"The Dragonfly" Scrub hat with fold up brim, tie and elastic at back



I named this hat after the little dragonflies all over the fabric. I like the look of this fold up brim. The brim extends beyond the edge of the hat at the back and is long enough to tie in a small bow. In the middle of the back there is also elastic. This bit of elastic just helps to contain the hair. This is a good hat to make if you are sewing one for someone else. Because of the ties. it adjusts for every head size. For the display on this manequin I left it a little loose. I did this because this is how tight I tied it on my own head. I wanted to display how long the tie hangs down at the back for a person with an average size head. (The manequin has a smaller than average head) When I tie it on my own head it does not gap at the front like this and it sits further back from my eye.


Supplies needed for "The Dragonfly" scrub hat with fold up brim, tie and elastic:
printer to print pattern out
tape to tape pattern sheets together
paper scissors to cut pattern out
cutting mat and rotary cutter for fabric or fabric scissors
sewing machine
serger (optional)
thread
one 2 1/4"  by 44" strip of fabric. (Most bolts of fabric are 44" wide) This is for the brim of the hat.
one piece of fabric that is 11" by 44". (Cotton fabric is my favorite) This is for the body of the hat.
Piece of 1/2 inch elastic. Need about 4 inches but I do not cut it off if I have a big long piece. I sew it down, stretching as I sew, and then cut it off.

Ready to take on this project? Go to Pattern Downloads and print the PDF format pattern.
Then go to the tutorial below and follow the directions. Don't forget to leave feedback. I'd also love to see your creation on the flickr page.

Before I start describing how to do anything I will explain the design of the brim. If you understand the design of the brim it will help you understand the directions a little easier.

Below is a picture of the finished hat. I am holding it with the brim folded down. Notice how the fabric from the "Top Piece"  goes all the way down to the inside fold of the brim. The contrasting fabric meets up with the "Top Piece" right at the edge of the brim. On the inside of the hat there is an edge of the contrasting fabric that needs to be either serged or zig zag stitched to prevent fraying. This serged/zig zag edge will be sitting next to your forehead when you are wearing the hat. Notice the white line of stitching on the dark blue dragonfly fabric? When the brim is folded up this does not show. This is a line of stitching that I did close to the serged edge of the contrasting fabric. This holds the contrasting fabric in place so it doesn't shift around.
The next picture below shows how the brim of the hat extends out to become the ties at the back of the hat.

Now that we have a clearer understanding of the design of the hat we can start.

Step one: Tape the pattern together as directed on the pattern. Cut out. Place "Top Piece" pattern on fabric on fold of fabric and cut out the fabric. Note the Dragonflies on my fabric go all different directions so placement of pattern on fabric was not important. The top of my hat was next so the salvage of the fabric. If you are using a fabric with pictures that go in a particular direction you may need to use a bigger piece of fabric so that you can turn the pattern piece around the other direction.
Place the "Front Piece" on the fold of the fabric and cut out.
Once your pieces are cut out they should look like this.
Step 2: You want to find what will be the middle front on both pieces. Fold the "Top piece" in half and make a little crease with the iron. Then fold the "Front piece" in half and make a little crease with the iron. (This crease will be on the curved part of the "Front Piece") Now with right sides together line these two creases up and put a pin in to secure the two pieces together. 

Now pin the rest of the "Top piece" to the "Front Piece"
Step 3:  Sew these two pieces together using a serger if you have one or using a sewing machine. Sew slowly and carefully keeping the edges lined up as you go and removing the pins as you go. If you used the sewing machine for this step go back and zig zag stitch the edge to prevent fraying.
Step 4: Now we will be working a the back of the hat. Don't be confused by me saying "Front Piece" or "Top Piece" I use these terms because these are the names of the pattern pieces as they are marked on your pattern print out: Serge or Zig Zag stitch the straight edge of the "Top piece" to the side edge of the "Front Piece". The picture below shows me doing this. Notice how the straight edge of the "Front Piece" is a little bit longer than the side edge of the "Front Piece" This is the very back bottom edge of the hat. The elastic will get sewn onto this edge later. After the elastic is sewn on the edge gets flipped up and sewn down and then the two edges will line up. Next serge or Zig Zag stitch this bottom edge that the elastic gets sewn to to prevent fraying.
Step 5 : Now it is time to work on the brim. Serge or Zig Zag stitch one edge of the brim. 
Fold the brim in half and make a little crease with the iron to mark the middle point. Fold the hat in half finding the middle of the "Front Piece". Make a little crease with the iron on the "Front Piece" With right sides of fabric together line these two creases up together. (The raw,  Non-Serged edge of the brim will be the edge that gets sewn to the "Front Piece next)
 Pin and sew these two pieces together. (Start and stop sewing at the back of the hat right where the seams for the "Top Piece" and "Front "Piece" meet.) 
Open the seam then flip it around so the wrong sides are together and press with the iron.
With the sewing machine make a line of stitching close to the serged edge to hold the inside of the brim in place.
At this point you can place the hat on your head. Flip the brim up where it seems right. Remove it from your head and give it a real solid press where you have folded the brim.

