Make It Work: Taking In A Hat

My little family decided to take a quick little last minute trip last week.  We weren't very prepared for our summer outing, and I didn't have any hats for the boys.  We stopped at Wal-mart to see if we could find anything, and the selection was very limited, especially in the baby hat department. Clark and I found this little drivers hat, and it was by far the cutest hat they had.  Unfortunately, it was too big for Miles.  I knew that it would be, but I also knew that it would be easy to adjust.

 The hat had about an inch and a half extra room.  So I cut a piece of elastic that was 1.5" long.

Luckily, the hat band wasn't tacked down to the lining.  I opened up the band, and pinned the center of the elastic to the back center seam of the hat.  I then measured 1.5" away from the center seam in either direction, and marked those points with a pin.

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With the center pin in place, I stretched one side of the elastic to my measurement, and stitched it to the hat band.  I did the same on the other side.

 Here's what it looks like with both sides attached.

I then folded the hat band back into place, and stitched it to the hat, encasing the elastic.  I did have to give the elastic a bit of a stretch, to ease the elastic.

It pulled the hat in just enough that it stays on his head, and it really isn't too unsightly for a baby hat.  This technique should work for most brimmed hats that are made from medium weight fabric.  A hat made from a stiffer canvas would be more difficult.