Special Hat with Tieback

I received a message from a friend one day that her friend’s toddler was undergoing chemotherapy and needed a cotton, fleece rimmed with a hand tie bandana hat. It is always heartbreaking to hear such news and my husband and I have had our fair share of cancer cases on both sides of our families.

I didn’t know where she could purchase a hat like that and informed her that I was more than happy to try and make one as soon as possible.

Below was the photo my friend sent to me. It did give me an idea of the shape of the hat but the sample was made completely with fleece. I tried to sew as closely as I can according to her preferred specifications but with cotton and fleece edges. I decided to use cotton jersey as it has a softer texture and more gentle to the scalp. I decided to also make it a reversible hat.

Just to inform that this project is a bit more tricky than most of my other projects but it was definitely worth the effort.

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Materials

25 cm (10 inches) Printed Jersey Cotton

25 cm (10 inches) Polka dot Jersey cotton

25 cm ( 10 inches) Matching Fleece

Paper for the hat template

I used a circumference of approximately 56 cm (22 inches) to make the hat. Use a protractor to draw a circle using the radius of 9 cm (3 1/2 inches) to make a circle. From the circle make the shape more oval (like the shape of a head) as shown.

Hence, I have added an extra 0.8 inch (2 cm) to the top of the circle. Mark with a notch to show the centre of the piece as shown. Add a rectangle at the bottom as this will be the flap between the lower head (scalp) and neck. Connect the left and right sides of the circle to the rectangle as drawn in the photo below. You can adjust the length of the flap towards the end whether a longer or shorter is preferred. Please also note the dots on both sides of the oval piece. This indicates the position where you don’t sew, and the flap starts.

Cut the paper template following the red line. This is now the top of the hat. Remember not to mix fabric with paper scissors. We will call this paper template A:

Once the piece is cut, measure the distance from one of the dots to the top centre as indicated by the notch. As shown below the centre point is 9 1/2 inches (24 cm). Use a flexible curved ruler if you have, although a simple measuring tape will suffice.

Now we need to make a template B for the height and part of the tie-back of the hat.

Draw a 17 inches (43 cm) horizontal line and 5 1/2 inches (14 cm) vertical line as shown below. Feel free to select a different length and height according to your preference but these are my recommended measurements.

The vertical line will be positioned at the fold of the fabric later. Please draw a notch symbol at the top to indicate the centre point.

Place the flexible curved ruler with the 9 1/2 inches (24 cm) position at the notch sloping slightly down and draw as shown. The 0 (zero) position on the ruler will now be the position of the dot where it will later need to be aligned with the top of the hat. Mark as shown.

As shown below the slope downwards from the notch to the dot is 1/2 inches (1.3 cm).

From the dot draw a line connecting to the end of the horizontal line. This will be the start if the tie back.

Cut following red line. This will be paper template B.

The last paper template C is for the edges of the hat, which will be in fleece.

Draw 2 horizontal lines parallel to each other at 16 1/2 inches (42 cm) and 21 inches (53 cm) with a 2 1/2 inches (6 cm) gap in between. Join both lines as shown below.

The vertical line is the fold position on the fabric later.

Cut the paper template. This will now be paper template C.

Place paper templates A and B on both printed fabrics. So you will have 2 fabric pieces for each of these templates. Please note the fold position for template B. Pin and cut following the paper templates.

Place paper template C on the fleece noting the position of the fold. Pin and cut. Repeat as we will need 2 pieces for the fleece fabric pieces.

Once done you should have the fabric pieces as shown below.

Position both of the long printed fabrics on each fleece piece, right sides together, as shown, with the notches facing downwards. Pin and machine sew.

You should now have 2 fabric pieces as shown below.

Position all fabrics together ensuring each printed fabric pieces are placed right sides together as shown.

• Polka dot oval fabric is facing right sides together with the long polka dot fabric. The fleece part should be at the bottom.
• The Gingerbread oval fabric is facing right sides together with the long gingerbread fabric too. Similarly, the fleece part should be at the bottom.

Now place all 4 fabrics on top of each other joining at the notches. Please note that the only fabric pieces facing wrong sides together should be the 2 long fabrics. Pin securely at the notch.

You will now see the longer pieces extending on both sides of the oval pieces. They will now need to be tucked inside the oval pieces.

Begin on one side first by pinning all 4 layers together. Please ensure that they are all the same at the edges. This means that they must all sit equally when pinned. Continue tucking the pieces inside until you reach the dotted symbol position before the rectangle part at the base of the oval pieces.

Repeat this process until all the long pieces are extended to the bottom of the oval piece. Machine sew slowly all the four layers around from one point to the other leaving the flap part open.

Once done, cut the notches all around. This will ease the seam and create a smoother finish when you turn the hat inside out.

The hat should look like the photo below showing both sides. Pin the flap upwards. At this step you can choose how long or short you prefer the flap to be. This position is usually where the lower scalp and upper neck are. You can machine sew in place if prefer.

Turn the hat inside out as shown below.

The hat is now almost ready!

Turn in about 0.2 inches (0.5 cm) all around (except for the flap if it has already been sewn). Pin both pieces together.

After machine sewing it all around, the tip edges of the tie back did not feel strong being quite thin at the tips. There will definitely be a lot of pulling and tugging here.

I decided to sew the tips with simple machine embroidery to strengthen it. You can always sew with zigzags if you prefer. This step is totally optional.

I sent this reversible hat with the tie back to my friend the following day.

I was so happy when she informed me that her friend likes the hat. I really hope that it will be of great use and comfort to her toddler. It was definitely made for someone special when I was making it.