My kids are very particular when it comes to their costumes. They like all of the details to be just right, so a couple years ago when they wanted to have a Mario themed birthday party I started making prototypes of the hats that we’d give the guests as favors. After a few unsatisfactory attempts I finally came up with this version - which happily turned out to be the easiest to make. We ended up making 16 of these one evening. The kids were able to help tracing the circles and cutting them out, I just had to supervise and sew.
Polyester fleece is one of my favorite costume making materials. Like felt, there is no right side or wrong side and it doesn’t fray so raw edges are fine. But unlike felt, fleece is stretchy and elastic, so measuring and sizing can be very casual. Since it’s kind of thick it holds shapes really well and even really messy sewing gets blurred in the fuzz. My sewing machine usually needs to be cleaned after I work with fleece, but washing the material first gets rid of a lot of loose fibers. Sewing by hand is also a reasonable option for this project, and as crazy as it sounds safety pins or staples would also work.
Two hats can be made from half of a yard of fleece (1/4 yard will be too narrow.) These hats will fit anyone from a toddler to an adult.
Fold the fleece in half so that you are cutting out two pieces at a time. I use the lid from a 5 gallon pail to trace a circle on the fabric. (I use whatever marker I have around, it won’t show.) You don’t have to use a lid, you just need to make a circle with at least a 12″ diameter.
Cut out the two circles and keep the corner that is left over - this is going to be the bill of the cap.
Round off the corner and cut off the thin ends.
On one of the rounds, trace a smaller circle. It should have about a 4.5″ diameter. This is going to be the head hole. It seems small, but fleece is stretchy, remember?
These are all the parts cut out.
Sew the two rounds together about 1/2″ from the outer edge. Sew along the outer edge of the bill.
Turn both pieces inside out.
Place the open edges of the bill along the edge of the small circle and stitch all 3 layers together.
The hat is now ready for the finishing touches.
I like to use white funky foam or fun foam - whichever you call it - to make a circle for the initial - trace the lid from a can of frozen juice concentrate if you want to keep the lid theme going . I use a safety pin to secure it in place, if you make the safety pin come out and go back in through the letter it will be almost invisible.
Black funky foam mustaches complete the look - we just attach them with double stick tape.
Ingenious. Love how you make the beret with brim so kid friendly to make. Great idea, great article. This deserves a referring article in my blog…. heading there now to crow about you. Hugs, Jane
Wow - thanks! This made my day!
Wow, great article. My friend and I are being Luigi and Mario for Halloween this year and this will really help. Thanks so much
-Beth
yeah mine tooo !
So glad I could help!
this is great! with three of my friends, we are going to be mario, luigi, and wario… this is perfect and so simple! i’m so glad i found this by just searching on google… thank you!
I just made these last night for my boyfriend and I. They are perfect! Thanks so much for the posting!
Bless you! My 2 nephews (ages 3 years and 9 months) are going to be Mario and Luigi for Halloween and we got completely ripped off by trying to order hats for their costumes online - in brief, they haven’t arrived yet and we are dressing up TOMORROW! This is the BEST! If I had seen this earlier, we probably would not have ordered the expensive hats. I am now on my way to go buy fabric and we will make these before tomorrow night, I think.
Thank you so much for sharing this great idea!
You saved Halloween for us!
Yay! I’m so glad these are working out for everyone. I just saw a set of hats on ebay that sold for $184 - that was for one Mario hat and one Luigi hat!
Hooray for you!! Last minute hat disaster occurred (bleach, dye…its a long story) your pattern and fabulous instructions have saved the day!
Thank you so much for posting this! I just finished making the hats for my son and daughter. (5 and 2 years old) They love them!
Thank you for posting this! This was the easiest and best looking Mario hat I’ve seen how to make.
Thank you SOOOOOOOO much for this pattern. We have the rest of the costume, this is the finishing touch!
Will this also work with fleece?
will the hats work with felt?
Probably - but you’ll have to be more precise with the head measurement - you won’t have much stretch. Maybe do a head circumference measurement and make sure the head-hole circumference is the same. Good luck!
thank you!
