Faux Fur Week Day 1: Fur Bomber Hat Tutorial

Hello 2012 and faux fur week! I'm soooo pumped! To start off this week, I'm sharing this super easy bomber hat tutorial. I love it so much that I want to make it for Beck asap. It only took me an hour or so to make, with very little fabric or hassle! Perfect cheap and easy present perhaps? Especially if it was made for a tiny one, sooooo adorable. 

Supplies:

half yard of fur (if lining is fur as well - then this is all you need for both!)

if lining is fur, then half yard of fur as well

fur 

matching thread

ribbon, string or something to make the ties

needle for hand sewing

sewing machine

flexible measuring tape

scissors

Instructions for measuring and cutting out fur and lining:

Use this chart below to get all the measurements for the 4 main pieces and the 4 lining pieces. 

1. Top circular pieces - make sure the circumference (the length around the oval) is the same length + 1" or 2" of the length around your the top of you head where the hat would sit. I kept cutting the ovals until my flexible ruler when wrapped around it would say the right size.

2. Long strips or the hat's main bands - measure the length around your head where the hat's band would sit + 2"

3. Half circular pieces or the bill of the hat - measure from temple to temple to get the length of the forehead area.

4. Funky looking pieces or the back of head band with ear flaps - measure from temple to temple around the back of the head + .5" or none. There isn't much lenience with this. 

Instructions:
1&2. Take the long strip and match it up with the circular piece, as shown in the first row of pictures. Pinning first would be smart here because if the circular piece is bigger than the band, then the circular piece needs to be trimmed down. If the band if bigger then the circular piece, that is totally fine as long as it still fits your head, just trim off the extra! Mark with pin or marker the center of the circular piece and the bands to make sure they line up as you sew.
3. Then sew them together, keeping in mind the marked centers so it all will line up, while moving in a circular motion, making sure to leave about a quarter to a half inch of seam allowance. Then when you get to the end where the bands meet, backstitch and align the band ends together. You can try this on here to make sure it all fits (if it is a little snug, then when you align the bands together remember to sew in a diagonal to give more room), if it does, then sew a straight stitch to join them. (picture 3 is how it should look).
4. Pin and sew the ear flap piece to the newly sewn circular/band piece. make sure to align the center of the band with the center of the ear flap piece with right sides together. Picture 4 if how it should looked after sewn.
5. REPEAT steps 1 - 4 with the lining.
6. Pin the lining and the main fabric (fur) right sides together (for the me the fur was touching), matching and pinning up the halves perfectly.
7. Here you can add the tie by shoving it into the end of the ear flap and having an inch hang out to be sewn and secured by the sewing machine. Go over the end 2 or 3 times with a zig zag stitch to prevent it from pulling through.
8. Sew the lining and the main fabric together leaving the forehead part open for the bill to be sewn in later and to be able to pull the hat right side out. (you can see the pulled out hat with the hole in picture 10)
9. Time to sew the bill of the hat! Pin and sew right sides together, leaving the straight side unsewn. Flip right side out.
10. Attach the bill to the top part or the main fabric, pinning the side of the bill you want to be shown less (the lining) to the front, main fabric of the hat. Sew. As shown in picture 10.
11. Then pull the lining from where the hole is over the raw sewn edge of where the bill has just been attached to the hat and hand sew the lining to cover the edge. DONE!
Optional: If you want the fur to look its best, take a comb and brush around every seam to get the fur uncaught and popping out instead of pulled under.