Make a sweet Baby Bonnet – Sewing tutorial

A mom looks forward to finding the right clothes for her baby like no other – A baby bonnet is one such clothing. The baby’s face framed with a baby bonnet is the cutest thing you will ever see. The trip home from the hospital, subsequent trips to the hospital, for functions like baptism, or to keep the baby warm even when home – You will find many uses for a baby bonnet.

Here is an easy way to make a baby bonnet. 

DIY Lace trimmed bonnet

Cut out two fabric pieces of dimension; For a new born baby you can cut the rectangle as 13 inches to 14 inches by 7 1/2 inches; For 6 month old baby you can cut the rectangle as 15 inches by 8 inches. For older babies cut the piece 22 inch by 8 inch – 9 inch

44 inch long lace

Another fabric piece cut in an arc shape as in the picture below – the bottom edge should be 4 inch wide and length 8 inches (as per your rectangle dimension) 

How to sew Baby bonnet

Gather the lace you have to half its length ie 22 inch to fit one long edge of the fabric piece.

Keep one of the fabric pieces in front of you, right side up. Keep the gathered lace on one long edge – the good edge of the lace facing to the inside and gathered edge of the lace along the fabric edge. 

Keep  the other fabric piece on top, right side down. Pin the layers together. Be careful that the lace is not bunched up anywhere. You may also baste stitch to be doubly sure. Stitch along the edge, joining everything together.

Turn the fabric so that the lace is outside. You will now get the lace edging the fabric pieces on one edge. Top stitch along the lace to pretty it up.

Sew the edges of the short edges- just turn under the edges twice and stitch in piece.

Now the other side of the fabric piece has to be joined to the arc shaped fabric piece.

Before that hem the edge of the piece by turning under twice and stitching.

You may also want to finish the long edge of the fabric piece and the arc shaped edge.

The edge of the long fabric piece will have to be pleated at places to fit the arc shapes.

First keep the arch shape piece right side down on the right side up big fabric piece and pin the top edge of the arc and the center of the long fabric piece – from there, pleat and baste stitch or pin the fabric piece to the arc shape to either side. Stitch in place.

Attach ribbon pieces to the front of the bonnet as the final step to your bonnet making project. 

Handkerchief Bonnet

You can make a bonnet with your embroidered handkerchief and no one will be the wiser. After the use of the bonnet a few  snips with your seam ripper and the bonnet is back as your reliable handkerchief. You need to have a 12 inch or at least 10 inch square kerchief for making this bonnet.

Find the tutorial for different ways to embroider a handkerchief here. The ideas include delicate flower embroidery designs, some pretty border stitches, braid stitches , scalloped edges, simple cross stitch designs etc.

You can either make  darts at the back of the bonnet and sew them there and then attach the ties in the front OR make a casing for the drawstring along the back edge and then adjust the gathered formed by the casing to fit the baby’s head.

You can take a 10″ by 10 ” or 12 ” by 12″ handkerchief or Cut a fabric piece to match these dimensions and roll the edges or attach lace along the edges.

Fold one of the edges of the handkerchief  3 inches to the outside. Fold the opposite side 1 inch to the inside. Stitch these folds in place. 

You can either make darts along the bottom edge to fit the nap of the baby  Or insert ribbon through the casing at the bottom edge and gather it into a circle.

Attach ribbons to the other corners on the front.

That is your easy peasy hanky bonnet

PS: Instead of the ribbons you may use tabs and snaps if you are worried about them or Keep the bonnet ties tied and away from the baby hands. Though small babies rarely pull the ties and cause a problem, you should err on the side of safety. Here is a page you should read to keep the baby safe regarding clothing and some more details here

Related posts : Make a newborn baby top; Make an easy baby dress; Sew gathered dress for small girls; Make a baby blanket.; Baby blanket sizes