How to Sew a Santa Hat (FREE Pattern!)

We’re now halfway through November which means that we can start getting into the holiday spirit! So let’s start off the Christmas season with an easy tutorial on how to sew a Santa hat, along with a brand new FREE pattern in three sizes!

This project is even better than most other free Santa hat patterns because it was designed to be sewn with super soft faux fur fabric, making the Santa Claus effect so much better! (It also makes the hat super snuggly!)

This tutorial includes tips on sewing this specialty fabric, but if you prefer to keep things more simple, you can also just use fleece or minky fabrics instead.

There are three sizes included, so you can deck out the whole family in fun matching Father Christmas hats!

Watch the video or continue reading to learn how to sew a Santa hat!

Materials to sew a fur Santa hat:

• Faux fur fabric*
• Red velour fabric* 
• Fabric scissors*
• Pins*
• 110 sewing machine needle*. This thicker size of needle helps sew through thick layers of fabric.
• Hand sewing needle*
• Polyester thread* (red and white)
• Stuffing*
• Walking foot* (optional, but highly recommended for sewing thick layers of fabric)
• FREE Santa hat sewing pattern (My free patterns are available to all Cucicucicoo Newsletter subscribers. The Newsletter is sent out every two weeks and you can unsubscribe whenever you want. Sign up for the Newsletter here for access to dozens of free downloads, templates and patterns! If you are already subscribed, just look at the bottom of the last Newsletter you received for the link and password.)

GET THE FREE PATTERN!
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Like I said before, feel free to use fleece, minky or even plain felt for this project, but I love the effect of shiny soft red velour with shaggy white faux fur!

Assemble the Santa hat pattern:

Use the link in the “Materials” section to find the free Santa hat pattern, then save the file to your device. Print the pages without scaling or fitting (100%), then cut off the page margins and tape the pages together so that they look like the image above.

Cut out all the pattern pieces.

I suggest cutting out the pattern along size Large lines because you can simply fold down the edges to sew the smaller sizes. That way you’ll keep the full pattern intact and you can sew different sizes from it without having to print and assemble it again.

The three sizes are:

• Size S: head circumference up to 54 cm. This is generally find for children up to 6-8 years.
• Size M: head circumference up to 57 cm. This is a good standard size, similar to what you’d find in a store.
• Size L: head circumference up to 60 cm. This is for men or larger sized heads.

Fold the pattern pieces to the chosen size.

Notice that there are two sets of size lines on the brim piece. I suggest using the “Cut 1” lines, but if you can’t fit that size onto your white fabric, you can cut two smaller rectangles along the “Cut 2” lines.

Cutting out the fabric:

Lay out the red fabric and fold the edge over, with right sides facing. If the fabric has a nap (the long fibers in a specific direction), make sure that it goes downwards, like the arrow on the pattern, as shown in the picture above.

Cut out the fabric and pin the pieces together, then put them aside for now.

Lay out the white fabric, right side down (fur side down, if you’re using faux fur). Make sure that the nap/fur is going down, like the arrow on the pattern piece.

Trace around the pattern and cut out the rectangle, or two rectangles if you’re using the “Cut 2” option. Put the brim piece/s aside for now.

Trace the circle pompom piece on the wrong side of the white fabric. Draw an arrow to show the direction of the fur (top picture above).

Cut out the circle little by little, with small snips. Slip the lower blade of the scissors below the knit surface of the fabric, without cutting the long fur fibers. (bottom picture above) You only need to worry about this on the bottom edge of the circle (where the arrow points).

Put the circle aside for now.

How to sew a Santa hat:

Put the walking foot* onto your machine and insert the 110 sewing machine needle*. These will help you sew through the bulky fabrics and the walking foot will also help keep the slippery fabrics from moving around as you sew them.

Sewing the red hat:

Sew up each side of the hat with a 1 cm (5/8″) seam allowance, then sew a zigzag stitch along the raw edges (or use a serger/overlock machine) to keep them from fraying.

I suggest you start from the bottom and work your way up. There’s no need to clip the seam allowances at the tip of the hat as you would normally do.

Put the hat aside for now.

Sewing the white fur brim:

A. Fold the brim piece in half, joining the short ends. Pin in place, then sew down the side with a 1 cm (5/8″) seam allowance. If you cut two pieces for the brim, put the two pieces right sides facing, with the fur going in the same direction, and sew both sides with a 1 cm (5/8″) seam allowance.

