kids sunhat tutorial

With the lovely weather we have had recently I got the summer clothes out of the attic and realised that Rebe's sun hat was just too small for her. So I decided to make her one. I was inspired by the flopsy hat in the Children's Year book. It was super quick and simple to make. You can use any fabric really, we used an old cotton pillow case but I think t-shirt material would be really nice too.

First you need a large circle, about 44cm in circumference. I used a large dinner plate. Fold your fabric over, right sides together. Draw around the plate, you will need to use this circle as a guide later on so use pen so you can see it when you have turned the fabric right side out.

Now draw another circle about 10cm outside of your circle - this will be the brim of the hat. Pin your fabric pieces together and cut out the outer circle.

Sew around the outer edge leaving a small gap which will allow you to turn the fabric right side out.

Clip all the way around the edge of the circle, then turn right side out and press. Hand sew the little gap you left.
If you used plain fabric now's the time to decorate the hat if you want to.

I drew bug pictures and flowers using fabric pens. Let your imagination run riot, embroidery would look lovely, or let your child decorate their own hat :-),

Sew the inner circle using the 'plate line' you drew earlier as your guide.

Sew a second circle about 2 cm outside this, this will form the casing for the elastic.

Measure the right length of elastic by wrapping it around your child's head in the right place. Cut your piece of elastic 1 inch shorter than this so it has to stretch to sit on your child's head which will help hold the hat on.

Cut a small slit in the casing tube

Thread the elastic through the casing using a safety pin.

Secure the elastic with a few strong stitches joining both ends.

Sew up the slit in the casing.

That's it, a finished sunhat. Easy to put on, stays on with no ties and it can be as funky or plain as you want.

Happy and sunny sewing :-)