While I won’t be using this to make a mario or luigi it still helped me a lot. I will be using it to make a hat for another costume i am making.
Thanks heaps for posting this. We live in Australia and Mario & Luigi hats are not available to Australia unless you pay through the noise for them and order them from overseas. My son has been hassling me to buy him a Mario & Luigi hat for so long. Now I can make it myself. Its great.Thanks Again : )
good hats
makeing it at my babysiter
My son and I spent summer 2006 making a Mario costume with a cap we painted red. Halloween 2007 comes around and the darn costume is nowhere to be found! He ended up going as a nondescript “newspaper reporter covering Mario news”
So happy to have found inspiration to start again from scratch!!!
This will come in handy for my costumes for Video Games Live. Realism and originality, great job.
thanks im going to make them for halloween thanks alot this has made my day finding this its tooken me 3 months to find hats and every thing but this blog has just made it the best day in my life!! good job and keep it up!!
thanx again !
How fun - I never expected such a response! Thanks everyone!
I finished my first one today and it turned out amazing. Thanks.
i LOVE the hat your asome do you think that you can make a toad hat
Yes - the super-creative person who writes this blog - http://cosplayegg.blogspot.com/2008/03/super-mario-cosplay.html
adapted the pattern to make a toad hat.
Basically - the same pattern with the circle’s diameter twice as big and no brim. She used self adhesive felt to make the dots.
Thanks so much for this pattern!!! My kids are very happy with their hats. And BTW, I used felt and it worked out just fine. I made the inner measurement 5″ instead of 4.5″.
do you think for an adult hat the dimesions should be changed form 12 to slightly larger?
genius post tho
12″ has worked for most of the adults who have tried it, also my kids have larger-than-average heads (like everyone in my family.) You could make it larger for a more exaggerated/cartoony look. Try it - you can always make it smaller if you don’t like it!
Yay! My twins are dressing as Mario and Luigi for Halloween this year, I am so glad I found this site. I didn’t like the look of just the plain baseball cap.
I wanted to make a Mario cosplay for my 27 cm tall Jenny doll and confused how to make the hat. Thanks God i found this site so that i could finish it. very satisfied. Thank you so much ^____^
hi helen,
would like to thank you for your very helpful guide…!!!
we were unable to find any red or green berets, and instead used your guide to make the hats ourselves which really topped off the outfit…
here is our result…
http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v307/6/34/504325970/n504325970_1672680_9270.jpg
cheers!!!!
Hello Helen
I’m from Brazil, and I like to thank you VERY MUCH for this guide. (I hope it’s not too late for comment)
by the way, my girlfriend will help me out with making one of those hats. I’m gonna use it on a festival here in the next month. but here, people doesn’t work very much with fleece, so we use other material (and I don’t know it’s name in english, sorry.)
but anyways, thanks a LOT for these guide.
hugs from Brazil!
thx soooo much!!!!
Brilliant! Our one year old twin boys are going as Mario and Luigi (big brother’s idea) and I had no idea what to do for the hats. Thank you!
Oh my gosh! I have been searching for a RED HAT to make a mario hat for my 6 month old. It’s impossible. I think even I can do this, especially since you said it can even be sewn by hand. THANKS!!!
Thank you so much! I’ve been searching for days trying to find reasonably priced Mario and Luigi hats. Now I can make my own. It looks so easy!
I just made this hat…using these directions and it is so cute! I bought the fabric on sale at joann for $2 and red thread for $1..Something so cute, for so inexpensive!!
Omg this is genius! i was thinking of different ways to make a mario at and thisis by far the easiest!
awesome. i couldnt find this anywhere else. you ended my search. THX:)
All I can say is THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I am a sewing bonehead and I am in the process of making these for my kiddos. I just finished the first one-AMAZING! So easy and it looks great! You are fabulous!! Great idea and directions!! Well done!! Thanks again!
Thank you…my son is going to be Mario for Halloween. I did not want to spend a fortune for a hat. I ended up spending only $3 for the fabric!
