i had to make a bonnet…

There’s plenty of “baby sewing” in the works around here, but I’m waiting on most of it until we find out if we’re having a boy or a girl. But after Jill posted her Peekaboo Bonnets last week, I was struck with a feverish need to sew a baby bonnet. It was pretty powerful, seriously. I immediately printed out the pattern and began looking through my stash for fabric. Jill’s versions were absolutely perfect in my opinion – I think her large vintage-y floral prints really suit the bonnet well, and I love how she used piping on both sides.

This print is Rose Bouquet from Joel Dewberry’s Heirloom collection, and I used a linen/cotton blend (Robert Kaufman Essex Linen in Natural) for the solid side.

The bonnet is fully reversible (two bonnets in one!), and I used packaged piping on both sides and made my own bias tape for the tie. The brim is interfaced to make it more sturdy. I did the final stitching by hand (where the band and brim meet on the solid side) since I knew there was no chance I could stitch in the ditch by machine and keep it invisible on both sides.

The pattern – Made by Rae’s Peekaboo Bonnet – was wonderful and everything came together really easily. It comes in eight sizes, all the way up to child’s large (age 6-8), but I think Lila may have missed her window of ultimate cuteness for wearing a bonnet like this. And I really wanted to make a baby size anyway. As luck would have it, an adorable seven month old lives right next door – she’s grown quite a bit since her swaddler modeling days back in January, and has the sweetest little giggle you’ve ever heard! I hope she likes her new bonnet with its tasty little strings – she figured out how to untie them within seconds, so we’ll see how much wear this thing actually gets…

And one last photo, just to show off that gorgeous Liberty quilt she was sitting on!