Booper is 3!

   This one turned 3 yesterday:

Scroll down for more information on the hat

  It's a little shocking that my first little baby has already been here for three years! She is a very sweet little person, the first to sympathize with any affliction, and somehow still full of energy and sass. She LOVES playing outside, tossing rocks or just sitting in the sun. She has an invisible friend named 'Gong' who she talks to regularly, and bosses around energetically. Even though her room is always a mess, she loves to put things in perfect rows and in the proper spot. That's my little Booper, my three-year-old daughter. =)

  We celebrated Booper's birthday with chocolate cupcakes, freshly-grilled hamburgers, and some fun gifts at her grandparents' house. She was happy... she loves going to her grandparents' house, and seeing all her aunts and uncles makes it even more fun. =)

  In addition to buying her a set of markers that she has been enjoying all day, I gave Booper a few options for a gift I could make her. She chose a hat, which was surprisingly easy to sew. =)

  I also made her a dress, a size larger than her usual so it will fit all summer:

  The dress was also fairly simple... a pre-made shirt cut shorter and some strategically gathered pieces of fabric added with a waistband and bow.

   She's a little messy because she wore the dress all day before I took a picture of her... =)

  I added a little fabric flower to the hat to match the dress:

  I used this tutorial from I Heart Jenny's Art, with a couple modifications.... I added a couple inches to the band length so I could add elastic in the back, and I used fusible fleece to stiffen the brim, since I couldn't find transparency film in the stores I usually visit... it is still stiff enough, although a little more stiffness wouldn't hurt. =) My final band size was 24x2", and the diameter of my circle for the crown was 8". On the inside, instead of serging I pressed the edge of the inner brim in by a scant 1/2" before sewing.

  I also changed my brim slightly from the hat I used to trace, since this hat was for a little person and not an adult. In case you don't have a hat to trace and want to make this, I scanned my pattern in so you can print it out: Kid-Sized Hat Brim Pattern (Oh, the joys of having a printer!) If you do use it, just make sure the white space inside the small square is 1" square when printed, and cut on the inside of the black lines. =) Anyway, I definitely recommend this tutorial! It was really easy to follow and I love the finished hat. I'm thinking of making one in my size. =)

  Happy birthday to my sweet and spunky, clever and obstinate Booper!

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