Step 6: Using a Zig Zag stitch sew the elastic onto the bottom edge of the back of the hat. After the first few stitches apply lots of tension on the elastic while sewing it down. Once you finish sewing trim the tail of the elastic that is left over off.
Flip the bottom edge up and using a straight stitch sew it down. You might pull this edge straight so it is not gathered while you are sewing it. As soon as you let go the gathers will reappear. (Now the elastic will no longer be showing)
Step 7: Almost done! We just need to finish off the ties. Fold and iron down the ends of the ties about 1/2 inch.
Fold up the raw edge of the brim and then fold the serged/zig zagged edge so that it covers the raw edge. Press it with the iron.
Using a sewing machine sew very close to the edge of the serged edge and then sew the ends of the ties closed.
This is how the back of the hat looks.
Project complete! I hope you were able to understand  and follow this tutorial. Feel free to leave feedback on how it went. Remember I would love to see your project on the Flickr page.

68 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. I know this is an older post, but I was wondering about the brim pattern for the Dragonfly scrub. I don't see it on the pattern page. thanks

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  4. No, there is not a pattern piece for the brim. I just use a ruler to mark a line for a 2 1/4 inche s trip that is 44 inches wide. Most fabrics that you buy off a bolt are 44 inches wide. I have a cutting mat and a rotary cutter which makes this very easy to do. When I buy the fabric I usually need to make the edge straight first. They don't always get it exactly straight when they cut it in the fabric store. If you don't have a cutting mat and a rotary cutter just lay the fabric out on a table and draw a line a 2 1/4 inches then cut on the line with scissors. Hope this helps!

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    1. Where is the actual pattern to print out?

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    2. At the bottom of the home page of the Blog

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    3. The pattern isn't available to print again. Can you fix it or send it to my email address? Thanks, it looks like a fun pattern!

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  5. I was trying to download the pdf and it says it is not available, do you still have this pattern up somewhere? Thanks

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    1. Sorry, this link was broken. I fixed it now. You may need to refresh you page if you still do not get it. I have it at the bottom of the homepage as well.

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    2. Link broken down again. Can you fix? Thanks!

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  6. This is really pretty. I hope I can download the pattern, but it says not available. please, please?
    Thanks

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  7. It is available. I just checked the link at the top of the page.

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  8. Now that I'm using a computer I can download it. Thank you for this!

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  10. I need help stuck on step 4 mariamdotson@gmail.com

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  11. Thank you so much! My daughter needs these caps for protection from the sun, can't wait to try to make it. :)

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  12. Hi Gloria, I am a medical student with limited sewing experience attempting to follow your tutorial, my first question in regards to the pattern download, is regarding the number of pages. For the "dragonfly" cap the file I downloaded has four pages, but the fourth page has an instruction saying "glue this to the dotted line on page 5" should there be a fifth page?

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  13. When I scanned the page the top got cut off. It is actually a three. I can see how you thought it was a five though.

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  14. Is there any way the dragonfly cap could be made into a ponytail scrub cap for long hair?

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  15. I haven’t tried but I think you would made the back longer and then double it under creating a pocket for the pony to sit in at the back. You could make the ties longer and then wrap them around the pony and tie at the top.

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  16. Thank you :)
    Its not going to be a scrub hat here but the base for a childs wig that can be easily pulled over her hair.
    You save the day for me :)
    Have a great evening.
    Inge

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  17. where can I find the hummingbird pattern? Thanks!

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  18. I can't download the pattern. Is there another problem ? Love the hat and I want to make a few.

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  19. Hi Gloria, the instructions say to place the Top Piece A on "fold" of fabric to cut out, I did this and have one long piece with 2 round heads...is this correct?

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  20. Pattern Downloads gets me "page does not exist".

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  21. The pattern does not exist are you going to put it back on?

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  22. I was not able to follow this pattern. Pieces should have been named a, b, c, d. I do not see when the 11' by 42 inch piece is used.

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    1. The 11 x 42 piece is how much you need to cut out the pattern pieces.

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  23. Replies
    1. https://freepatterns4scrubhats.blogspot.com/2011/08/pattern-downloads.html?m=1

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  24. had some difficulty with the brim and how to get it to lay flat. is there a video of you doing this?

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  25. I have a question about the directions "Place "Top Piece" pattern on fabric on fold of fabric and cut out the fabric."
    If I place the tail on the fold I cut two of the "TOP". Is that correct?

