Furry Fleeceband How To!

It feels so good to back  :) After a long break... We are ready to hit the craft room. One of my "better late than never" Christmas presents was a fleeceband for my dear friend who moved up the northeast.... (too cold for this Texas girl).

Here's a simple little project for 30 minutes or less...

What you need:

Two coordinating fleece fabrics

Faux fur

Let's get started! Fold your first piece of fleece fabric so that you have 11" in the stretchy direction. (You'll notice that one way the fabric is stretchy, and the other way it's not...) Cut out a rectangle that's 11" x 5" and then trim away the bottom edge to make a curve for your ears. The part where the fold is where your forehead is... so you don't want it too thick!

Cut out a coordinating piece of fleece 

(remember the stretch in the long direction!)

Open up your lining fleece and sew on two furry ear patches. I just laid my fleece over the fur and estimated. It's the inside... so no one will really see the details. Stitch the fur to the fleece right near the edge.

 NOTE: Fur is very difficult to sew "against the hair" so you may need to sew this piece on with two directions of stitches.

I happened to have access to an embroidery machine, but this isn't necessary! I did add a little strip of coordinating fleece to the front and attached it with a zig-zag stitch. The beautiful thing about fleece is that you don't really need to worry about the unfinished edge!

Now, put the right sides together and stitch a seam at the top and bottom of the fleece band, leaving the ends open.

Turn that baby inside out!

I pinned the edges flat so I could evenly put the finishing stitch
(1/4" from the edge) on the top and bottom. 

Now, with the lining out, pin the edges to see how it fits... Take a little more or a little less so it fits just right. Then do a couple reinforcing stitches and trim the excess fabric, leaving about 1/2" selvage.

Using your zig zag stitch, sew the edges of the selvage to give it a little extra stability and a finished look.

With a straight stitch, I secured down the edges by sewing along the seam
I had already created.

There you have it! A sweet, furry fleece band in no time!
Stay warm!

Sew. Sweet.