In last week’s Inspiration Thursday post, I shared some pics related to Bob’s Burgers, a.k.a. my new favorite show. Today, I wanted to show you guys how to make your own.
Supplies
1 yard bright pink felt
matching thread
freezer paper
scissors
pencil
ruler and fabric tape measure
iron
Directions
Using the aviator cap tutorial above by Christophine on DeviantART as a guide, draw out a pattern for your hat on the unwaxed size of a large piece of freezer paper. Since I worked with felt, I opted not to add seam allowance, and to reduce the total amount of seams (and lumpiness) of the hat, I included the four triangle pieces in my headband piece, as shown.
Also on the same piece of freezer paper, draw your bunny ears. My pattern was 2″ wide by 7″ long. The tapering of the ears begins 3″ from the end. The reason I drew four ear patterns is because everything on this hat is two layers thick. For cutting the second layer of non-ear felt out, I just used the same pattern piece twice.
Once you’ve drawn up your pattern, iron it to the wrong side of your felt. Cut through the fabric and freezer paper simultaneously. Since you’re working with felt, precise cutting is important.
It’s obvious in the pictures, but I drew hard, geometric lines when I created my hat pattern. I added in curves to my cut-out ear pattern pieces after the initial trim by smoothing out the sharp angles. For the bunny ears part of the hat, I cut away inside of the pattern lines. For the head-hugging part of the hat, which I’m calling the crown (it looks like a crown when it’s cut out), I added the curves beyond the straight lines of the pattern. Since it’s hard to make those precise, I laid my two crown pieces over each other and trimmed them to match up.
Put wrong sides of each piece of ear felt together. Whip stitch all the way around each ear and set them aside. Whip stitch the left and right ends of the crown together, again with wrong sides facing, and then whip stitch the middle “V” of the crown. You don’t want to sew the left and right V’s yet – save those for when you’re attaching the ears to the hat.
Fold the whole crown piece in half and whip stitch the two ends together, forming a ring. Now you can try your hat on to see how it fits.
When you’re happy with the fit, whip stitch the center V together to form the front seam of the hat. Now, it’s time to attach your ears. Make sure your hat is inside out. It took me a few tries to get the placement right, but to get the ears to stick straight up out of the hat like Louise’s, you need to sew them in perpendicular to your hat. To do this, you’ll need to evenly place your ears and then whip stitch across the two V’s that have yet to be sewn, in addition to the ears. When you finish sewing and turn the hat right-side out, the ears will point straight upwards.
The last step in this process is to try your hat on and decide where you want to cut away at your hat to form an opening for your face, and to determine the length and shape of your ear flaps. Carefully cut away at your hat and whip stitch all the way around the bottom of the hat and ear flaps to complete your Louise hat.
Want to make a dress to go with your Louise hat for the full Louise Belcher effect? I’ve got a tutorial for that.
OMg! thanks so much!
I’m still unclear on how to sew the ears in properly to prevent them from flopping over. I am a visual learner, I’m hoping you might have pictures of that.
You need to leave the freezer paper inside each ear piece. I wish I had more pictures, but I don’t! Sorry!
Louise’s ears do flop, at least one of them does. Line them with interfacing or fabric stabilizer. Well 2 years ago, but maybe someone is looking to do this, BB’s is more popular than ever!
I don’t see the step where you sew on the “headband” piece. When and where is that sew on?
I combined the “headband” piece and the “top x4” pieces into one “crown” piece. It was easier than having a bunch of seams all over the place. (Let me know if that helps!)
It turned out a little different but it will be okay, thanks for your help! I just struggled with what measurements to use for the pieces.
That’s great news! :) Congrats!!!
With the ‘headband’ piece did you make it a little taller than the 2-3″ specified in the pattern for the aviator hat?
I think I ended up making it a little shorter, but that’s because I have a tiny, tiny head!
Wondering the size of the triangles, for the top of the hat, in inches??? I’m having trouble with the proportions…
Thanks!
It varies depending on the size of your head. Check out the diagram at the top of the post for how to measure your head for the correct triangle size.
Hi! This may have an obvious answer I am missing: did you trace and cut out pieces for the ear flaps? Or did you incorporate them into the crown like the triangles?
Thanks for the awesome tutorial!
I’m glad you like it! The ears are separate pieces that I drew myself and then sewed into the crown: http://www.handsoccupied.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/earsattached042611.png
Hello Heidi,
Thank you for the tutorial! It was great, however I am still confused about the ear flaps (as Allyson mentioned above). I am not talking about the actual ears that are sewn into the top of the crown, but the ear flaps that go over our actual ears, as aviator hats typically do.They are apart of the pattern above, however I seem to have missed how they are included into the Louise hat.
Thanks, Christina! (Sorry Allyson, I totally misunderstood your question – my bad!) I ended up not needing to make my ear flaps separately since the crown part of the hat was so huge on me. I just cut out space for my face from the too-long hat, creating the shape of the built-in ear flaps.
Geez Louise what a great tutorial. Mine didn’t end up having the aviator ear flap thing going, as I measured the “crown” part pretty dead on. I didn’t add ear flaps mostly because the hat fit well, and I was doing it last last last minute in the middle of the night and I was sleepy. :) Still cute and pulls Louise off. Thanks!
Had lots of fun making the hat going to wear it to comic con!! :)
I would like to download to pattern
Unfortunately, there isn’t a pattern to download. You’ll need to measure your head and follow the instructions as described for the hat to fit its best.