Do you like Totoro? Now you can make a hat to look just like him! This is pretty easy to make, and it didn't take me very long at all.

Don't know who Totoro is? Check out this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Neighbor_Totoro I suggest you watch the movie sometime... It's pretty cute.

Step 1: You Will Need:

You Will Need:

A Sewing Machine - makes it much easier and faster, though it's not required.
About ½ Yard of Gray Fleece - or any other fabric that would work nice as a hat ;)
Black and White Scraps of Felt
Paper - tissue paper works well for this
Writing Utensil
Fabric Marker - really handy
Other various sewing supplies

Step 2: Cutting Your Cloth

You'll need to cut four triangle-ish shaped pieces for the hat and four ears. Look at the pattern I made to see what they should look like.

The hat I made doesn't fit anyone else, so I probably have a smaller head, which means you'll have to make it a bit bigger. ;)

Step 3: Sewing the Ears

Sew the ears together. Make sure that if you are doing a small seam allowance that you don't miss any of the cloth when doing the curvy parts.

Cut close to the stitching, (but not too close!) as this makes it easier to turn inside out.

Turn both of the ears right side out and set them aside for a minute.

Step 4: Sewing the Hat Base

Sew two of the triangle pieces together, so that they only have sewing on one side. These will be the back and front halves of the hat.

Turn one of the halves right-side-out. Put the right-side-out one into the inside-out half, so that the right sides of the fabric are together. (See picture 4) Pin at the seam at the top.

Slip the ears in between the two halves about an inch from the center seam line. (See pictures 5 and 6).

Sew the two halves together. Your hat is forming!

Step 5: Making the Facial Features

Now that you have the base of the hat done, you can start turning it from a normal hat to a Totoro hat!

The Eyes:

Get out the black and white scrap pieces of felt. To make the white of the eyes (sclera) draw a circle about one and a half inches (3.81 cm) in diameter.

For the pupil, draw a circle about ½ inch (1.27 cm) in diameter. (I used a dime).

The Nose and Mouth:

The nose is about one and a half inches long, and about ¼ inch wide. Look at the picture of Totoro in this step, that's how you want his nose to be shaped.

For his mouth I used a small piece of scrap, about ½ inch long.

Step 6: Attach Facial Features

You can hand-sew, use a sewing machine or glue the facial features on. I used a machine because I want to be able to wash it easily.

If you are sewing them on by machine, change the length of the stitch from 2.5 to 5.0. This gives it that patch kind of look. (See pictures 1 and 2 on this step)

Sew just around the edge, remember to change your thread so the colors match. Sew Slowly! The pieces tend to move around when you move the foot up and down to change directions. Be careful, you don't want a crooked nose!

Sew all the features on. Do the eyes first, then the nose and the mouth last.

Step 7: Adding Whiskers

For the whiskers, I changed the stitch to a little bit different one. It thickens a little bit every stitch so it's a little more noticeable.

Sew three lines across the face like a cat's whiskers would be. Make sure that they are about mouth level and a little behind the eye.

You can also cut whiskers from felt, and then sew them on. But they kind of flopped around and didn't look like whiskers. It's up to you!

Step 8: Wear It!!

Have lots of fun wearing your Totoro hat around!!

If you make one I would love to see it!

^{This was made for the Halloween contest.}^{A little vote would be much appreciated!}