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  26. I am confused about attaching the rounded top piece to the long front piece. When I sew the pieces together the front piece extends about 1-1/2 inches beyond the top piece at the back. If I attach the elastic to the straight edge of the top piece and fold it up, then the front piece has an even longer exposed edge. Where am I going wrong. Your photos don’t show this area very clearly. Thank you. You can reply at brattonr1@charter.net

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  27. After sewing the front to the top there is a small part left. Sew it to the "tail" of the top before sewing the elastic on and turning up the elastic. I missed this step (Step 4) when I made my first one. Caught it on tgecsecobd one and it worked beautifully

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  28. Could you make a video of you sewing this. The pictures are a little unclear

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  30. I, too, am having difficulty with step #3. How do I sew the pieces together? From the creases to what point? Thank you so much for your help.

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  31. What is the seam allowance? Thanks!

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  32. Been working on this pattern for 3 days. Still can't figure out where the longer edge in step 4 gets lined up. Have 20 hats half finished. Help

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    1. Turn it slightly and line it up with the "tail" that you will sew the elastic on.

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  33. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  34. this is a very difficult pattern to understand for an experienced seamstress like myself, perhaps explains why the author has not responded to requests for help/information in the past 2 years

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    1. I tried responding to you yesterday but my comment has been removed!! This finished hat is huge!! What do you do with the 2 pieces that you cute other than the pattern? the 11" one is way to wide for the brim! I'm going to have to cut it down and to cut it that wide is a waste of material because it is way too wide for the brim. What do you do with the other piece that is 2" wide? Not sure why this is so complicated to make but I'm thinking because it needs more explanation on how to put the pieces together to sew.

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    2. Pamlovesindia thank you for your comment. I'm by no means an expert seamstress, but have both craft and clothing sewing experience and simply can't make sense of the instructions.

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  35. I'm having trouble here too. Should there be two of "top" pieces?

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    1. no, she wrote that instruction wrong, you only need one of the top pieces

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  36. I’m doing a trial run and I’m not placing the top piece “on the fold” as the instructions say do because you only need one from my understanding. I’m going to fly by the seat of my pants, so to speak and sew it the easiest way because some of this doesn’t make sense and I’m an experienced seamstress and I need to make 10 of these ASAP!

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    1. I am working on my first one so I'm not sure about the size. I know that one piece is supposed to be bigger than the round piece. The elastic is supposed to pull up some of the excess in the back. The 2" piece in the turned up cuff on the brim. It gets sewed right sides together on the brim piece and then stitched inside the hat. It gets folded up later.

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  37. Look at the directions for the hummingbird hat: step 4 has the side edge of the bottom piece turned in 1/4” and turned again 1/4” and stitched. Now it will line up the bottom side edge of the top piece!

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  38. What side of the long piece gets sewn onto the round piece? Is it the flat edge or the rounded edge?

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    1. You stitch the rounded edge.

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  39. I have made TWO of these today, printing the second pattern at 90% and it's still HUGE! Does anyone have measurements of the short edges that would help me make sure I have the right scale when printing? Any kind of measurements on the pattern would sure help make sure it's the right size!!!

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  40. I can't get the pattern link to work :( Anybody else having problems?

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    1. Click on the home button at bottom of page

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  41. Thank you for sharing this pattern.
    Plenty of health professionals are now using caps so they don't have to wash their hair every day.
    I have made three already and one of your other patterns.
    I have added a couple of buttons on it to wear ear loop masks without causing pressure injuries to ears.
    I have suggested to others to visit your pages too.

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  42. Step 2 and 3.~~Matching the centers Pin curved edge of FRONT to the rounded edge of TOP right sides

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  43. Thank you for your help. I had a nurse call me today and asked for help for her and the other nurses. I had been making face masks for the neighbor hood but she needed scrub hats. Thank you

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  44. My top piece for the elastic isn't longer..I added 2 1/2 inches to it to compensate on the 4th one I made. Prior to that I had to put a bias tape casing. I really couldn't figure that out.

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    1. Same here - I had to improvise a casing for the elastic.

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  45. I think she has a wrong step in the pattern. I too didn’t have enough length for elastic casing, so I removed the side stitching from the ‘top’ piece and the ‘front’ piece. This gave me length for the casing for the elastic, then you can stitch the side back down as before but it will be shorter and now the brim piece fits properly to the back. (I also used 5/8” elastic as that is all I had.)

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  46. Link for https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B772OSgWmAFITGRDa0t3VHlsSVE/edit

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  48. I have made this hat before but cannot find my pattern. The download link does not work. Is there any other way I can get the pattern?

    Thanks

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  49. Are you using a 1/4" seam allowance????

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