How to Make a Button or Snap Sunbonnet with Only Two Main Pattern Pieces
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Make this really cute Button Sunbonnet Pattern yourself in a few hours. I saw it on the internet and it intrigued me because it’s a bit different from the gathered bonnets we make. I think it was called a button or snap bonnet because the cap is attached to the brim by snaps or buttons.
The information on it suggested that it is a bonnet pattern that was printed in an old Work Basket magazine article. Does anyone remember those? I do……they had the most fabulous tatting and knitting patterns! Anyway, it appeared in the Work Basket in the 1950’s which suggested that housewives at the time still wore work bonnets when spring cleaning at home or working in the garden.
I noticed that there were no ties on the bonnet or in the ‘pattern’. The pattern itself was actually just a sketch and though it showed no ties, nor were any suggested in the brief 2 paragraph article, I thought I would add them anyway. I didn’t think the bonnet would be stable enough to stay on if anyone would be doing any serious hoeing in the garden, hiking etc. So in my pattern, I simply added ties. If they feel intrusive to the wearer, it’s very easy to just tuck them up inside the bonnet during wear.
This bonnet also showed a bit of lace around the edges. While that is no problem to add, in fact it’s super easy to do, the few instructions I had suggested adding trim. Adding it around the bonnet brim as well was a way to tie the bonnet all together color-wise and that’s what I chose to do. Sew the lace on if you like. It will definitely add a bit of class to the bonnet for sure!
Although there were some measurements given, which I tried to follow the best I could, I think I either must have misjudged when drawing out the pattern or the drawing image didn’t quite match up. But I feel that I came pretty close. I am going to tweak the button bonnet pattern a bit til I get it the way I think it should be, but will also leave the original as a secondary choice.
The following is what I did to make the bonnet and I did my best to include measurements when I could. At the very end, I will have the pattern pieces with measurements on them if you want to take a try at this yourself.
NOTE; Most (but not all) of the images will have really LARGE files to view if you click on photo in the lower right hand corner. This will give you a closeup bird's eye view of them if you need to see the images up close. Thought I've reduced the file size as much as possible to curb slow download times. there may be still some lag due to having to leave the images large enough to see.
The pattern piece at the left is approximately 20 inches long and 9 inches wide. It has to be placed on the fold to cut out the bonnet back. The squares that I lined on paper to outline the pattern piece are around 2 ¼” to 2 ½” wide and high. I placed three lines on the brown paper at what I would consider the ‘neck’ of the pattern piece and labeled them 1, 2, and 3. This was to mark where to fold over ( 2 being the center where the black arrow/notches are and 1 and 3 meeting at the bottom, then folding over) in order to make a drawstring casing but in retrospect, I made them a bit too close together. You can see on the right, on the material, that I had folded the material up and pinned it but it’s not even a half inch when folded. This would make it far too small to run a drawing string through. I will widen these lines later when I make a new pattern. I would recommend either making these lines wider or just sewing a casing like I did in IMAGE THREE. So I chose to make a casing out of seam binding instead. I cut a tiny eyelet in the center for the drawstring to be pulled through, and then I top stitched the binding to the cap area but sewed at the base where the neckline would be. Cut a piece of material about 14 inches long and one inch wide. Fold in the long edges inward to the center, then do it once more. Press and top stitch. Pull the drawstring through the casing and at each end, keep it in place with a pin. Pull the drawstring through the eyelet and cut.
MAKING THE BUTTON SUNBONNET PATTERN BRIM
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