One of the challenges of lockdown with a small child is that they grow. You suddenly find that their clothes either no longer fit them, or are no longer appropriate for the weather. That’s exactly what’s happened with Tube Stop Baby.
Lockdown seems to have coincided with some gorgeous hot weather here in the UK. Almost like nature taunting us after all that rain we had earlier in the year. We’re incredibly lucky in that we have a back garden and enough space for the kids to get fresh air and exercise each day without having to go anywhere. What I did realise though is that the youngest member of the family didn’t really have any summer clothes, and definitely didn’t have anything to protect her head from the sun. Not really wanting to buy online and with the only shops selling kids clothes being supermarkets I decided that this was the kick up the backside I needed to actually get my sewing machine out again and so that’s exactly what I did.
Choosing a Pattern
There are hundreds of patterns available online for hats, but after asking for recommendations on Facebook several people pointed me towards the pattern for the Sandcastle Bucket Hat by “Made by Jack’s Mum“. Now this wasn’t a site that I knew at all, but it seems that I’m pretty much the last person on the planet to actually discover it!
Specialising in easy pdf patterns, Made by Jack’s Mum aims to make sewing accessible to everyone and that approach seems to be incredibly popular with a whole Facebook group full of people sharing photos of their makes from her patterns. The Sandcastle Bucket Hat is actually a free pattern and it also fulfilled my other requirement of only needing a couple of fat quarters to make the size I needed.
Following the pattern
The pdf pattern was printed out over four pieces of A4 paper. I then simply stuck these together with sellotape before cutting out the pattern pieces for the size I was making. There are different coloured and drawn lines for all the different sizes and it’s easy to follow the size you need.
The pattern is accompanied by an amazingly detailed set of instructions, with photos at every stage. They were incredibly easy to follow. The only practical difficulty I had was attaching the top circle to the ring of fabric that formed the sides of the hat. It just took a bit of re-pinning to get it lined up correctly and was probably due to my lack of practice recently.
The morning I spent making this hat was a perfect way to get me back into dress making and re-familiarising myself with my sewing machine. It certainly helped boost my confidence no end, and my final result was also a brilliant hat for my daughter.
My Sandcastle Bucket Hat
I’m really pleased with the end result. The fabric I used was from a bundle of floral fat quarters that I picked up Aldi a life-time ago. They have just been sat in my sewing stash ever since. It’s great to see them finally in use, and fulfilling a practical need too. I went for a floral fabric for the outside of the hat, and a pink spotty fabric for the inside. But, one of the beauties of the Sandcastle Bucket Hat is that it’s reversible meaning that we can choose which side to show off each day.
Now if only I could get her to actually keep the hat on her head whilst playing in the garden!
The Sandcastle Bucket Hat pattern is available online here.
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