Baby hats

Okay, I know it's beginning to sound like all I do is sew ... but hey, I'm waiting on this baby and it's summer. No music class. No preschool. No planned activities and it's 100 degrees outside. I have all the boring stuff done, so it's finally time for the fun stuff! Today, I tackled the hat project. Conclusion? Too dang easy!

I surfed around, looking at patterns and tutorials online. This is a good one: Easiest Baby Hat Ever Tutorial. I finally realized after reading a few, though, that I didn't really need more than a simple understanding that you're just creating a square or rectangle. There are other designs that have cute, long "tails" on them, fun animal hat designs, and lots of creative options. I went with the simplest for now.

How does it work? Measure the head, add 1/2 inch. Figure out how high you want it, add 1/2 inch or so. Cut rectangle from fleece, fold in half, sew side seams. Trim corners at top, turn right side out. Fold brim edge under to depth of hem you prefer, stitch. Then, the decorating ... you can pinch the corners, put a few stitches through to hold "ears" in place, or tie up with pretty ribbons, stitch to hold in place, and voila, you are done.

I made the doll hat first and it was so fast I don't know how long it took. I timed myself on the actual baby hat, and it took a whopping 23 minutes! The hardest part was pushing the needle through the ribbon bows and fleece -- ouch. Besides that, piece o' cake!