Sew a Where the Wild Things Are Hat + Pattern!

Are you guys excited for the movie? I'm geeking out over here. I'm totally wearing this opening night.

This is a really simple pattern - the whole hat is only eight pieces!

LET THE WILD RUMPUS START!

[The pattern is a PDF, attached to step 2]

Step 1: What You'll Need...

white polar fleece - 1/2 yd, just in case!
24 gauge black plastic coated wire or long black twist-ties for the whiskers
24 gauge white plastic coated wire to keep the ears upright
scissors
white thread and a needle and/or a sewing machine
the pattern, which is attached as a PDF on the next step!

If you're worried about using wire in the hat, Kiteman has this suggestion:
Soak the string in slightly-diluted PVA glue and leave it to dry (If you dry it draped over a pile of scrap plastic bags, it will set in a twiddly shape).

Step 2: Pattern Information.

This pattern is tailored to my head size, which is:
21 1/2 inches around, measured right above the ears,
and 13 1/2 inches from center line of head to shoulder.

...but you can easily alter it to fit you if you have a larger/smaller head. I'll go over this in the next two steps. :)

The pattern will print out on five pages. Four of the pages will be the hat, one will be the ear pattern and the test square! The test square should be 4x4 inches when the pattern is printed correctly!

I apologize for the wonky, terrible scans. Both scanners were givin' me lip. I couldn't get them to do anything properly. Some lines will be a little crooked, but that's okay!

To download the pattern, click the Adobe icon below!

wildthingmaxhat.pdf
Download

Step 3: Assemble the Hat Pattern!

The four hat pieces will need to be overlapped and taped together. They have little diamonds so you know when they're lined up!

To assemble the hat pattern, do the following:

leave the top left piece whole
cut off the left edge of the upper right piece
cut off the top edge of the lower right piece
cut off both the top and right edge of the lower left piece

Then tape together, following the pictures, so the edges are overlapping!

Step 4: Making the Pattern Larger.

*Seam allowances are included, so don't worry about those!*

Measure your head around right above the ears and from middle scalp to shoulder. Once you have these measurements, figure out the difference for each compared to mine.

If you only need to increase CIRCUMFERENCE, FOLLOW THE PURPLE LINE:
add to the front of the hat, as shown below. Simply take a ruler, measure how ever many inches from the front line, and draw. Increase the size of the bottom flap as well. :)

If you need to increase CIRCUMFERENCE and LENGTH, FOLLOW THE GREEN LINE:
add to the back part as shown below. Measure up from the top left corner, and continue adding how ever many inches all the way around.

If you need to increase LENGTH, FOLLOW THE ORANGE LINE:
add to the bottom of the hat only, increase the size of the front flap as well. :)

Easy peasy. :)

Step 5: Making the Pattern Smaller.

This is much easier. Simply draw a smaller line inside the pattern line. If you're smaller in one particular area, use the same techniques but draw inside the pattern line.

The gigantic blue scribble shows you where to go!

If you're going more than an inch smaller, I would decrease the size of the front flap as well, by at least a 1/2 inch. :)

Step 6: Cut Out Your Pattern Pieces!

Make sure you're nice and careful during this. You don't want a wonky pattern! :D

Step 7: Cut Out Four of Each Piece - Hats and Ears!

Cut out the hat pieces first, and then the ears. The hat pieces take up more room and have to be placed in certain ways.

The trick with the hat pieces is two get two sets of them - and when the curved backs are facing eachother, they both need to have the right side (the nubbier, fuzzier side of the fabric) of the fabric facing up!

Lay your piece of fabric nubby (right) side up, and then fold over the end piece so that you can fit the hat pattern on it, with the flap facing to the right. Pin it together, and cut through both layers of fabric! Do this twise. :)

The ears can be cut from any large scraps or the leftover fabric!

Step 8: Sew the Hat Pieces Into Pairs!

Place the pieces right side together (the nubby side of the fabric, remember!) and pin around the back curve.

Use the right edge of your presser foot as the seam allowance, and sew all around the curve, backstitching at the beginning and end of the seam.

