Halloween Ninja Hat - Tutorial

I had two little boys that wanted to be ninjas for Halloween and the Trunk or Treat was coming up in . . . well, it was that night.  Some solid fleece black pajamas did the trick for the black suit, but what to do for the mask?  Well, here is my simple and fast solution that was good enough for my boys.  Yes, I would make some modifications if I had had a bit more time, but this worked and was fast and easy.

 First thing, I grabbed one of their fleece hoodies and laid it out inside out on top of a folded piece of fabric (fold at the top).  I then traced around the back with some chalk where I would need to trim.  As you notice, I have extra (about 1") in the front to allow for a hem.

 As you can see, the hood is about 14" from the top of the fold down to the base of the neck.  I've hemmed the front and sewn the back together.  The fabric he chose was a lycra fabric which was plenty stretchy.  I had him try it on and marked where he wanted the mask to come and how far across the front it needed to be.  He wanted it to go up 10" from the bottom. (That what the pin is for.)

 I measured and cut a piece slightly larger to allow for the hem.  (I allowed for a 1/4" seam because of the size of the stretch stitch I was using.  You can add what you need).

BTW - like my Oreo Logo fingernail?

 Next hem the top of the rectangle. 

 Then pin to both sides of the front seam and sew.

 The second mask was made of fleece and needed a little bit of adjustment for it to fit.  First off, Fleece is not as stretchy, so the rectangle size had to be adjusted.  It was closer to 8"x6."  He also said he need it to be higher in the center and come down at the sides.    As you can see in the pictures below, there is probably about a 1/2" difference from the fold to where it is sewn to the hood.  I agree that it fit better around his nose and eyes than the orange does on his brother with that slight angling of the front rectangle.

I also needed to make sure the stretch went from side to side so it could be easily stretched over the head.  I was lazy and didn't hem the fleece since it won't unravel any time soon.  Good enough for a quick costume.  However, if you are so inclined, hem away.