Make: The "I'm Not a Boy Hat"

by Designing Mom Shinmin of I Dream of Cake


It's true I don't dress mila like a girl. I prefer her in the soothing shades of blue, grey, black, brown and an occasional muted purple. I opt for tunics and pants over dresses any day. For my baby shower and Mila's first birthday I specified on the invitations, "please nothing pink."

And I'll be the first to admit it. She looks like a boy. I'm ok with it. She has close to no hair (unless you call that peachy fuzz on top of her head hair). There is no discernable difference between the shape of her body and that of a one year old boy. And she doesn't have those delicate features that make some babies undeniably girl like thick long lashes, cheruby rosy cheeks, nor long wispy hair. When I put her in a dress, she looks like a boy dressed in a Halloween costume. So I let her true proud-to-be-active-tom-boy-crawl-all-over-the-place-don't-let-a-dress-slow-me-down personality come through in her clothes.

Everywhere I go people say:
"Aw what a cute boy"
"I just love him"
"Like father like son"
"I can tell what you will look like as a young man"
And my favourite is, "Hey there Joey!"

I'm never offended. I get baby genders mixed up all the time. I just feel bad when they look embarrassed as I announce that Mila is a girl.

They usually say something like, "Oh I'm sorry. She's not in pink." or "Oops the blue tripped me up."

So I created a solution. Since I'm not about to invest in shiny pink items, I thought of the next best thing.

I present the "I'm Not a Boy Hat"! This idea comes from the hat I made for Mila's "Crazy Octopus Costume" last Halloween. This was so easy and I'm more than thrilled with the results. Variations are endless. Here I will show you how to make the "I'm Not a Boy Hat with Fun Bouncy Rosettes".

Start with a pair of tights. I went with a size larger than what Mila would actually wear to fit her big old head. This is a very good way to recycle tights from an older sister, holes or runs not a problem. Since Mila doesn't have any siblings I bought these tights specifically for this project. These were size 4 but I think I could have used a smaller size.


Tie knots at the start of the leg openings.


Make small loops with the length of the leg and sew them to the knot. Start at the base closest the knot and work your way to the toe. Wrap the thread around the loop and be sure to secure each loop by making a stitch or two before moving to the next loop.



Continue until you get to the end of the leg. Tuck and sew the toe part in. Repeat with the other leg.

I really like the way this looks, as is. I like the loopy numbs but I intended to make these into rosettes, so rosettes are what I'll make. Cut through every loop at the center.



Ta da! I'm so glad I stuck to plan. Because I love these rosettes! This hat ended being a bit big so I folded up the lip.

"Excuse me, how old is your little boy?"


"Oh pardon me, I can clearly see she's a fun, strong willed, active, and bouncy little GIRL."


And behold - the "I'm Not a Boy Braided Hat"!


Of course my Mila monster, like Nolan, loves nothing more than ripping the hat off.