Thanks! Now my little guy can be Luigi for Halloween. He looks cute too
Thank you so much!!! My 5-year-old will get to be Super Mario with this hat, with Ganandorf’s cape
You’re only 5 once! 
Thank you so much for the super mario brothers hat pattern!!!! My son is going as Luigi and my nephew as Mario. I made the hats this afternoon and they are SO CUTE!!!! I love them and my son wore his all day today. They were inexpensive and easy too make. They turned out so good! Thank you thank you thank you.
Thank you so much! I followed your directions and it came out incredible! I used adhesive-backed felt for the circle and M. Beautiful! My son is thrilled about being Mario for Halloween!
I’m so glad I found this - I’m ready to go make my twins’ mario and luigi hats for halloween!
fabulous! i just made mario and luigi hats for my boys’ halloween outfits and they are so cute and the boys are so beyond thrilled. thank you so much!
Simply genius. Thank you for this pattern. My son wanted to be Mario for Halloween this year and we have the whole outfit figured out except the hat. I was surprised to see how much people were charging on ebay for Mario hats, I made this hat last night after the kids went to bed and it is 10 times better then anything I’ve seen for sale.
p.s. My son thought the hat was so cool and looked exactly like Mario’s that he wanted to wear it to school today
What a lifesaver! My son changed his mind about his Halloween yesterday and decided he wants to be Mario. We have a Halloween party tomorrow and I could not find a Mario hat anywhere. I stumbled on this site last night, bought the fleece today, and I made the hat tonight in less than an hour. Thanks for the great idea!
Terrific! I have been trying to find Mario and Luigi hats for my grandsons all over the Internet. This is great and inexpensive, and I love sewing with fleece. We are making the overalls with fleece, as well, with McCall’s pattern 4644, which recommends fleece.
Thank you, I will try to do it for my 2 boys. I appreciate your sharing that with us.
THANKS SO MUCH!!
I was just telling a friend all i needed were the hats for the Mario Brothers costumes this year.
Dee
love the pattern! my boys love the mario bros and will be them for halloween. I am sure the hats will be worn a lot more than just for that! thanks so much for posting.
I can’t thank you enough for sharing your pattern…i love other mom’s that share their wealth of knowledge. if we all worked together more often wouldn’t life be so much easier!!!
THANK YOU for the wonderful instructions and pattern. I used a glue gun and had a fabulous hat in 15 minutes. Two Mario hats for a couple dollars a piece!
Thank you sooo much for sharing this! We went to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween at Disney as Mario, Luigi, and Wario. I used your pattern and instructions to make the hats. It was such a huge success! We received so many compliments from everyone at the park. We even had our picture taken several times because people loved our costumes. My daughter even got to play Super Mario Kart with Goofy. Thanks again!
Thank you so much for publising your Mario and Luigi hat pattern. My twins are going to be them for halloween this year and we were having trouble finding a hat. Now their costumes are complete. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Helen,
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I just finished with a Luigi hat and it turned out great. Much less expensive than purchasing on Ebay and more fun!
Cheers, this is F’in A!
I was going to buy a flat cap and convert it from that by sewing red fabric over the top, this looks like it will get a better result for less money. Just need to nick me nans sewing machine now ( ^_^ )
Thanks! What excellent results! I could not believe that it was so easy!!!
By any chance do you have any good ideas for Mario and Luigi gloves???
Thanks so much!!!!!!!!!! Greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!
@ Anne-Marie
You can pick up some white serving gloves or suit gloves from most suit shops. I got mine for 6 quid (im from the UK btw) but that should translate to about 10 dollars. Most even have the cunning little lines on the the back too.
Thanks so much for this! I just made a Luigi hat for Halloween. It is just SO adorable!! =)
I was SO happy to find this! “Real” Mario & Luigi hats are so expensive. There was no way I was spending what I saw on them. I’m not a strong seamstress, but this is such a simple pattern. I’ll be able to put together hats for our son and nephew (going as the Mario Bros this year) tonight.
Thank you!
YAY! you just made my halloween! there’s nothing worse than having a whole outfit together without the hat. last year I was abraham lincoln without the hat and NOBODY got it!
