonky hat! This seam is tricky because there is so much fabric to sew through, after breaking two needles I finally went and bought a thicker needle and that seems to help. Just take your time sewing and it should go fine. 

 Once you've sewn the final seam, turn it right side out, take out all the pins and you have a funky mohawk hat!

And for some reason I made this hat and didn't think to take a picture of the full hat after I was done. So here is another finished hat (before I added the top "V" seam)  to give you and idea of what it will look like. 

I am working on a pattern for this hat. But I want to try making all of the sizes before I post it, and I've ran out of motivation for this particular project (not to mention that would require me to figure out how to make it into a pdf :) But if there is enough interest I can be motivated! This is totally doable without a pattern though! Just measure the head, add a little for stretch and don't forget seam allowances! Good Luck!