A balaclava is warm and comfortable and is probably the headwear the offers the greatest isolation. For extra cold environments, I recommend sewing the balaclava in multiple layers and adding Windstopper over the ears. In this tutorial, I will show you the steps in how to sew the balaclava. I will even add a video tutorial at the bottom of the page. Below you can find the Balaclava Sewing Pattern in PDF format.
These are the steps in sewing a Balaclava:
For a warm balaclava wool fabric is recommended and softshell fabric to be used as wind stoppers. The basic tools needed are a sewing pattern, sewing machine, scissors fabric, and thread. The Balaclava sewing pattern is available below. You can also read a more detailed description of each step and watch a video tutorial below.
The Sewing Pattern:
The Balaclava Sewing pattern (PDF) is made in all sizes from 2-3 Months and all the way up to 3 years!
We recommend sewing the balaclava in stretchy fabrics such as jerseys and wool.
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The tools you need to sew a Balaclava:
The Balaclava doesn't require a lot of tools. I'm using a scissor, Rotary cutter, cutting mat, glue, clips and pins, and fabric. As long as you have a good pair of scissors and pins you are good.
The fabric we are using is merino wool and a softshell as wind stoppers. We are sewing the Windstopper directly over the ears.
Cutting the Fabric Pieces
Happy-Sewings Balaclava requires 9 pieces including the wind stoppers. I Cut the wind stoppers from Softshell, the rest from Merino wool. I drew the pattern pieces on construction plastic and attached them with pins. I then cut the pieces from the fabric using a rotary cutter.
If you don't have a rotary cutter or a good pair of scissors you can click here to see our selection. You can also find new blades or other useful cutting tools following that link.
Pattern pieces
The Sewing pattern has 9 pieces, including the wind stoppers and lining. The dark fabric is for the outer fabric and the light brown colored fabric is for the lining. The two squares at the bottom left are the wind stoppers for the ears.
with all the pieces cut and tools ready it's time to sew the Balaclava. We are going to stitch the balaclava together using a Baby Lock Coverstitch machine, A Brother 4234d overlocker, and a Singer Tempo 70. The Singer is a regular sewing machine. If you don't have a cover stitch or an overlocker you can use a regular sewing machine for all stitches. I Recommend that you select stitches for stretchy fabrics.
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Step 1: The Wind stoppers (Optional)
Attach the Winstoppers to the inside of the lining. We place it inside the lining to hide the wind stoppers. Make sure that they cover the ears. Attach them with pins and stitch them together. I stitch them together with a seam made for stretchy fabric on my regular sewing machine (Singer Tempo 70)
You can see the steps in the video below.
Step 2: The Lining
The Lining contains three pieces when the wind stoppers are mounted. The two side pieces and centerpiece must be sewn together. I'm stitching this lining the right way out, Meaning that I can hide the seam inside the Balaclava. Keep in mind that the Winstoppers should be on the "outside" of the lining, As it will be placed in between the lining at the outer fabric.
I stitch it together using an Overlock machine. If you are using a regular sewing machine I recommend a seam made for stretchy fabric as it will give the best fit. You can read more about the overlocker I'm using in this tutorial here.
Step 3: The Outer Layers
We do the same with the outer layers as we did on the lining. We attach both sides to the centerpiece and stitch it together using a seam made for stretchy fabrics. This time we place the stitching on the inside of the balaclava.
The next step is sticking down these seams on the outer layer and the Lining of the balaclava
Step 4: Stitch down the Seams if needed (Optional)
The seams we just made are bulky and they will be visible when the balaclava is finished. If you have bulky seams as well I recommend stitching them down as well. I'm using a Babylock cover stitch machine. If you are using another sewing machine, make sure that you use stitches intended for stretchy fabrics.
Step 5: Close the front of both layers
The next step is closing the front of both pieces. It's important to do this now because it won't look nice and it will be much more difficult to close it afterward when both pieces are stitched together. When you have applied the clips make sure that the face opening is big enough and has the shape you wanted. We stitch the openings on the same side as the other stitches. I'm stitching it together all the way up to the blue clip you see in the picture. I'm using an overlocker here, but a regular sewing machine with a false overlock seam will be just as good.
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Step 6: Joining the Lining and the Outer Layer
Both pieces are finally ready. The first step is preparing the rib for the face opening. We join both sides and stitch them together. Make sure to stitch it together on the backside of the ribbon so that the seam isn't visible. We then fold the ribbon again and we apply clips to keep it like this until it's inserted.
We align the seam we made on the ribbon to the seams we made when we closed the front opening. We attach the outer layer first, then we add the lining. Keep in mind that we have the outer layer and the inner layer inside out. You can see this step in the video below.
Step 7: Closing the Bottom opening
The Face opening is ready, all that is left is to attach the Lining at the bottom of the balaclava as well. I'm using clips and a glue pen when I align the layers. Here I'm using a baby lock cover stitch machine and stitching it together on the right side of the fabric.
All that is left is attaching any loose threads. That's how you make a Balaclava.
You can read more about the tools we are using here
Video Tutorial:
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