Love to Sew: Children's Sun Hats

Gill Stratton has always loved hats, a passion passed down from her Mum and Gran, who took any opportunity to wear a hat! Gill attended night classes at the London School of Fashion at night classes to learn how to make hats. She then went on to work for Mille-Fleurs, a bespoke millinery workshop in Otford, Kent, where she continues to make occasion hats and fascinators. Gill has also started her own company, Elizabeth Rees Millinery, making bespoke children's hats. As a mother of three, she saw a gap in the market for hats that are unique and desirable. She also found that allowing her children to choose the design and fabric was the only way to get them to wear sun hats!

• Currently there is nothing like it on the market – protect children from the harmful rays of the sun by making the adorable sunhats in this book• Expertly demonstrates how to make 20 adorable children’s sunhats with clear step-by-step instructions and beautiful photographs• Suitable for beginners as well as more advanced stitchers

May 13If you're feeling inspired to sew after seeing the 'Great British Sewing Bee' then 'Children's sun hats' by Gill Stratton is a wonderful bright bold fun book with some lovely hats in to spoil your children with this summer. Out of the 20 patterns three are baby hats, seven are for boys, seven are for girls and three are recycled hats. The templates are half size over five pages at the back of the book which need to be enlarged by 200 per cent. There are eight pages of photo-illustrated basic techniques at the beginning of the book on: 'Using patterns to cut out the fabric', 'Using iron-on interfacing', 'Assembling a brim', 'Attaching the crown to the middle section', 'Attaching the brim to the crown', 'Making and attaching the lining', 'Making a six-part crown', and 'Making and attaching a peak'. Gill says in her introduction to the book 'Sun hats have become a summer essential to keep the sun from children's delicate faces. However if, like me, you spend most of the summer nagging your children to put their hats on, then this book is for you. I found that if I let my children choose the shape and colour of the hat, they were much more likely to wear it.' I can say that this is definitely the case. I never had a hat made for me but I wore a cotton dress my mother made for me which was blue with colourful lollypops on to death, and was distraught when I grew out of it. It was a dress she never would have found in any shop and I loved the fabric so much.