Once you're done sewing both, take those scissors and trim the seam allowances. This'll make it turn out a lot smoother in the end. Don't get too close to the stitches, though! About an 1/8 of an inch away is just fine!

Step 9: Sew the Ears Into Pairs!

Remember to do this right sides facing. :)

Use the side of the presser foot again. It makes the whole thing easier!

You can either to this by sewing two straight lines, or by sewing to about a 1/4 inch away from the tip, leaving the needle in the fabric, raising the presser foot, turning the fabric, and lowering the presser foot again and continuing to sew.

Once you're done, clip the seam allowances and especially the tips of the ears. :)

Step 10: Stuff and Wire the Ears.

First, turn the ears right side out, getting the seams as smooth as possible. (Use something skinny and smooth to help turn the ears! I use an old crochet hook.)

Then, take the white wire and lay it over the top of the ear, leaving an inch tail at both sides, and bend it sharply so that it will fit snugly inside the ear.

Then, insert it into the ear, trying to align the wires with the seams as best you can.

Then you'll stuff it while holding the wires in place. Stuff it pretty firmly, but not so much that it starts to look round. Leave the bottom a little less stuffed so you can sew it.

Once both ears are wired and stuffed, sew across the botttoms as close to the edge as you can, and over the wires. Don't worry about backstitching. :)

Step 11: Insert the Whiskers!

Choose one of your two hat halves, and set this aside. This is going to be the outside part of the hat!

Cut 8 six inch lengths of the black wire. You can shorten them later if you want!

Swirl one end of each of these, so you have a couple loops. Take a small crochet hook or the metal end piece of a mechanical pencil, and poke four holes about a 1/2 inch apart near the front of the hat on each side. (You might want to try the hat on to get an idea of where you want them to be. Enter hat hair, as demonstrated below.)

Push the wire through from the wrong side of the hat, so that the swirly bit is on the inside. :)

Now, take a needle and some white thread, and secure these loops to the inside of the hat so they lay flat. This will make your whiskers stay in place and be more rigid! Hooray!

Once you've secured all of them, fold them up so that you can sew the whole hat together!

This step has a ton of pictures. I got excited. Sorry. :)

Step 12: Sew the Two Hat Pairs Together.

Take the piece with the wires in it, and lay it down so the right sides are out and you can see the folded-up whiskers!

Take the other piece of the hat, and turn it wrong side out. Place the right side out piece into the wrong side out piece and line up the middle seams.

Pin all around the edges of the hat, making sure to designate a place 5-6 inches long at the very bottom back to turn it right side out. Start sewing right below that place and go all the way around.

On the corners, make sure you're leaving the needle in the fabric 1/4 inch away, raising the presser foot, turning, and lowering it again. (Look below for step by step pictures)

Step 13: Trim the Seams, Turn Hat Right Side Out, Check Out Your Whiskers.

Make sure to clip the flap corners! Go for 1/8 inch, everywhere except the hole where you're going to turn it.

Turn it right side out, using your pokey thing to get it all turned out correctly!

You're almost a wild thing!

Step 14: Top Stitch Around All the Edges of the Hat.

Make sure your stitch length is set to the longest setting to be able to go through so many layers!

Do a straight line across the bottom first, very close to the edge. Make sure the turning hole's edges are nice and tucked in. Sew right over this to close it up.

The continue around the rest of the hat, using the stop, lift, turn, lower, sew method shown eariler. :)

Step 15: Insert the Ears!

Either use the placement I've given, or choose your own by putting the hat on the moving the ears around until you like where they are.

If you choose my ear placement, simply fold and cut away the space where the line is on the pattern, and lay that over the finished hat and mark on both sides. Try to use an air erasable or water soluble marking pen, or mark on the inside of the hat.

Once you have the lines marked (they should match the width of your ears) fold the hat so that you can snip on the line and get through both layers of fabric.

Once you have a clean hole in the hat, insert the ears bottom first from the right side of the fabric, and hand sew them in between all the layers on the inside of the hat.

Push any extra wire back inside the ears.