Reversible 40’s Inspired Sun Cap with Free Pattern

Sew a Reversible 40’s Inspired Sun Cap with Free Pattern to protect your loved one’s noggins this Summer.


I just got this gorgeous Kei Japanese import Bark Cloth and was inspired to make up a little forties-ish cap-type sunhat.  I hope you like it as much as Miss Niko did!

We have the free Forties Inspired Sun Cap Pattern and full tutorial after the jump!…


40’s Inspired Reversible Sun Cap

Here it is reversed out.  I’d say go for a less bold pattern than these stripes, they look a little strange on the head:

1.  Start by downloading, printing, and cutting out our pattern pieces.  There has been some debate about what size baby this hat will fit in the comments, and I’m realizing that head size is sort of random.  I suggest printing it out as is and holding the middle piece up to baby’s head.  It should be almost as wide as baby’s head, if it’s not then scale the pattern up before printing.  If it’s wider then baby’s head, scale the whole pattern down.  And let us know how the sizing worked for you in the comments.  At the end of the post I’m going to add some pics of some other version and describe the sizing…
Download the free pattern here: Pretty Prudent Sun Cap

2.  Trace your pattern pieces onto your fabric.  You’ll have three pieces for each side (1 middle and 2 sides):

3. Fold your middle piece in half to find the center and with right sides facing, pin the center of one side piece to it:

Pull the ends in and pin them in place, edges aligned:

Continue to pin all the way around:

Sew in place with a 5/8″ seam allowance, then trim the edges:

Repeat with the other side piece, attaching it to the opposite side of the middle piece:

Sew in place and turn right side out:

4.  Do the same with your other set of fabrics for the inside or your hat.  With right sides facing, slide one assembled hat piece into the other like so:

Sew in place around the edge with a 1/4″ seam, leaving a hole for turning on one side, back stitching at the beginning and end:

Turn your hat right side out through the hole, then top stitch about 1/8″ to 1/4″ in all the way around.  You may want to use a different color in the bobbin and spool so your stitches match your fabric:

Measure 1.5″ in all the way around, mark with an air erasable marker, and sew another line of stitches.

You, my friend, are done!

Reader Jmoose made one at the same size as the pattern and it fits her one year old (who wears size 24 month clothes):

I made one for myself with the pattern increased to 120% and it looked like this…a little small, the brim is a little short…

And reader Sara made this one for herself using a different method, which i think turned out way cuter, which I will let her tell you about at her blog My Craft Chronicle:

If you love the DIY Reversible Bonnet & Free Downloadable Pattern, take a look at our other free baby hat and bonnet sewing patterns.

DIY Baby Bonnet with Leather Ties with Free Pattern

Crochet Bonnet DIY

DIY Fleece Bonnet with Free Pattern

Summery Sun Hat with Free Downloadable Pattern!

 

Reversible 40’s Inspired Sun Cap with Free Pattern

DIY Reversible Bonnet & Free Downloadable Pattern

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34 Comments

Sara

I think I'd like to make one of these for myself! Would you have suggestions on how to alter the pattern for an adult size?

Reply
squirt mcgurt

I may make one for myself also. Made one for my son today but it didnt fit.. hes 10 months old .. ( scaled it down to 80% for him).. I think ill try again.. I lOOOOOOOve it!

Reply
Jaime

squirt! that's a bummer, i'm sorry! head size is such a difficult thing to pattern for! was it too small or too big?

Reply
Jessica

I made this hat last night – it is so cute!!! I am a newbie sewer, following the directions exactly and it took less than 2 hours (probably only 1 hour).

FYI – my daughter is just a year old (wearing 24 mo. clothes) and has a good head of hair and this hat just fits. I will make another one a little bit bigger for her. My 4 year old son also wants one, so I might enlarge by 20% to see how it works.

Thanks for sharing your tutorial!

Reply
Jaime

jmoose thanks for the feedbacl. okay so i am changing the sizing notes because i know i can't predict! and send us a picture!!!

Reply
squirt mcgurt

yeah I think the 100% would work for my 10 month old ( he is in the 95th percentile for head size, though) lol! My daughter wants one too. shes 3 so ill be playing around with enlarging.. I absolutely love love love it. so cute, so easy. i will be making these for all the kids birthdays in my moms group i think.. thanks for sharing..!!

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Jessica

FYI – I made another hat after increasing the pattern size to 120% and it almost fits MY head!! I'll use that size pattern for my 4 year old son and probably only increase the pattern to 110% for my 1 year old daughter.

I still love this project 🙂

Reply
Sara

OK – I made another and this time it came out great! I enlarged the pattern to 130%, and added an extra inch in length. (I continued the flared line out one inch longer and drew a straight line across the bottom) This worked perfectly!

I think making this hat when you have the head that it's going on right there is helpful. I will still send the other to my nephew to see if it fits.

I have blogged about it here:

http://kenagy.blogspot.com/2010/05/sun-hat.html

Reply
craftytalk

I made this hat yesterday and it was very cute and fast. I tried it on my friend's 14 month old who has very little hair and it was much too small! Apparently she has a large head. I am going to try it on my niece who is 7 months.

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Vic

Is there any chance you can upload the pattern to google docs? Scribd is charging for it… And it's nearly summer in Argentina and Violeta still has no hair so she needs one of these! Thank you muchly

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Vic

Yay! I just came back to check up on this – thanks so much! I've just finished a week of working round the clock on an editing job and I'm planning to wind down this weekend making a matching sunhat and the snappy top (and maybe some bloomers) for Violeta. Gracias gracias 🙂

Reply
Sewing mama

I love this pattern – but I think my technique is not right. I'm getting some overlapping fabric as I'm trying to sew the curves on the sides of the hat. Does anyone have tips or pointers as to how to sew this smoothly?
Thanks!

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366323b4-b493-11e0-ac71-000bcdcb471e

I made this according to the pattern… eliminated the second external stitch and it was still on the small side for my 1 year old daughter… her head circumference is at 55% on the national average. I will slightly enlarge this pattern and I think it will fit beautifully! Love this thank you so much!

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JSM

I am not that computer savey but I couldn't figure out how to scale exactly I am supposed to scale it up to 110% for an 18 mo old and maybe 120% for a 3.5 year old. Help, I'm leaving on vacation in two days : )

Reply
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