Fleece Monster Hoods! #tbt

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6:00 AM

Monsters in the Hood.

I wanted to make Monster Hoods for a while...it just took
a few days of freezing temperatures to motivate me!

Everyone designed their own hoods.
We all got in on the fun!

To begin,
I had each of my kids draw a sketch of what they wanted their monster to look like.
Hailee helped Jared do his. She's a sweet sister.

Then I bought a bunch of fleece!
I spent $15 and made 5 hoods...making them about $3 each. Not bad!
I was lucky and found the polka dots, red, black and
white fleece in the remnants bin...perfect!
Fleece is wonderful, because it doesn't fray...so there isn't a lot of extra hemming or edging!

I started with the youngest.
I took a hoodie of his that currently fits to use as the pattern.
Make sure your fleece is folded in half, so when you cut, you are cutting out 2 pieces.
I cut it about an inch or 2 bigger than the hoodie.

They fit loosely and can be worn right over a hoodie!
(here's the pattern I used for all the other hoods...for the 8 year old up to adults)

Then cut an identical set out of contrasting fleece...this will be the inside of the hood.

For the adult sized hoods they measured 18" tall and 15" wide.
I got 2/3 a yard of fleece and had some leftovers...good for the decorating!

Sew around the hood top to the back.
I had my presser foot right on the edge of the fabric, with the needle in the left position.

You'll need some scraps of colored fleece for decorations!

I cut out the shapes for the horns, spikes, eyeballs and accessories.
Cut your fleece about a 1/2 inch larger than you want it to turn
out to make room for seam allowances.

Then sew around the shapes, leaving the bottoms open.
Turn them so the seams are in the inside...or get the kids to come help!

For the cyclops, I knew we needed a large eyeball.
I cut a free hand circle almost as big as my scissors.

I stuffed everything with poly-fil. We had a huge bag full ($7), but barely used any...

I hand stitched with embroidery floss around the outside edge of the circle.
In and out and in and out...the older kids (8 and 10) did their own hand sewing.

Stuff it with "cotton",
Pull it tight and tie it off.

Fabulous eyeball shape. It just needs a felt pupil hot glued on.

The horns were a bit harder.
After stuffing them I pinned them in place on the hood.
You could just handstitch these on...but I used the sewing machine.
I just lined up my presser foot to the edge of the material
and held the horn while I stitched it slowly.

You can see the inside here...not a perfect circle,
but fine enough for monster horns!

Then I used the same approach for the spikes.
Just pinned them in place and sewed them on!

For the teeth I used white felt.

I sewed it on facing up into the face.
This way after the lining was sewn on, they would poke out.

I did hand sew the eyeballs onto the hoods. Just stitched them on really tight...and tied it off.
It doesn't have to look pretty because the lining will cover it! Yay for lining!

Okay, now sew your lining of the hood.
You will see I moved my presser foot about 1/4" away from the edge.
This will make the lining a little tighter than the outside of the hood.
Helps it fit nicely together!

Now. You want to fit the 2 hood pieces RIGHT sides together.
So I have the freshly sewn hood with the seam exposed on the outside,
and the monster hood with all the accessories shoved inside the lining...
the hideous stitches are all showing.

Then you will sew the 2 hoods together starting the the big stretch that frames the face
(as opposed to the part that sits on the neck)
Just a straight stitch will do the trick!

Once you are done with that, you will be able to see down inside the hoods like a bag.
Flip them right side out!

And fit the lining of the hood inside the monster hood.
Then sew a straight stitch across the base of the neck part.
(you could sew this right onto a sweatshirt, t-shirt or robe!)

Oooh! See how perfect!?

Then my dashing husband swooped in and saved the day!
He put a snap at the base of the chin! Helps to keep it all in place!

Yes, huge success with the 4 year old!

And, no one bothered to wipe his face before our pictures...oops!

Next was the 10 year olds.
He wanted spikes, a tall horn and red eyes!

We might have made the horn a bit too tall...but it's cool how different his looks!

The spikes were just sewn on flat, and then fluffed up for wear!
They stick up just fine!

Right on with the sketch!

Next was our little girly girly age 8.
She wanted red horns, multicolored spikes and cat eyes with eyelashes!

She helped me turn, stuff and line up the spikes.

The spikes were inserted and pinned into the outside of the hood before I sewed the 2 pieces together...
this way they stick up down the back seam.

I pinned them and then double checked that they were spaced evenly.

She stuffed and sewed the eyes.

We added cat-slit pupils and eyelashes

Here's me sewing on the horns. Pinned in place and carefully sew around them.

Eyeballs handstitched on.

And the lining!

Cute! We found rainbow fleece for her, so it's a little different than pictured...
but the face is the same!

And the side view!

My 3 little monsters!

For the man...
he wanted black with gray horns and one eye. Simple.

Easy! This one went really fast!

Perfect!

My plan changed a dozen times!
I ended up finding this polka dotted fleece, so I went with a simple design...and 3 eyes!

I used blue fleece for irises!

And instead of horns, I sewed on a giant stuffed bow!

Ta da! I love the blue lining!
And these hoods are so nice and warm!
It was a cold and windy afternoon when we took the pics
and everyone was more than happy to wear their hoods! So fun!