B. Fold the brim in half, wrong sides facing, so that the fur is outwards. Match up the seam/s from step A.

C. Pin the seam/s together, making sure that the edges are matched up.

D. If you cut one piece for the brim, flatten it so that the pinned seam is at one end. Match up the edges on the other end and put a pin through the two layers.

E. Remember to always match up the raw edges. Here you can see that they are not lined up. If that happens, put up the lower layer and repin them together.

F. Flatten the brim again, but this time matching up the two pins at the center.

G. Insert a pin into the two folded ends, remembering to match up the raw edges.

H. The raw edges of the hat brim are now split into fourths. I suggest you continue flattening the brim, matching up adjacent pins so that you can find and pin the halfway points between each. Having the brim split into eighths will make sewing it easier.

Do the same thing with the opening of the hat. Because the two sides are already marked by the seams, match them up in the center and them mark each edge with a pin.

If you split the brim into eighths, do the same with the hat edges.

Attaching the brim to the hat:

I. Hold the fur brim so that the fur goes down away from the cut edge. If it goes up towards the edge, flip it the other way around.

J. Slip the hat (still wrong side out) inside the circle of the brim.

K. Join the pin at the brim seam with one of the pins in the center of one side of the hat. Match up the raw edges and pin the three layers together. This will be the back of your hat. (If you sewed the “Cut 2” brim, I suggest you match up the two brim seams with the two hat seams.)

L. Rotate the hat and continue joining the corresponding pins of brim and hat. Remember to join the hat side seams too, even if they aren’t pinned.

Now the brim is pinned onto the hat, and is split into fourths (or eighths, if you chose to).

Open up the free arm of your sewing machine (if it has one) and slip the hat opening around it. Then sew around the opening with a 1 cm (3/8″) seam allowance (top image above).

Then sew a wide zigzag stitch around the raw edges (bottom image above).

Turn the hat right side out, then fold up the brim, so that the stitching is hidden under it.

There’s your DIY Santa hat! You can leave it like this, but it’s so much cooler with a pompom, so let’s continue.

Sewing the white fur pompom:

The instructions that follow are simplified. If you want detailed instructions, read my tutorial on how to make a fur pom pom or watch the video below.

Cut a long piece of white polyester thread* and thread it into the hand sewing needle*. Join the ends and tie a knot.

(I used red thread here so that it would show up in the pictures. I suggest you use white!)

Hold the white circle with the knit side towards you. Insert the needle and push it back and forth through the fabric, without catching the fur fibers on the back (top image above). Pull the needle through, leaving a short length of the knotted thread hanging out.

Continue like this all around until you get back to where you started from (bottom image above).

Gently pull one thread tail at a time so that the edges gather. Then put a little bit of stuffing* inside (top image above).

Continue pulling the threads to gather the edges. Tie a double knot when they’re cinched in as much as possible. DON’T pull the threads too hard, or they might snap, in which case you’d have to start over again. There will still be a small opening.

Use the needle (still attached to one thread end) to sew the opening closed. Simply stick the tip through the edge of the opening and pull it out directly opposite, across the opening (bottom image above). When you pull it through, the opening will close even more.

Do this both horizontally and vertically, closing the opening completely. Make sure you catch the fabric, not just the fur. Then tie another double knot to keep it closed.

Attaching the pompom to the hat:

M. Push the needle through the tip of the hat.

N. Push the needle through the closed opening of the pom pom.

O. Pull the thread to pull the pompom against the tip of the hat. Tie a double knot to hold it in place.

P. Continue sewing through the tip of the hat and through the pompom a few times. Then tie another double knot and cut off the thread ends.

All done! Your handmade Santa hat looks amazing! Time to put it on!

Once you learn how to sew a Santa hat, sewing others is actually quite fast and easy. So make one for everyone in your family! And how about making even more for fun Christmas gifts?

More Christmas sewing projects:

Now that you know how to sew a Santa hat, continue celebrating the holidays with these other awesome Christmas sewing projects!

• DIY Snowflake Embroidered Felt Christmas Ornaments
• How to Make a Christmas Tree Skirt from a Tablecloth
• DIY Christmas Tree Banner
• DIY Felted Wool Sweater Stocking Pattern with Embroidery
• Easy No-Sew Felt Snowflake Ornaments
• Make a No-Sew Felt Poinsettia
• DIY Felt Christmas Tree Ornaments for Kids

Do you want all the new sewing techniques and cool modern sewing projects, as well as the FREE Santa hat pattern? Then sign up for the Cucicucicoo Newsletter here for access to dozens of free printables!

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