Making a baby bonnet for your doll OR your child…

Every little baby or girl needs a bonnet to keep the sun out of their eyes, don’t you think?  So here we are leaving you with one last step in dressing your ROTH doll.  A bonnet that looks straight out of Little House on the Prairie.  In fact that is exactly where I came up with the idea.  Enjoy.

Pattern dimensions.

Either make your own using a ruler and paper or print this image out and then enlarge it on a copier until it reaches the dimensions needed.

You can even make this bonnet for your child.  All that you need to do is measure the length of your child’s head from front to back and then ADD TWO inches to that measurement to allow for the brim of the hat… this will coincide with the measurement of the pattern marked 5 INCHES.  All that you would do is photocopy the pattern, enlarging the size until the 5 INCH side of the pattern increased to the length that you measured on your child’s head.  The other dimensions of the bonnet will increase accordingly along with the 5 INCH side of the pattern.  You would follow the rest of the directions for constructing the bonnet as follows…

Supplies needed

20 X 20 inch piece of fabric, cotton works the best

sewing machine

ribbon

ruler

Fold the fabric as shown horizontally.

Then fold from left to right vertically.  This will leave a four layer stack of folded fabric.

Place the template in the upper left hand corner of the fabric square and pin into place.

Cut out the fabric.

Open up the folded fabric all the way.  You will then fold it horizontally as shown.

Stitch the sides of the bonnet that are shown with dotten lines using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

It will look like this.  The unstitched smaller length of fabric at the bottom of the picture is where the hole is that you will turn the bonnet right side out through.

Cut little slits where the interior corners are to avoid puckering of the fabric at these spots once the bonnet is turned rightside out.

Turn the bonnet right side out through the small opening at the base  and place the end of a 8 inch piece of ribbon at the center of the side flaps.  Fold the end over 1/2 inch as shown to avoid fraying and pin into place.

These little flaps of ribbon will be on the inside of the bonnet.

Stitch around the bonnet as shown where there are dotted lines using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Make sure to fold in the opening at the bottom of the bonnet (where the two pins are) before stitching to avoid any frayed edges.

To shape the bonnet into a hat shape, place the bonnet inside facing down on a flat suface ( the exposed ribbon ends that you just stitched are the key to knowing which side is the inside of the bonnet).

Fold the bonnet on the black dotted line so that the red dotted lines match up.

Pin into place and stitch as shown on the black dotted line using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

For the other side, match up the red dotted lines and pin.

Stitch this seam as well using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Flip the bonnet right side out so that the exposed seams that you just stitched are on the inside of the hat.

And there you have a sweet little hat to keep the sun and sand out of your baby’s eyes.

Laura will be back on Sunday with the regularly scheduled programming of the Rhythm of the Home blog.  She has some fabulous things to share with you and I appreciate her allowing me to hijack the blog in order to share the making and dressing of the ROTH doll.

XOXO, Julia