SEWN: Leo's Hat - vintage cars, racing stripes, what more could a boy want?

I can't believe I just sewed my first ever project for a boy! I guess when I was young it was solely about creating my new oh-so-cool outfit for the next school disco. For years after I simply used my sewing machine for the occasional hem alteration or clothing repair. Then my gorgeous daughter, M, came along and I wanted to sew "pretty little things" for her.

Now, I like to sew pretty little things for me. P is always asking when his first bespoke suit will be delivered. I say my skills are so not up to that just yet!

And so here is Leo's Hat - a special request from a friend of mine with a car/truck/train mad, nearly three year old son, Leo.

The reversible bucket hat is from Oliver and S's "Little Things to Sew". This is a fantastic book which extends on Oliver and S's fabulous clothing pattern range for boys and girls. It has a a whole heap of delicious projects to sew, including this bucket hat. I've previously made one for M, and found the pattern and instructions faultless. The hat comes together beautifully, as you'd expect from any Oliver and S undertaking. And it can be done in just a few hours.

It's fully reversible so it's nice to try and go for different but complementary fabrics, hence...

Vintage racing cars one side...

and racing stripes the other...

I gotta say, I have no idea how those stripes lined up so perfectly! I truly, truly did not make an effort for them to do so, in fact I was cursing myself for picking stripes - what on earth was I thinking? All those panels and all that careful cutting... I just didn't have it in me. So imagine my surprise when I started construction and it all just came perfectly together. Or as P said "You're a freak genius". Yes, thank you P. Maybe we could say I just got lucky.

Car hat + little boy = match made in heaven