Bunny Hat

 

Want to make one for your little Easter bunny?

Difficulty level: mega easy

Time: about 10 minutes

Materials: soft & stretchy knit material, ribbon, a little bit of polyfil, 2 paperclips, general sewing supplies

Grab the bottom piece of your tank top left over from making your Tank Top Top.  (Wow, that sounded super redundant.  Sorry.  I promise all those words belong in there.)  You could of course just use another piece of stretchy knit fabric, but this makes the project go even faster since the tank top already has a finished hem to work with.  Woot!

FYI, I first cut about 5 inches off the top (middle part) of my left over tank top to use for another project.  More on that another day.

That left me with this nice little piece to work with.

Now go and measure your little bunny's head.  (When I measured around the big O's head it was about 16 inches all the way around.)

Next, fold the side seam of your tank top over so that the length of your folded edge is half the length of your child's head circumference.  (Since Olivia's head was 16 inches around, I folded my side seam over about 8 inches.)  Make sure the bottom hem is lined up nicely.

Next, make yourself a template like the one above.  (I made mine out of the Easter ad for JoAnn's.  It seemed appropriate.)  I just did mine freehand, so I tried out my template on a piece of paper first and made some adjustments.  I recommend making the very tips of your bunny ears flat so that they will be easier to turn in.  But obviously little bunny foo foo isn't going to come over and bop you on the head if you make yours pointy.  

 

Now, pin your template onto your material, keeping the edge of your template flush with the edge of your fold.

Cut out your hat pieces.

Pin hat pieces together, right sides facing.

Change the stitch setting on your sewing machine to a zigzag stitch.

Stitch around the entire edge of your hat--except, of course, for the finished hem.

 

It should now look about like this.  Check for any little holes/places where you didn't quite catch both layers while you were stitching.  Stitch any holes you may have found.

Now, turn your cute little hat right side out and get out just a little bit of polyfil.

Stuff those ears so they're just a little bit puffy.  :)

Choose some pretty ribbon and tie a sweet little bow around each ear.  At this point your hat will be cute, but your bunny ears will be floppy. 

 

I wanted my bunny's ears to stick straight up, so I grabbed a couple of paperclips.  (The pin is just there to give you an idea of the size of my paperclips.  And I have no idea where that triangle paperclip came from, but these were the only two bigger paperclips I could find.)  Bend each paperclip so it makes a 90 degree angle.  Insert them into the ears in your bunny hat with the bottom part of the paperclips pointing in toward the center and...

...you're finished!