Tulip Petal Sun Hat Pattern and Tutorial

This was a tutorial I shared over on the Riley Blake Designs 'Cutting Corners' blog a little while back, so in case you missed it over there, I thought I would post the pattern and instructions here as well.

Tulip Petal Sun Hat

Size 2-5 years

Free Pattern & Tutorial

Click HERE to download the free pattern piece.

Fabric Line: 'Sunny Happy Skies' by Bella Blvd for Riley Blake Designs

Course Materials:

1/2 yard each of two different coordinating prints - 100% cotton fabric

1 large button

1 small button

Basic Sewing Supplies

Pinking Shears (optional)

Tulip Petal Pattern Piece (found HERE)

Course Instructions:

5/8" Seam Allowance, unless otherwise noted.

Cut your pattern pieces.  You will need six for the exterior fabric and six for the interior fabric.  Cut four 14" x 1.5" long rectangles for the tie.

Place two of the petal pattern pieces with the right sides facing each other.  By right sides, I mean the printed side of the fabric.  Stitch along one side.

The above picture is what your stitching should look like.  

Press seams open and trim seam allowance with pinking shears or clip the curves to remove any bulk and help the seams to lay flat.

Now add a third petal piece to the first two that you sewed together.  Place with the right sides together and stitch together.

Press seams open and clip curves or trim with pinking shears.

Do the exact same thing with the other three exterior petal pieces.  So that you end up with two large pieces that have three petals each.

Place the two, three petal pieces with the right sides together and stitch according to picture above.  Press seams.

Follow the above instructions for sewing the lining pieces together.

Place two of the strap pieces with the right sides together.

Stitch down both long sides and one short side, leaving one short side open for turning right side out.

Clip the corners to remove bulk and to help the corners lay flat.

Use a long stick (or, in my case, a thin paint brush) and push the side that you sewed together up through the rest of the long tube until you can pull it right side out.  Work corners out and press.

Follow the same instructions for the other strap.

Now place your exterior fabric pieces and your lining fabric pieces with right sides together and pin around the edge.

Place your straps inside the hat with the raw edge lined up with the raw edge of the hat.  Place each strap on the opposite side of the hat in between one of the scallops and in between the exterior layer of fabric and the lining layer of fabric.  By doing this, you will catch the straps in the seam and they will be positioned correctly with no exposed edges once they are turned out.

Stitch all the way around the scallops, but leave a 2"-3" opening for turning right side out.

Clip in between all of the scallops.  Make sure to clip very close to the seam (just be careful not to clip through it) or the hat will not lay flat when you press it right side out.  Also, clip the excess seam allowance with pinking shears or notch out the curves to help the hat lay flat.

Pull the fabric through the small opening to turn it right side out.

Use your iron and really press out each of the scallops so it lays nice and flat around all of the curves.

Hand sew the small opening that you left around one of the scallops.  Do this in coordinating thread.

This is an optional detail, but you can layer a small button on top of a large button and hand sew it to the top of the hat.

I like the little button detail, but you could add any trim you would like to the top of the hat.  A fabric yo-yo would look great or a little fabric bow would be really sweet.

This is the perfect little hat for a day at the beach or a playdate in the park.  You can easily size the pattern piece up or down by adding or subtracting from it in 1/2" increments.

And since I made this little hat, I couldn't resist playing with this gorgeous fabric and making some coordinating looks for my girls.........

Happy Spring!

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