Top Knot Baby Hat Tutorial

I highly recommend having your babies during a season other than Winter. All this bundling, sigh... Mostly I have been hiding at home but on occasion I venture out to scare the public with my dark circles and lack of personal grooming. On such occasion, I cover Gordon's baldy-bean with a soft little cap, so this weekend I made him a few of these little Top Knot Baby Hats.

They were super easy and quick! A perfect little gift for a new babe and a great use for an old t-shirt or sweater.

Get the Top-Knot Baby Hat Tutorial...

1. Gather your materials. I used (1) a t-shirt that Rick had worn to a white-trash party a few years ago. Pause to enjoy the photos...

Arrival with spiked jello mold and baby.

A few hours later after consuming spiked Jello mold... But where is the baby??!!

Oh there he is, phew!

And we're back to the material... (1) a t-shirt that Rick had worn to a white-trash party a few years ago.
(2) A super-soft brushed cotton sweater and (3) some adorable Patty Young Knit for Michael Miller in Ta Dot Brown.




2.  Print out your pattern, tape together and cut out. I used the double-knot pattern for hat 1 and single-knot pattern for hat 2&3.

3. Lay out your fabric with 2 layers, right-side-facing.

4. Pin layers together in a few spots and cut out.


5. Serge around the outside of the hat (except the bottom/head opening) Be careful not to stretch your fabric as you stitch.


 If you don't have a serger, you can sew up this project on your sewing machine. Simply use a zig-zag along the very edge of your fabric and then stitch just inside the zig-zag with a straight stitch. Again, be careful not to stretch your fabric as you go.


6. If you would like to finish the edge of the head opening, either use a serger all the way around the edge...


Or use a zig-zag on your sewing machine, stretching the fabric as you go. If you are using a knit, you should be fine leaving it unfinished. In fact, the zig-zag on the stretched knit gave it a weird wavy effect. I cut it off and left raw....


I would definitely finish the edge if you are recycling a sweater. For my sweater, I simply used the finished bottom of the sweater as my opening...


7. Turn the bottom edge of your hat up 3 inches (or whatever you think will work best for your baby) and pin cuff in place.


8. Stitch all the way around edge of cuff with a few backward stitches at the start and finish to secure. You can use a cover stitch machine (I want) for a t-shirt hem, a top-stitch or a twin-needle straight stitch on your sewing machine (stretching fabric as you go) or a zig-zag on your sewing machine (stretching fabric as you go.) I used a twin-needle straight stitch on hat 1&2 and a zig-zag stitch on hat 3. The zig-zag looked the most finished.



9. Turn your hat right-side-out and turn the cuff up. Tie your top(s) in a knot. You are finished.



Fabric tip - If you use black fabric, your adorable nugget will look like a cat burglar.

Remember, any comment this week could win you a Sublime Stitching Camp Out Embroidery Pattern.