Reversible Oliver + S Bucket hats : :

One thing that I cant stand about getting the kids ready is looking for things. Hats, shoes, sunglasses, clothes, you name it. On a hot sunny day its nothing short of a miracle if when we leave the house everyone has a hat, sunglasses and thongs.

So as the twins are starting 4 year old kinder this year (where is the world did the first 4 years go?), I decided to save myself the stress of looking for hats and make them a second! If they have two hats each, then Ive just doubled my chances of finding one when I need it, right? fingers crossed...

Yes, my kids are in their pj's. I have been doing loads of sewing lately but not much blogging, so last night I decided to remedy that and got all three of them on the verandah for a few quick snaps.

These hats are super great for children! They have a wide brim and are reversible, which is fun for matching outfits, but lets face it, its also great for turning it the other-way out if they get one side dirty while out and about (which they do).

To make these hats I used the free pattern found here :
http://oliverands.com/free-patterns/reversible-bucket-hat/

Or, if you happen to have their book, Oliver + S little things to sew, you can find it in there as well.

The first time I made these hats, they took me a while to put together, but this time I had all three hats whipped up in about 2 1/2 - 3 hours. It is a very simple pattern.

For the girls' hats I used Sarah Jane's Children at Play range. I decided to make a print for one side, and a polka-dot for the reverse.  I had so many compliments on these hats when they wore them to kinder yesterday. One of my friends even wanted to get back into sewing after seeing them!

Yes, that made me feel good.

For Little Mr Z's hat I used a dinosaur print from Micheal Miller. Sorry, cant remember what its called, its been in my stash for a while.

The reverse it another dot print from the same range. Interfacing is used to stiffen the brim of the hat, and there is the option of sewing around and around the brim as well. I really like the look the the rows and rows of stitching around the brim. It can be a little time consuming (nothing too horrendous) but the results are well worth it.

In true stash-diet form, all of this fabric came from my stash. I've actually been cutting right into my stash lately and now I'm wondering if it will even last till the end of the year!

I've got HEAPS more projects to upload, including one bombshell swimsuit......
When time grows on trees, I'll be able to blog more regularly :)

Jessica