Hospital Infant Hats
Our church recently started making infant hats for a local hospital and we decided to make some too.  It has proved to be a just-right-project or a group of 8 and 9 year olds to do with the help of a grown up.  Here is what you would need to make one too:

• A measuring tape (most sewing measuring tapes are 3/4" wide, you will want to make sure yours is too.)
• Some ribbon that is not very wide
• A piece of cotton knit fabric (stretchy T-shirt fabric.  You can buy something new at the store, or cut a scrap out of some old clothes.)
• a washable marker
• a needle with a VERY large eye
• a normal size needle
• thread to match your fabric
• Scissors

 Directions

1.) Cut your fabric to be 8" by 14.5" (I used the bottom of some yoga pants, so you can see the old hem and the side seem in these photos.  If you are starting with a new piece of fabric, don't worry about hemming it.)

2.)  With your measuring tape as a guide, mark a line along one of the short sides at the edge of the fabric.

3.) cut the ribbon to be as long as the long side (14.5")

 4.) Fold your fabric in half, bringing the short sides together.  If there is a pattern on your fabric, make sure the pattern is inside the fold so you can't see it.  If there is an old hem or seem on the fabric, make sure that ugly part is facing you and the nice looking side is hidden up inside your fold.)

5.) Thread your regular sides needle.  (If using a sewing machine instead of hand sewing, adapt steps 5 & 6.)

6.) Sew by hand, using a back stitch to sew along the marked line, joining the 2 edges of fabric together.  Don't forget to begin and end with a knot.

7.) Turn your project right-side-out so you can see the pattern/hide the ugly edges.

8.) Thread your ribbon into your large eyed needle.

9.) Use a running stitch to weave the ribbon in and out along the top edge of the hat.  Try to keep your ditches about 3/4" away from the edge.  Go through only 1 layer of fabric at a time.  Continue your stitch until you reach the beginning again.  (for some this step can be tricky because it is difficult to pull through and the ribbon may slip out if you are not mindful of what is happening with your previous stitches.  For that I suggest safety pining the end of the ribbon to the fabric, preventing it from pulling through as you work.)

-don't worry about the ribbon twisting or flipping between stitches, that won't be noticed after the next step.

 10.) Match up the ends of the ribbon and pull tight against the hat.

 11.) Now tie the ribbon like you would if you were double knotting your shoelaces.

12.) Fold up the bottom 2 times and you are done.  DON'T sew the bottom edge in place, new babies need this to be adjustable depending on their head size.

Great job.  I would guess that this project would take 1-3 hours of work depending on the abilities of your young seamstresses.  An experienced gown up may complete it on a machine in 30 minutes.