Adventures in DIY - Hand Sewn Bear Hood

While cruising through the mall last week with a friend, I saw an adorable hat.

Anyone who knows me knows that there is a special spot in my heart for odd accessories. The hat in question was a cute faux fur hood with long scarf sleeves and bear ears. The only problem: the price. At $130, it was a steep tag, and so I passed it up.

Fast forward a week later, and I'm having a conversation with another friend about this hat. I still want it, but I can't justify the cost. My friend says to me, "That's only four or five seams. You could sew that, no problem." Thus began a quest - the quest to make the Bear Hat. Pictures of the assembly follow, and as always, you can click each picture to access a bigger one.

Drafting the pattern straight onto the faux fur. Probably not
my brightest idea, but I figured this was a simple enough
design that it would work out okay.

The hat has a flannel lining, made from flannel shirting
I bought from Jo-Ann fabric. I thought a cute touch
would be to add felt paw prints on the bottoms.

Sewing the paws on with contrasting red thread.

Finished!

Finalized half of the hood. I added a topstitch to
this part to secure the lining.

To secure the ears, I cut a hole through the hood, and
stuffed the ear through. There were too many layers for
my poor machine to handle, so I had to hand stitch this part.

All done! I had originally planned to sew pockets into the
bottoms to keep my hands warm, but I made the tails a little
too long. It also sits a little weird, but in another session
I'll take some scissors to the hat and trim it so it fits better.