How to Sew a Granny Sleeping Cap
If you get chilled at night and want to keep your head warm, sew an old-fashioned granny sleeping cap to wear. This cap begins as a simple circle of flannel fabric. The inside of the cap has a bias-tape casing. When elastic is threaded through the casing, a quaint ruffled edge is created. The cap is made to fit a woman’s medium-size head and is large enough so that it can be pulled down over your ears.
Things You'll Need
- 3/4 yard lightweight flannel fabric
- Tape measure
- Fabric marking pencil
- 1 1/4 yards single-fold bias tape
- Thread
- Straight pins
- Sewing machine
- Serger (optional)
- 5/8 yard 1/8-inch wide elastic
- Safety pin
- Hand sewing needle
Instructions
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1
Cut a 24-inch diameter circle of fabric by laying your tape measure on your fabric and making a dot with a fabric marking pencil at the beginning tip of the tape measure, at 12 inches and at 24 inches. Keeping the tape measure straight and the 12-inch point of the tape measure on the center dot, shift the tape measure 1 inch clockwise. Make another mark at the tip of the tape measure and at 24 inches. Continue rotating the tape measure clockwise and making marks that create a 24-inch circle. Cut along this dotted line.
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2
Use a narrow overlock stitch on your serger or a medium zigzag stitch on your sewing machine to sew around the outer edge of the circle. Turn the edge under 1/4 inch to create a narrow hem. Pin in place. Topstitch around the edge to hem.
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3
Pin single-fold bias tape around the inside of the circle, 2 inches from the outer edge. Turn under the beginning and ending points of the tape 1/2 inch and place the tape so the ends abut. Do not sew the abutted ends closed. Stitch long edges of bias tape to the fabric circle, sewing 1/8 inch in from the sides of the tape.
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4
Cut a 22-inch piece of elastic. Put a safety pin through one end of the elastic. Insert the closed safety pin into the opening where the bias-tape casing begins and ends. Work the pin through the casing, pulling the elastic along. When the elastic is nearly all the way through, grasp the free end of the elastic and hold it while you continue working the pin through the casing and back out to the starting point.
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5
Sew together the ends of the elastic. Make a few small hand stitches at the abutted ends of the bias tape to hold the edges together. Smooth the elastic through the casing to create even ruffles around the cap.
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