Sweet Pea Pilot caps

So, did anyone out there follow the Celebrate the Boy month of February over at MADE?  Well, I, being the mother of many boys, certainly did.  I really wanted to get some 90 minute shirts made, but alas, they just ended up on that list.  You know, the list of projects I would really, really, really like to get to.  I need a laundry lady.  And a school assistant.  Then I could get to that list.

Then Meg contributed her Sweet Pea Pilot Cap pattern (gloriously, generously FREE here, just scroll down and look to the right).  No pattern drafting needed to get the project started, just easy pieces to cut and quickly sew together.  In a Saturday afternoon I had super cute, soft hats for my littlest boys.

he calls it his space-man hat

Ian calls his his space-man hat and is rarely seen without it.  (He’s 3 and wearing a size large.  This hat fits my almost 6 and 8 year olds too.)

I love how it frames Hunters perfect chubby face. (His is a medium.)

the sweet pea pilot cap

from behind

The pattern suggests you use a walking foot and stabilizer to keep your knit fabric from getting all puckery, but I just couldn’t wait until after I  made a trip to the store, so I did these without either.  I did use a ball point needle and my machine has a special setting for knit fabric and can somehow sense what pressure the presser foot needs, so my hats turned out pretty pucker free.

I made a couple for gifts at a sewing date with RaeLyn borrowing her walking foot.  I’m not sure if it made a difference or not.


small cappy gifts

I guess I’ll have to whip up some more to decide for sure.

7 thoughts on “Sweet Pea Pilot caps

  1. I love them! I really want to make some for my two little fellas but I’m scared because I’ve never sewn anything besides pillow cases and curtains! Do you have to use a special binding for the straps?

  2. For the straps you use a 2 inch piece of rib knit fabric, which you can usually find at JoAnn’s. On the little white caps I made I just used the same fabric for the cap and binding. Good luck! I actually learned to sew with knit fabric and didn’t know it was supposed to be tricky. It is actually really forgiving.

  3. Those hats are adorable!! What size of ballpoint needle did you use? Did you just use a t-shirt for the material?

  4. I’m pretty sure that I used an 80/12 ballpoint needle. The red hat is a recycled T-shirt, the white one is some thick, soft interlock leftover from making my wrap carrier. The brown binding is 1×1 rib that I’m pretty sure I got at JoAnns.

    Hope that helps!

  5. Seedpod Craft » Blog Archive » more shirts for the bub and how I bind them

  6. Seedpod Craft » Blog Archive » stuff I made and mailed away

Comments are closed.