Before meeting up with dear friends for our annual ladies weekend, I wanted to make sauna hats for our day at the spa. We love a good sauna. Make it an aufguss ritual and we’re relaxed enough to return to civilization for another few months. A thick, boiled wool sauna hat will keep you cooler in warm temperatures and warmer in cold temps, helping you sustain your sauna sweat sesh while keeping you cozy once you’ve gone out in the winter weather to settle into rest mode. Of course, don’t wear it into your post-sauna cold plunge unless you only plan on dipping up to your shoulders. That’s why there’s a hanging loop on top of the hat.
Initially, I looked at a few affordable ready-made options online, but the quality was not there. So, I decided I would wing it and make something much nicer for the squad. I couldn’t find any free sauna hat patterns online, so I decided to create a pattern for a four-piece, bell-shaped sauna hat, myself. I wanted an easy fit that could be pulled down slightly, when desired, to cover the eyes for ultimate privacy in the sauna or when relaxing on a hammock or chair (as in the photo of my gorgeous friend, below). If you just want to stop and admire the hats, you can do so now. Keep scrolling for the technical details and the free pattern template.
Once I had a pattern prototyped, I traced it onto a thin piece of template plastic left over from one of the fabulous quilting classes I took from Johanna Masko at The Workroom. Of course, you could easily cut out something similar from a clear plastic dollar-store placemat or just stick with a piece of paper to trace your pieces on the fabric with some chalk. I also cut a 1-by-4-inch rectangular hanging loop for each chapeau.
I made my sauna hats from two layers of a lovely Mulberry boiled wool I purchased from my local Fabric Spark. It takes approximately 1/3 yard of a wide-width boiled wool to make each double-layered boiled wool hat. [You could create a single layered hat by using a thicker felted wool, but a) I couldn’t find any, and b) I find it too scratchy.] Though, with a little creative pattern placement, I really only needed one yard of this particular fabric to make four double-layered sauna hats.
I found one side of the boiled wool slightly smoother than the other, so I used this smoother side as my “wrong side,” the part that would be touching the head. I cut 8 bell pieces, to make 4 pairs, sewing them together around the full shape of the bell with a straight stitch about 1/16- to 1/8-inch from the edges. Notably, rather than sewing each pair of bells with the “wrong” sides together, I sewed them back to front, so that I ended up with a double-layered bell with a “right side” on top and a “wrong side” on bottom.
I also edge-stitched at 1/16- to 1/8-inch along the 4-inch sides of the single-layer hanging loop. [And I added an additional flourish by switching to my free motion embroidery foot with the feed-dogs down to embroider each lady’s name in gold polyester thread on the loop]. Then, I formed the loop and attached it near the top of my first bell piece with a straight stitch.
Using good old polyester thread, a ballpoint needle, and the walking foot on my beloved Bernina, I zigzagged each of the four double-layered bell pieces together from the top of the hat to the bottom [using a 5.5mm wide and 1.2mm long zigzag stitch].
I think I exceeded my own expectations. The ladies, likewise, were really happy with their gifts. And we received many compliments from fellow spa-goers.
Here’s the sauna hat pattern, with instructions included on the inside of the main pattern piece.
BEWARE: You’ll want to be sure to print this at 100% rather than letting your system scale it accordingly.
The Hanging Loop pattern shape should measure exactly 1×4 inches.
This is my first pattern, and I’m not an expert seamstress, so maybe try a muslin before you cut into your good fabric!
Please use it responsibly.
©RoseanneS.Carrara,SmellingSaltsJournal
Enjoy your next Aufguss!
YOUR MAKES
A maker in Portland, Oregon sent me this lovely photo of the pair of sauna hats she made in Fall, 2025. She purchased her vibrant boiled wool from Stone Mountain & Daughter.
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