Quick Cat Accessories Tutorial #2 - The Bonnet

Some of you may have noticed my absence. Maybe. Well, I haven't been feeling well (usual, really), and yesterday morning, I had a grass tick at my hairline and had a severe allergic reaction. My entire face is very swollen, and my eyes have nearly swollen shut. Doctor put me on STEROIDS (rurz) for ten or so days, and that should make me look less like the elephant man. So yeah, no photos of me this update.

So, the other day I made a bonnet. It was a bit short at the sides, but it was better in quality than the one I made today (you can't blame me, I can barley see and have no ribbon). But the one I did today was for a tutorial, and the only one I took pictures for, so let's pretend this one is good and slightly less shonky than usual.

Something more like this.

 I'm doing this with absolutely no pattern, but with practise and thinking, I'll eventually get it right. ANYWAY on with it.

You're going to need three pieces of material, as long as your head jaw-to-jaw is (mine was 18" plus two for seams and such). It needs to be as wide as your head is from cheek-to-back-of-the-head, which is usually about nine inches (plus a bit of seam allowance). The third piece needs to be about two times longer than the original piece, and now I think about it, it needs to be an extra two or so inches wide.

Sew the two wrong sides of the same-length pieces together, but only the two short sides and one long side. Leave a bit of the top material on the unsewn edge, so that side is a bit longer. Turn it right-side-out into some kind of superpouch.

With the longer side, pin a seam. I do it on the most ineven edge, and because of my puffy eyes, there was one very uneven edge going on, and the seam is a bit WOAH. It only needs to be thin, and leave both ends free for thin hat elastic.

My wonky, dual-stitch seam (it got a bit skinny in places so I used a zigzag stitch in those places).

I FORGOT TO PHOTO THIS STEP. Make a stitch about an inch from the edge, but don't seal it at either end. Now, pull the thread on one side, making the material bunch and ruffle. When done to your satisfaction, pin the ruffled back part right-side-down to the right-side-out front bit and lay the back bit on the front. Make sure the ruffle seam is at least partly concealed. I accidentally sewed mine with the main seam out instead of hidden. Don't do that. XD

SEWN.

Using a safety pin, thread the hat elastic through the seam. I pin one edge to the starting side so it doesn't get complicated. Make sure it's really, really tight, then sew the seam shut and cut the elastic.

Another step I forgot to photograph. Take the elastic seam and take it to the sewn edge of the front part, folding the middle bit down/scrunching it. Sew it, rather quickly. I did mine a bit weird, so it needed to have the inside flappy bits tucked in and sewn, but if you just fold/scrunch, it should be okay.

It should look something like this, but better. If you have ribbon, then at this point, sew it on about an inch and a half from the front edge.

So yes. That's how you make a simple bonnet. n.n If you try it, please show me! It's rather quick, only took me about an hour to do, but I kept being unable to see and all.