Free Baby Knot Hat Pattern and Tutorial

This free tutorial is part of The Great Knit Fabric Experiment sponsored by Harmony Art Fabrics and Stitch Simple, where you can buy your fabric prewashed and ready to sew. More great free tutorials for sewing with knits at the link, or click the logo!

Knit fabric is a necessity when sewing for baby – soft, stretchy, just cool and warm enough. Don’t be afraid to sew with knit, you can follow this easy tutorial even as a first project. This tutorial makes a size newborn hat for babies up to about 9 pounds.

Materials:

• 1/4 yard cotton knit with at least 25% stretch; this will make several hats, but you  need this yardage because the stretch needs to go across the hat’s width and the main hat piece is almost 12″ long.  I used the darling Alphabet Soup print and Lime Green organic cotton interlocks from Harmony Art Fabrics, provided prewashed and ready to sew by Stitch Simple!
• Cotton knit for the band (contrasting or matching):  2.5″ x 14″ piece.

[edited to add: after I created the samples and drafted the tutorial, I decided I liked the look of a slightly narrower band. The instructions result in a hat with a 1″ band. If you want it to look more like the picture, cut your band up to 4″ wide and follow the same instructions.]

• polyester thread and a ball point needle recommended for sewing knits
• Standard sewing supplies and equipment: sewing machine, scissors, etc.
• Printable Free Baby Knot Hat Pattern from Tie Dye Diva

(Click File in the upper left, then Download.)
1. Print out the free baby hat pattern from Tie Dye Diva. Wait for your husband/significant other to make jokes about it, like “are you sure that’s a hat pattern?” Cut around the solid line, the 1/4″ seam allowance is already included.

2. Cut 2 of the hat pieces from your main fabric. Cut 2 strips of your band fabric, each 2.5″ long x 7″ wide (the stretchy direction).
 

3. Place the hat pieces right sides together and sew around the edges as shown, using a 1/4″ seam allowance. When sewing knit, a stretch stitch or narrow zigzag is recommended to ensure that your seam will stretch along with the stretchy fabric.  Also place your band pieces right sides together, and sew the short edges.

 4. Make a little clip into your seam allowance where the long “tail” that you will be knotting meets the main part of the hat. Don’t clip through your seam! (Like how I used my third hand to take the photo? When my husband stopped with the jokes about the pattern shape, he helped me out.)

5. Turn the main portion of the hat right side out. Fold the band in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Finger press the seams open.

6. Place the band around the main portion of the hat, raw edges aligned, and matching up the side seams. Pin all around, then sew this seam using a stretch stitch.

 If you have a free arm on your sewing machine and can slip the hat over it without stretching the hat, it makes this part a breeze.

7. Flip the band down into place, give the tail a single overhand knot, and enjoy!

If you’ve enjoyed my tutorial, there are easy-share buttons up at the top, and please visit my instant-download pattern shop, http://www.tiedyedivapatterns.com for dozens more PDF sewing patterns for baby, children, home and more.