Summer Sewing

Earlier this week was bright and sunny in Utah. Yay! But then it snowed Saturday and Sunday. Boo! It was a good weekend to stay indoors. So this weekend I got (almost) all caught up on my laundry, and I decided on the spur of the moment to sew a sun hat for Little O so that he has a little shade for his eyes and protection for his head when the sun actually decides to come back.

Because I’m working on being more frugal, I went through my stock pile of fabrics to see if I had something that worked for the project. I chose a small blue polka dot fat quarter and some old canvas scraps left over from a project two years ago.

Then I tried to conceive of a hat that would be good to shade our son from the sun. It needed to have a brim. And I wanted it to be reversible.

So I started cutting out pieces of fabric and holding them up to Little O’s head. A couple hours later, I had this masterpiece:

This is the first time I have ever really made up a pattern for a project like this and I’m quite pleased with the results. Mike, while pleased that his wife can turn fabric scraps into a baby hat, has been making comments like “This is the only time in his life that he’ll be able to get away with wearing something like that” and referring to it as his pioneer hat, which leaves me doubting how much he genuinely likes it. Oh well. He’ll like it enough when it keeps Little O’s head from scalding.

Have you taken on any home sewing projects lately? I’d love to see links to any project you’re particularly proud of!

(Here’s a picture of the general idea, if you’re interested. I’m no pattern maker, but you can see what I’ve done at least. I basically sewed two of these—one in canvas and the other in polka dots—and then I sewed them both together, wrong sides out, leaving a gap in the back from point a to b. I had the straps inserted while I was sewing the two sides together. Then I turned it right-side out, and sewed up that last little gap in the back. I hope that makes sense! Happy sewing!)

Alma