Toddler Sun Hat Strap

I had a burst of genius late one night that I thought I'd share.

You know that buttonhole elastic that's inside of kids' waistbands to make them adjustable? Well, I saw some at JoAnn the a few days before this story takes place, so I picked some up, thinking it would come in handy for some future pants for my skinny Monkey One.

Back to that late night. I was packing the kids' sun hats for our Yellowstone trip the next day. I was wishing Monkey Two's hat had a strap (he's 14 months old) when I suddenly thought of my new buttonhole elastic. Then before I knew it I had the hat, the elastic, and two buttons gathered around me at the sewing machine. I used the buttonhole stitch on my sewing machine to quickly attach a button on each side of the hat, then cut the elastic and finished off the ends by folding and sewing a straight line. Easy.

The idea was that I could easily tighten or loosen the elastic as needed. But unfortunately, I didn't measure (it was late at night, remember, and my monkeys were asleep). The elastic is just the right length on the longest setting. Don't worry, I can always cut a longer strip if I need to. I just wish it were longer to begin with. The strap proved successful otherwise. Monkey Two kept the hat on most of the time, and it never blew away!

The elastic is super soft, (not like the scratchy-looking stuff in the picture), so it is perfect for a baby's sweet skin. What I actually bought was about a 1-yard length package of Dritz 3/8" Buttonhole Elastic that came in a small package. I'm sure the scratchy bulk stuff is fine for waistbands.