Many, MANY thanks for sharing this pattern. It is so much more simple than anything I would have come up with on my own, and it looks amazing! This was the last piece we needed for my 7 yr. old son’s costume, and up to this morning, (Halloween morning,)we still didn’t have a hat. Even with a malfunctioning machine, this was quick enough to do by hand. You saved the holiday for us!
I made this last week for Halloween, but I just had to come back to THANK YOU! My son wanted to be Mario last year, and I just couldn’t get it together. He was SO pleased to be Mario this year! You helped make his day! A big Texas thanks to you!!!
With a little help from my friend who sews and your fantastic instructions, I was able to make a Mario and Luigi hats for my sons. They were Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, so I didn’t have to worry about mustaches, and the shirts and overalls were from their existing wardrobe. Thank you so much! I’m a avid follower of your blog now!
I have to make these
They are amazing!!
Thanx Helen!
Thankyou soooooooo much for this!!!! I sew but I could not figure out how to make these hats with out many hours of trial and error. I needed a Mario and Luigi hat for my band duet to add more theme and I was getting worried because I’m on a dead line. But now I know what to do!! Thank you sooo much!!
Bit late for Halloween but just in time for Christmas - thank you so much!
Cheers
Helen, The hats came out amazing. Thanks you so much! We really looked like Mario, luigi and the princess. I have gotten so many compliments. Definately can’t get these in stores!!! Shoot me an email so I can send you our picture. You’ll love it!
cheers for that, youve made my new years cheaper! also, i have a ginger beard, do you reckon it would still work with a ginger moustache or would that look disgusting?
Patrick - I think it would look fine, and after a few hours it won’t matter!
Genius, Pure Genius. Simple but affective and looks great too thanks this really helped with my friends costume and of course mine we made two one for my friend dreesing up ans luigi and myself who dressed up as mario thanks helen really good design and from where we got the material really cheap!
Cheers Helen, youre a dream!
Sorry, I didn’t mean I didn’t think you were real when I called you a dream. I just meant you’re a dream come true.
Wow! Thank you so much for posting these fantastic directions for making a Mario hat. I am so pleased at how easy and quick it was too make, and so happy with how good the hat turned out. Also, it was really fun!! My 7-year old son attended a Mario birthday party today. They asked the kids to wear red, green, yellow or purple hats or clothing. Naturally, my son wanted the real thing, not just a green baseball cap. I made a green Luigi hat for my son and a red Mario hat for the birthday boy using your directions. They were so easy to follow. The kids and the moms loved them. My son never took his hat off during the entire party. Thanks again.
This is nice and easy way to make Mario Hat, and doesn’t need any good talents in sewing either. Here’s my 1st prototype I made with normal fabric: http://mediaserver-2.vuodatus.net/g/74766/1233506443_S5032151a.JPG
I will make better one this week from fleece
GASP! oh THANK YOU!!
for halloween im gonna dress up as mario and look for a sonic
to fight with heh heh….
My son who will be turning 4 wants a Mario birthday party this June. I plan on making these hats for all of the guests. Thank you so much for the wonderful idea. Any help you can give me on making mustaches for everyone would be a help too . . . (I plan on making mushroom cookies and stuffed mushrooms, and even having chocolate coins!)
great job!
what i was thinking was, if you wanted a larger front area, you could offset the head hole a little. and to make the front area stand up a little bit more, add a second/third layer of scrap fleece or thin cardboard to the inside
Absolutely fantastic!! I was looking for a Mario Hat to buy but I will definitely make one now. thank you so much!! You’re a genius! x
I am a 44 year old guy who doesn’t know anything about sewing with a machine. I JUST made this hat!!! Can you believe it? Your directions were fabulous! We are going to a costume party tomorrow and my 8 year old son really wanted a hat that looks like the one in the game. Now he has one. I’d be happy to make a donation.
thanks you so much for sharing. our family will be mario, luigi and toad this halloween. i am so bummed..i just bought mario and luigi hats on ebay for way too much..wish i saw this site first. but will be making toad’s had with this pattern for my son. thank you!
thank you SO MUCH for posting this! this looks really easy! i will be making the hat for my son’s halloween costume this year. i really appreciate this!
