I have to give full credit to my eldest daughter for inspiring me to make myself a bucket hat!  She took the lead and sewed the Sun Bright Brimmed Hat from Ottobre Design Kids Fashion Summer 3/2015 before we embarked on a beach holiday in September.  You can see a photo of her hat here.

I consider myself to have a generous sized head, but low-and-behold, the kids pattern that Miss A used included three sizes – 52cm, 54cm and 56cm.  My head circumference is the latter number!

The hat is made from fabric from The Cloth Shop (work).  The outer is a cotton/linen denim (totally delightful) and the lining is actually cotton lawn base cloth from some embroidered cotton… but it was the 40cm at the start of the roll before the embroidery started.  I snaffled that 40cm knowing it would come in handy, and it did!

I didn’t follow the construction order, in fact I look at several bucket had patterns and basically did my own thing!  My own thing included a bit of hand stitching, which I know isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it allowed me to understitch and topstitch with ease.

My process:

• I used a medium weight interfacing (this one) on one of the brim pieces.
• I reduced the two short and the longest edge of the non-interfaced brim by 1/16″ (2mm) to allow for the turn of cloth.  This positions the circular seam on the underside of the brim, which you can see in the photo below.

• I topstitched the brim with lines that were approximately 3/8″ (1cm) apart, which adds a bit more stability and structure to the brim.

• The crown side seams were joined and then sewn to the crown for both the outer and the lining.  I also understitched the seam allowances of the crown/crown sides to the crown sides.
• I joined the outer ‘bucket’ part of the hat to the brim and understitched the seam allowances to the crown sides.
• I then pressed under the circular edge of the ‘bucket’ lining by 1cm.
• The final step was to the turn the hat to the wrong side, place the lining ‘bucket’ in place and secure it with hand stitching.
• Actually that was the second last step, I also hand sewed on a circa 2022 KATM label to the lining!

I love my new bucket hat!

Pattern:  Sun Bright Brimmed Hat from Ottobre Design Kids Fashion Summer 3/2015 [I had a subscription when my girls were young]
Size:  56cm
Fabric:  From The Cloth Shop but only available in store
Alterations:  My own construction order… outlined in the post
Outfit:  Gem Knit Tee, Jeans from Manteau Noir, antique chain from Chilton’s Antiques.
Location:  Sharon’s Garden