Make a Cozy Hat and Mittens for your 18 inch Doll
Materials
- Cozy Hat and Mittens Pattern Sheet
- 1/4 yard knit fabric –or– recycled sweater. Polyester fleece is a great fabric choice to make this project fast, fun, and EASY!
- Coordinating polyester thread
- Sewing machine –or– hand sewing needle
- [Optional] Embellishments for the hat – ribbon, buttons, felt flowers, etc.
IMPORTANT – Be sure to download and save the patterns to your hard drive and print at “Actual Size” from a PDF reader like Adobe Reader. If you print directly from your browser, the patterns may not print at the correct scale.
Mittens
1. Cut four squares of fabric, using the dashed box on the pattern sheet as a guide. For the wrist bands of the mittens, you can cut either four squares measuring 2″ x 2″ – or- if you are using a recycled sweater and have some pre-finished edging (from the bottom of the sweater or sleeves), cut four rectangles measuring 2″ x 3/4″ using the finished edging as one of the longer 2 inch sides.
2. Make a fabric sandwich with two squares of fabric, right sides together. Make sure to align the fabric squares so that they stretch in the same direction and in the direction indicated on the pattern. Cut out the mitten template from your pattern sheet and pin it to the center of your fabric sandwich.
3. Using the paper template as a guide, sew around the mitten shape, starting at one black dot and finishing at the other, making sure to back stitch a few times at the beginning and the end of the seam.
Again using the template as a guide, trim away the excess fabric sandwich, cutting close to your sewing line. If you are using a knit that will fray, you can go over the seam you just sewed with a short, narrow zig zag stitch to keep the inside of the mitten neat and make it more durable. If you are using fleece fabric, you can skip the zig zag, you will not need to finish any of the edges.
Very carefully snip a “v” between the thumb and fingers, taking care not to snip into your stitching.
4. Turn your mitten right side out. If you are using new fabric, fold one of the 2″ x 2″ squares in half, wrong sides together. Align the raw edge with one side of the bottom of the mitten and pin. Sew in place with a 1/4″ seam allowance. Be sure not to catch the other bottom side of the mitten as you sew (which would close up the wrist opening!). I found it easiest to fold the other side of the mitten back and sew from the “inside” of the mitten. Trim the seam allowance to a scant 1/8″.
Repeat with a second 2″ x 2″ wristband piece, sewing to the other side of the mitten.
5. Turn your mitten inside out again, and pin. Sew the open sides of the mitten closed (see white dotted line below) back stitching several times at the wrist openings to secure the seams.
Turn your mitten right side out and admire your work! Repeat steps to make the second mitten.
Cozy Hat
1. Using the printed pattern as a guide, cut 5 panels of fabric or recycled sweater for your hat plus one rectangle for your hat band. If you are using new fabric, your hat band rectangle should measure 10-1/2″ x 2″. If you are using a recycled sweater and have enough finished edge available, cut your rectangle 10-1/2″ x 1″, using the finished edge for one of the long sides.
2. Pin two of the hat panels together, right sides facing. Sew along one long side with a 1/4″ seam allowance (as indicated by the white dotted line in the picture below). Pin a third panel to two you just sewed together, right sides facing, and again sew along one long side. Continue in this fashion until all five panels are sewn together.
3. Fold your hat in half, right side in, aligning the long sides of the outermost two panels. Pin and sew the panels together, which finishes the crown of your hat.
Trim seam allowances to a scant 1/8″. If you are using a knit fabric that will unravel or fray, stitch over each seam allowance with a short and narrow zig zag stitch to finish. This step is unnecessary if you are using polyester fleece.
4. Fold the fabric rectangle for your hat band in half, right sides together, aligning the short ends. Sew short ends together with a 1/4″ seam allowance. Trim seam allowance to a scant 1/8″. If you are upcycling a sweater and have a finished edge, you can skip to step 5. You’ll use the circle you just sewed for the hat band.
If you are using new fabric (no pre-finished edge), fold in half again lengthwise, wrong side in, right side out, creating the hat band.
5. Align and pin the raw edge of the hat band to the raw edge of the hat crown, right sides together. Sew the band to the crown with a 1/4″ seam allowance, stretching the hat band slightly as you sew to fit it to the crown. Trim the seam allowance to a scant 1/8″ and finish with a short and narrow zig zag if desired.
You’re finished! You can embellish your hat with buttons, ribbons, or flowers if you’d like. I will be sending the MSF Newsletter subscribers an idea sheet for embellishments next week, so be sure to subscribe if you’d like to receive that email.
Make this coat! Urban Belted Coat pattern for American Girl
So cute, I definitely will have to try these out.
😀
wow thanks for the free pattern will give this a try.
🙂 Thanks for visiting!!
Just lovely Stephanie! Perfect for the cool fall weather!
Thanks Anna! Love the ornament-to-chandelier transformation, too! 🙂
Thanks for the pattern. Just made the hat and mittens out of red fleece. Turned out so cute. Can’t wait to try it on my Granddaughter’s American Girl.
Yay!! I’m so glad the pattern worked well for you. 🙂 Thank you so much for reading and commenting.
Thank you so much for this pattern! I just made the mittens, and they’re adorable. The directions were super easy to follow – you saved me hours of work trying to come up with my own pattern!
Woot! I’m so glad the pattern worked out for you and saved you some time. Thank you so much for commenting! 🙂
Thanks so much for the free patterns. I made 2 sets of matching mittens, hats and scarfs out of leftover fleece for my granddaughter’s AG doll. I LOVE the little hat. It is so cute. I tried making my own mittens before I found your pattern but they were so hard to get on. After I found your pattern I realized I had the stretch of the fabric going in the wrong direction! Now if I could just find a free pattern for socks. I made some with a McCall’s pattern but they don’t fit. I’ve looked on the internet but haven’t found any.
These are amazing! What the directions are really great. Very easy to follow. I’ll have to try these out. Thanks!
I made two sets from this hat and mitten pattern/tutorial for my girl’s American Girl dolls. I also made matching scarfs too. I’m a beginning sewer and your directions are so easy to follow. My daughters think that I can do anything, so they are always asking me to make things. Thank you for helping with one of their many projects for mom. 🙂
I wish there was a way to post pictures of the finished projects on your page, that would be the best. Thank you again!
Colleen!! I’m so glad you liked the pattern and tute and SO GLAD you posted the pic on the Facebook page. I’m going to try to post a link here (let’s see if this works.. lol) Colleen’s Super Cute Hat, Mittens, and Scarf Set
I just finished sewing these for my grand-daughter’s dolly and I love the result! They are so easy that I’m making a set for my BFF’s and my cousin’s grand-daughters too. Thanks!
thank you very much i have been wanting to make a hat this made it a lot easier then trying to figure it out by myselfthanks again !!!
Andrea, you’re so welcome! Thank YOU for reading!
😀 Audrielle, thank you so much for your sweet words!
oh comme c’est mimi j’adore les petits gants et la casquette est trop belle , merci pour ce tuto
a bientôt
Ingrid