Thanks so much for posting this! I was just googling mario and luigi hats to purchase, but now I will be making them instead! I had no idea where I would find hats to fit a toddler and a baby. =P
Fabulous! I found a Mario costume at WalMart but I don’t really like store bought ones. Now I can be Luigi, too!!
This is so awesome. My son wants to be Mario for Halloween, so I figured it would be easy to just make his costume instead of spending money on something that may not even arrive in time (they are all on delay). I went out and got my fleece today, and am about to give it a try! THANKS!
Thanks! Next week is spirit week at my school, and for cartoon character day i was unsure of what to wear and i have a jean overall dress…do you think that would be good to wear instead of overalls since i dont have any?
I think it would be great - I’m sure you’ll look really cute and everyone will know who you are dressing up as!
This is GREAT! My husband and I are going to be Mario and Daisy and I can’t wait to make this! You as well will be refernced in my blog!
Thank you so much for the tutorial. I just whipped up three last night (two Marios and a Luigi). My husband and boys are thrilled
Thank you for the help. My son is so excited about being Mario. The hat was the only thing missing!!!
I’m planning on making mine a bit poofier. So I think I’ll double layer the front and stuff it, make the brim bigger, and line the rim with Bias tape so it stays. Would that sound okayish?Thanks!
Awesome, i just did the hat…My son is going to be Luigi and his buddy is Mario…Thanks so much…I put cardboard in the outer edge part of the hat…Happy Halloween Everyone !!!!
Thank you soo much, im a single mom doing this all on my own, my 4yr old wants to be luigi, this is perfect and inexpensive for me to make for him.
wow! This is sooooo cool! My boyfriend and I are planning to go as Mario and Luigi in our prayer group’s halloween party next weekend and this would be totally awesome. Thank you!
Thank you!!! My oldest son decided he wanted to be Mario last night. I always make our boys’ costumes, since the store bought ones are so thin, poorly made, and expensive. I am already adjusting a pattern to make a blue jumper in a size 12 out of a size 4 pattern and figuring out how to make the hat was going to take up even more time. After a quick google search, your pattern came right up. I’ll whip up the hat today and our son will be thrilled. Thanks again!
LOVE this tutorial! It was clear and easy! I made 1 each of Mario and Luigi hats. They turned out soooo good! I also put a thin piece of cardboard in the brim of the hat, so it stood up a bit more. My boys are going to be THRILLED! I know I am! Thanks a ton! I wish I could figure out how to attach a pic for you! Thanks again!
My son is 9 moonths old and I wanted to make him a unique costume for Halloween. His dad is a big video gamer, so naturally we wanted to dress him up as Super Mario. Thanks so much for posting these hat instructions. It turned out great! I’m going to make the same outfit and hat for his Cabbage Patch Doll so that he can be Luigi. Thank you thank you thank you!
wow this is awesome now me and my friend can be Luigi and Mario
Thank you for posting this. The hat was super easy and turned out great. I used the same idea for making a hat for Toad from Mario as well.
I’m using hot glue instead of sewing. Thanks!
thankyou guys this is mint!
wow
the Boys are handsome. thank you sooo much
These are awesome! So simple! I am making these hats for my roommates cats… they will be Marley-O and Lucy-gi for Halloween! Thanks!
AMAZING that help with my costume
This is great. I bought foam visors from the craft store for a dollar a piece and after struggling to find a way to make a hat out of felt and attach it to the visor I came across this pattern. I skipped the part about the brim and made Mario and Luigi hats to be worn over the visors. Wonderful. They look great. Thanks so much. My boys can’t wait for Halloween.
I have never sewn anything in my LIFE, but I made this hat for my son for Halloween. Thank you so much! The directions and pattern was so simple, even someone with NO sew experience (like me) could do it! For the circle & “M”, I used the fusible webbing…it worked perfect!!
