Summer is here — time for sun hats! We are a fair-skinned bunch, especially the red headed Kiki, and my girls don’t have the greatest track record in actually wearing their hats outside in the sun when they really need them. so I’m hoping that these custom made babies will entice them to practice better sun protection.
These are Oliver + S Reversible Sun Hats. The pattern is in Liesl’s book Little Things to Sew, and is also available as a free download on the O+S website. Nice! I do have the book, but I found it easier to just print out the pattern from the site than trying to locate the book in my ultra organized house (ha).
Let’s start with Lulu. Her hat is sporting Made By Rae’s Lotus Pond fabric inside and out. This view is Lily Pond and there is Meadow Blossom Blue on the inside. I’m late to the party with these fabrics, as they came out last summer and are getting to be hard to find. Luckily, they’re still too be had on Etsy.
These hats are pretty easy to whip up. All you need is 1/3 yard of two fabrics and a little bit of fairly stiff, sew-in interfacing, and you’re halfway there.
That being said, there are a couple of tricky bits. Sewing the top of the hat onto the sides is a little bit fiddly. Liesl tell you to clip the seam allowance in the sides of the hat before pinning onto the top. It took me a few minutes to get the hang of this, but once you hit your stride, it’s not a big deal.
Also, I found top-stitching around just above the brim to be a little more challenging than expected. What looks nice on one side would be screwy and puckered on the other — you know. And since this hat is reversible, I wanted both sides to look nice. As with most things, with a little more practice I’ll be better at this. But for now, these look just fine, I think.
One other thing to note is that I assumed that both girls would wear a medium, as the age range on the pattern si 3-5. After making the first hat in a medium and trying it on both girls, it turned out that the 5 year old Kiki needs a large. (She has a big head just like her mother.) The moral of that story is to be sure to measure your kid’s head before you start.
Kiki’s hat is made with Heather Ross’s Far Far Away fabric. One side is Frog Prince Blue on Cream, and the other is Meadow Blue on Cream. These fabrics are also getting to be few and far between, so Etsy saved me once again.
These prints are so sweet, and I’ve been itching to use them on something. But I think that they are a little too subtle for a hat, and their little surprises get lost. The more punchy Lotus Pond on Lulu’s hat makes a bigger statement. But, Kiki’s hat is pretty cute nonetheless. I’m sure I’ll come up with some other way to use the leftovers — maybe as pockets or a dress bodice — so that they can be more thoroughly appreciated.
The girls are enjoying their hats so far. Today, I found them stuffed in Kiki’s bike basket, ready for the next adventure. Ahhhhhh, summertime!
Rosemary Mornings 