A Birthday hat for the little prince!

Well the little guy still has not arrived. As I waited I realized that I had not made a hat for the birthday boy. I wanted his to be something soft so I made this little stretchy crown today.

I have had a scads of emails asking how this was done so here goes. First cut stretchy ribbed velvet fabric to be ½ inch wider than a newborn sock hat was around and about 12 inches long. With the right side of the fabric to the inside, sew it down the length to form a tube. Once that is done, sew a gathering stitch around the tube opening on both ends. Gather the first end and tack it down by hand. Then turn the tube inside out so the right side of the fabric is to the outside. Gather up the other end making sure to tuck the raw edge of the fabric to the inside. You should have something that looks like an empty bolster pillow now. Bring both gathered ends together so that the gathered “rings” are touching, folding the fabric over one hand. You should have something that looks like a sock hat now. Pin two pieces of ribbon to the bottom edge of the hat so that they cross at the top. Cut a strip of stretchy fur (make sure the back of the fur stretches or the hat will not stretch around the babies head) long enough to go around the bottom of the hat. Pin to the bottom edge of the hat with the fur to the inside. Using a stretch stitch sew the fir and ribbon to the bottom edge of the hat. Hand stitch the ends of the fur together. Roll the fur up to cover the ends of the ribbon. Tucking the raw edge of the fun in, loosely hand stitch the fur to the hat. Make sure you leave plenty of thread for stretching. Make a little pom pom from gold embroidery thread. Gather the ribbon at the top stitching down by hand and attach the pom pom. Use a permeate marker to make the black dots around the white fur and your done.