This was a wonderful pattern. It was sooooo easy to make, and my son loves it. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this! My 7 yo son wanted to be Luigi, and since I’m taking him trick or treating this year, I’ll be Mario (or Mommy-O?). I made both hats between coming home from work and eating dinner. For the letters on the front, I bought a sheet of craft foam and just traced 2 circles & put the letters on it (I didn’t realize that white board markers work on craft foam, but they do!) & stuck them with a couple of pieces of double-stick tape. I made the inner hole about 4 1/2″ for my son and a little over 5″ for me. Worked great!
Thank you soooooo much for posting this! youre a life saver! My boyfriend and i are being mario and luigi- and i couldnt find hats anywhere (besides the $40 ones online), then i stumbled upon this article. I am by no means a seamstress, but they were really simple to make. I made his a little bigger then you said because he has a big noggin, and then used sticky back white felt for the circles then sticky back black for the letters and they look store bought! everyone just loves them. Thank you so much!!
FYI! I DID try hot glue, but it wasn’t as nice…..so, since I had extra felt to make another I sewed it and it was AWESOME!! So much better! Don’t use craft foam for the white—-just use white felt and hot glue on a cut-out letter M of your same fleece (or L for Luigi in our case as green!) and and then glue the whole thing on! It looks WAY better than “coloring” it or anything.
Also, I bought BOTH our green (for Luigi) and red fleece at Walmart last night for 4.44 per/yard and they were they PEFECT colors! :o)
Can I upload a pic? it looks great! Thank you again for this wonderful hat project!!!
THX SO MUCH! tomarrows halloween AND THIS SAVED MY HOLLIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:O This was sooo helpful, i havnt made them yet- going out to buy the material today. Me and my friend are going as mario and luigi for a late notice halloween party and didnt have the time (or money) to buy them, total lifesaver!
x
Thank you for this pattern. I have two little boys who want to be Mario & Luigi for Halloween this year. I just finished both the caps and they couldn’t have turned out better. A pleasure to make and the directions were easily followed. The boys will be thrilled. Thank you, thank you, thank you
Thank you so much for posting this great idea! I quickly put together the Mario hat and even had time to make a Luigi hat for my youngest. I also made one a bit larger for my husband and added circular foam cut-outs for an awesome Toad hat…I made the brim in white and used sticky-back foam for eyes and the top spots. This was such a neat craft. Thank you again for this idea, it MADE Halloween at our house:) My boys were sooo happy!
This are such a good idea! I just put a mario and luigi hat together last night for my one-year-old twins! They even fit them. They are going to be baby mario and luigi.
wow now me and Mario can go out since we lost our hats while on a double-date with the princesses thx helen
I just wanted to thank you. My hats for my two boys came out great. Their costumes were a big hit…they even won first place in a costume contest. Without your directions I would have been stumped foresure. THanks again.
thanks from brazil!
This is amazing! I just finished making mine, it completes my outfit
Why is everyone immatating me?
Thank you! You saved my day! Best regards from Denmark
i love the mario bros very cool!
THANK YOU! They turned out perfectly!
G’Day from Australia! Thank you sooooo much for this pattern! It was the perfect size and now I have two authentic looking Mario and Luigi Hats! Me friend and I are dressing up as Mario and Luigi for our house swimming carnival because our theme is Red Rescuers. We were about to get everything else easily but we were worried about the hats! Altogether it cost us AUD $7.20 and there is enough material to make another two hats! Cannot thank you enough! ~Kim
Hey,
This is awesome, I probably won’t even reserve mine for fancy dress purposes…
I made Mario & Luigi hats for my nephews (ages 4 & 10) for Christmas and they loved them! The instructions were clear and simple, and it was very easy to adjust the fit. The 4.5″ inside diameter was perfect for the 4 year old, and it was very easy to cut the hole a bit bigger for the 10 year old. Great instructions!
Just finished my first hat . . . 7 more to go to prep for the birthday party this Friday . . . so fun, and totally adorable.
Thank you, thank you!!!
I love Luigi (I <3 green & he is awsome!). Thank you for hat idea!
sorry cant use it:mom wont buy supplies. Good idea though. handsome kid, too!
I just finished the hat for my sons 7th birthday party. It turned out fantastic!
Thank you so much from Australia