The Sorrento Bucket Hat from Elbe Textiles.

I love wearing hats. Winter or Summer. I feel that they can really make an outfit look ‘put together’ but also for someone like me who tries to avoid sun damage on my face, hats with brims are a must Summer and Winter (along with a good facial SPF too).

The Sorrento Bucket Hat from Elbe Textiles is a unisex design featuring a downwards sloping brim and optional top-stitching detail. The hat is fully lined, with the ability to be reversible.

This PDF download is $5 (AUS) which works out at approximately £2.75 here in the UK, or $3.70 (US). It has a range of 4 sizes which range from a 21″-24″ head circumference, and there are 3 pattern pieces – the top, the band and the brim.

I found the sizing to be good. My head circumference measures 22″, so I cut the size ‘small’ according to the pattern recommendations and the fit is perfect.

The fabric that I used is a medium weight cotton twill. I can’t remember now where I bought it from, and as you can see it’s a dark beige colour. I decided to line the hat with the same fabric as I had no desire for it to be reversible this time.

I didn’t want a floppy brim (ooh -err)! so I interfaced the brim to avoid this.

There are only 6 steps in the instructions to make this hat, so it was quite quick to make, and I didn’t have any problems following them. I did choose to sew a few rows of the optional parallel topstitching on the brim as I felt this would give the brim even more support and I love sewing rows of parallel stitching.

The finished height of the band is approx 8.5 cm and the brim width measures approx 7.5cm, and whilst I like these dimensions, I wonder if the brim is just a bit too wide for me. I might try another version with a slightly narrower brim next time. I also think it might be super cute with the addition of ties so that it won’t blow off my head on a windy day!

I shouldn’t really be surprised with how nicely it has turned out because of all of the good reviews about it that I have been reading for so long, it’s definitely going to be a well worn hat on my daily walks and a pretty floral version will no doubt follow in the Summer.

Take care, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x @sew_dainty