How to Make Baby Hats
Everyone loves babies, and if you're a parent, you know how important it is to keep your little one's head covered and warm. Babies can lose a significant percentage of their body heat if their head is exposed, so it's extra important to keep a hat on your infant when you go outside. On warm days, a hat can keep the sun's harmful rays off your baby's head and prevent her from getting a painful sunburn or skin damage. A simple baby hat is easy to stitch together; if you know how to run a sewing machine, you can make one of these adorable hats in just a few minutes.
Things You'll Need
- Stretchy fabric
- Sewing machine
- Iron
- Scissors
- Thread
Instructions
Measure the circumference of your baby's head. If you don't have a tape measure, just use a piece of string. The baby's head measurement will be the width of the fabric. (Use 1/2 yard of a stretchy fabric, such as fleece.) Cut a piece of material with this measurement as the width, making sure the fabric stretches in the right direction; you want to be able to stretch the hat around the baby's head, not up and down. For your second measurement, cut the fabric about 10 inches long. This will give you a rectangle that is 10 inches times the baby's head measurement. Fold the fabric in half along the short axis, right sides together, and stitch the short seam, stopping about 4 inches from the end. This will give you a rectangular tube with openings on both sides. Use your iron to press one open end flat. Create a 1/2-inch fold, then fold it again and press. Pin it in place. This will create the bottom edge of the hat. If you'd like to try it on your baby to see if it fits, be sure to remove the pins first! If you know the hat will fit, stitch the hem in place using your sewing machine. Turn the material right-side out, so the outside of the hat is facing you. Take the raw, open part of the hat and cut a fringe about 3 inches long all the way around. Cut off one piece of the fringe to use as a tie. Bundle all the pieces of fringe together in the center and wrap the tie around them, securing it in place. If the bundle seems too thick, don't worry--just cut a few off at intervals, until it is a manageable level. If you're using fleece, you're definitely going to need to do this. Trim off any stray bits of string or fuzz. Now you have an adorable hat with a pompom on the top.
