I have 2 daughters, and although they are only little (4 and 6 years) between them they have an awful lot of hair. We find the best way to control all that hair in the pool or at the beach is with swimming caps – the soft super stretchy type made from Lycra or spandex.

So when I was sewing up their swimmers before Christmas I sewed up matching swimming caps. They look absolutely adorable, make the kids easy to spot among their friends, and even protect the tops of their little ears from the sun.

If you would like to sew some for your little swimmers too, scroll past the pic for all the details.

You will need:

• Pattern-for-pennies Stretchy Swimming Cap Pattern.

Note: This is a one size fits most kids pattern for reference my kids have 52 cm heads.

• Approx. 25 cm x 40 cm of swimwear Lycra
• 43.5 cm of 6 mm swimwear elastic. I recommend a softer/finer elastic like clear or rubber elastic, but the best thing to do is test the elastic length around the wearers head to make sure it is going to be comfortable when worn.

How to put it together:

1. Cut your pattern pieces.
2. Pin your center panel to one of your side panels right sides facing and then sew (with a stretch stitch of some sort – narrow zigzag etc) or serge the two together.
3. Repeat step 2, attaching the second side panel to the center panel with right sides facing.
4. Sew your elastic ends together to form a loop (make sure it is not twisted).

1. Although this pic doesn’t show it very well, divide both the opening of the cap and the elastic loop into 4 and then pin the corresponding points together around the cap opening to ensure the elastic is stretched out evenly.
2. Sew the elastic to the inside edge of the cap opening using a wide and fairly long zigzag stitch (my machine settings were 3 for both stitch length and width).
3. Fold the elastic towards the inside of the cap, ensuring that the edge of the elastic is flush with the fold.
4. Stitch the elastic down into this folded position using zigzag again or with a twin needle.

And that is it!

Try it on and admire your work 🙂

I bought my swimwear Lycra and swimwear lining at The Remnant Warehouse, If you are in Australia, I highly recommend them, they have a great range of plains and some lovely prints as well as lining and elastic. The delivery is fast and they often have sales offering free delivery. Def my go-to, the prices are amazing.

If you make a Stretchy Swimming Cap, be sure to grab some pics and hashtag them #SEW4BUB I would love to see your creations!

As always, thanks for reading.

Liz xx