Life & Style

Homemade Gifts for Kids

Well-organized crafters may already have all of their kiddie gifts covered for the season, but we’ve put together a homemade gift guide for procrastinators with quick hands.

With a bit of tulle and ten minutes to spare, you’re on your way to making your favorite ballerina’s dream a reality. Click here to find out how to make the easiest tutu in all the land.
If you’re ready to devote a good chunk of your remaining pre-Christmas days to the pursuit of serious cuteness, check out these instructions for an insanely adorable knit toy penguin.
And let us not forget the “Tree Tee,” a soon-to-be classic in the holiday wardrobe of every seasonally aware tween.

For the babies in your orbit, here’s an adorable new-sew mohawk hat you should be able to tackle in an afternoon!

THE NO-SEW MOHAWK

Need It

⅜ yard solid or patterned (fleece 1*)
⅛ yard solid or patterned (fleece 2*)
Ruler
Fabric scissors
Permanent marker or chalk
Tape measure (or hat that fits your child)
Eyelet pliers
Rotary cutter (optional)
Cutting mat (optional)
Patches (optional)

*If you already have some leftover fleece on hand, a 10″ × 20″ piece will suffice for fleece 1, and twenty-four 8″ × ½” strips are needed for fleece 2.

Pro Tip: If you really want to take it to the next level, sew a Sex Pistols, the Clash, or Children of Reagan patch onto the side of the hat before heading to the playground.

Make It

PREP
1. Measure and cut a 10″ × 20″ piece from fleece 1. (The fabric should stretch along the 10″ side.) Note: This hat is sized for infants to two-year-olds.
2. Measure and cut twenty-four 8″ × ½” strips from fleece 2. (The fabric should stretch along the ½” sides.

ASSEMBLE
3. Fold the 10″ × 20″ piece of fleece in half with the folded part on the top.

4. Measure around the widest part of your baby’s head, divide by two, and add ¾”. Mark a horizontal line equal to that measurement 3″ up from the bottom (A).

5. Mark a vertical line (B) equal to length A that extends up from the midpoint of A. Draw an arc connecting the ends of A and the top of B, as shown. Note: As an alternative, use a child’s rounded knit cap as a template, and trace ¼” to ½” wider than its perimeter. Add an upside-down half-moon shape for the bottom of the hat, as shown (to create ear flaps). Refer to step 4 diagram.

6. Cut along the lines, through both layers.

7. Use the eyelet pliers to punch twenty to twenty-four holes evenly spaced, through both layers ¼” in from the long arc of the hat.

FINISH
8. Fold one strip in half and push the folded loop through both layers of the first holes. Take the two loose ends of the folded strip and thread them through the loop to create a cow hitch knot. Pull it tight. Repeat until all strips are looped in place.

9. Give your mohawk a trim. Keep the ends longer for a floppy look, or cut them short for a spikier, edgier look. Then put it on your little wild child and watch him rock the sandbox.