Activity #537: Sew to order

by Whitney on June 10, 2009

in Crafty, Preschooler

Julian asked me for a chef’s hat. He does a lot of dressing up and pretend play, and seemed to have something in mind. He promised me that he did not mind when I said that it was going to be made out of red polkadotted fabric – the most suitable choice from my fabric stash. My brother is actually a chef and Julian has seen a formal picture of his uncle in a traditional chef hat, so I was pretty sure what I made would be a disappointment. I roughly followed this pattern, but made it sloppy because my client was an impatient preschooler and this was not a Home Ec exam.

My process was not worthy of doing a chef’s hat tutorial for this post. Sorry. I do think that a chef is a good Halloween costume for a baby or kid because it’s pretty simple and you usually want them to wear a hat on Halloween. It was only when I went to write this post that I learned you can buy one for less than $5.00.

Sure enough, my hat was disappointing, but not because of the pattern. Julian fantasized that the hat would be shaped like this:

chef hat

But alas, it was not exactly.

kids chef hat

Still, when we realized he could put a dishtowel around his waist, hold a pad of paper and a pen, and look like a combination chef/waiter, he was completely satisfied with the addition to his dress-up box. I strongly recommend giving your preschooler the opportunity to be a waiter. It was hilarious to see how he treated me and Scarlett, his customers. (He did not earn a tip due to lack of eye contact and not bringing what we ordered.)

waiter costume

Oh, he tantrumed himself into a doorway last week– hence the Batman band-aid over his eyebrow in the picture.

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

elizabeth June 10, 2009 at 8:41 am

The red polka dots match perfectly with the cupcakes!

And you’re lucky your son only does that to himself when he tantrums. My kid has a big goosegg in the middle of this head because he likes to jump into walls. Yes. For fun.

Wendy June 10, 2009 at 9:31 am

This is great! And it perfectly reflects so many of my sewing projects for the preschooler. He has one idea and my crafting skills don’t match so we have to work through the disappointment together. Playing waiter is fun though. My favorite part is when my change is returned and it’s more than what I gave him for the bill.

jackie June 10, 2009 at 10:07 pm

so cute!

Tamar June 11, 2009 at 11:19 am

That’s awesome. Alden was really into cheffing when he was 3 and I bought a little kit on ebay for a few bucks. We have some GREAT photos of him in his chef hat, apron, holding a spatula with faceful of chocolate!

Lisa June 11, 2009 at 9:25 pm

Great idea on playing waiter! My nieces used to love this and even made laminated menus (you can get stuff laminated at Office Max for about a buck).

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