Every childcare, kinder and school kid in Australia knows this rule – no hat, no play!  I’ve just been testing Nikki’s kids hat pattern so now Clare has another summer hat to choose from.

The pattern went together beautifully, although I found it harder to assemble a kid’s hat than an adult one because all the curves are a bit stronger, if you know what I mean.  They seem more concave and more convex when they are smaller pieces of fabric.  I originally cut the widest brim, but it was a bit too wide for Clare, so I reduced the width by an inch or so.

The fabrics are all from Anna Maria Horner’s Chocolate Lollipop range from a couple of seasons ago.  There is a matching dress all cut out on my desk awaiting assembly.  Don’t you always make/choose the accessories before the dress too?

I should have pressed this more and stuffed the crown before photographing it!  In real life there are no puckers.  I love the way that the spots radiate from the centre of the hat tip.

Although the hat was a little big at first, Nikki’s pattern has excellent tips for sizing it properly.  The ribbon worked a treat!  It’s still a fraction large (no fault of the pattern but of my failure to measure Clare’s head properly before I started) but quite wearable, so she’ll get a few years more out of this hat (I’ll unpick the ribbon when it becomes too tight).  If you pop over here and leave a comment you might win the pattern – but be quick, it will be for sale on the website any day now.  And lucky me – another pattern is on its way to me for testing as I type!