Dulce Taylor: DIY Sun Hat -- Pattern Tutorial

You guys loved my daughter so much last week with her cute skirts that I have asked her to also show off her totally awesome DIY Sun Hat.  So, here's Dulce....

Hi guys, Dulce here.  Today and Wednesday, I’m going to show you how to make a cute little sunhat!  Today, I will show you how to make the pattern for the hat, and Wednesday I will show you how to make the hat!

Use measuring tape to measure the circumference of your head. Don’t hold the tape too tight; you want the hat to be a little loose! My measurement was 23 inches.

Okay, now it’s time to do a little math. You just measured the circumference of your head. Now we need to find thediameter. The diameter of a circle = the circumference divided by pi. Any one remember what pi is? Cause I honestly don’t....okay, I looked it up. It’s 3.14. (I had to look up that diameter formula as well. College calculus completely ruined my basic math skills)

D = 23 / 3.14

D = 7.33

If your diameter turns out not to be a whole number, try to round it up to the nearest quarter or half of an inch. (Mine will be 7.5 inches)

Not let's make our pattern. You will need a piece of poster board or a large sheet of paper. Lay the paper on a flat surface and make a dot which will represent the center top of the hat. 

Using a yardstick or ruler, draw a line straight across the paper through the dot. The line needs to be centered on the dot and should be the length of your diameter plus 1 inch for seam allowance. (For me, 8.5 inches. The radius of my line is 4.25)

So, this is the way I make my circles (because I'm slightly shape impaired when it comes to drawing). You may find it a bit complicated and come up with a better way. If so, good for you! Or, you may have a circular shaped object with the same diameter as your measurements that you can trace around.

But for the heck of it, here's my way of making a clean circle:

Take a piece of ribbon or string and tie one end to the top of a pencil or pen. Measure out the length of the radius on the remaining ribbon. At that measured point, tie the string to the pen you are drawing your pattern with.

Now, place the first pencil standing up on your middle point, and your marking pen at the ending point of the line you have already drawn. Slowly start to move the marking pin in a half-moon shape to the other ending point of the line, while keeping the pen on the middle point steady. Continue all the way around until your circle is complete.

It's time to decide how wide you want the brim of your hat. Remember, the wider you make your hat, the floppier it will be. I decided to make my hat 4 inches wide. Line up your ruler on the same line you drew earlier. Extend both sides of the line by your brim measurement, adding an inch to each side for seam allowance. (5 inches to both sides)

Use the same method you used making the smaller circle to make this larger circle.

On the edge of your paper, draw a line the length of your circumference, plus an inch for seam allowance. You may need to tape two pieces of paper together to get the desired length. 

Decide how tall (deep) you want your hat to be. I want mine to be 3 inches. Using that measurement - plus an inch for seam allowance! Haha, did you think I would forget? - draw a rectangle with the length measurement you have already made.

And now you have your pattern! Cut out all the pieces, and make sure you cut the two circles apart. You can leave them in one big circle, or you can fold them in half for easier storage.

Stick around for Part 2 of DIY Sun Hat!

Dulce