A sun-bonnet—what does it make you think of? Doesn’t it remind you of your last summer holiday—the country, the birds, the flowers? Close your eyes and try to imagine it. Can’t you almost feel the heat, and hear the hum of the insects, and hear, too, the rattle of the pails, as you used to hear it when Maggie, the rosy-cheeked milk maid, wearing her pretty lilac sun-bonnet, went down to milk Brindle and Beauty and Cherry. You thought that sun-bonnet looked so pretty, and kept the sun from Maggie’s head and neck so beautifully, and you wished you had one too. You will wish it again, when you go to the country for your next holiday, and I expect you will want one when you are working in the sun in your own garden at home.

Suppose, therefore, you start to make a sun-bonnet for yourself. This one, that is shown in the picture, is really very easy to make. It is of a pretty pink print, with tiny flowers on it. But perhaps your favourite colour is not pink. Probably, you want a lilac one. Whatever colour you decide on, get ½-yard of print that shade, and you are ready to start.

Cut off 18 inches along the full length of the print, and hem along one edge. About 1 inch from the hem make a ¼-inch tuck, and 1 inch from this, another tuck. Now fold your print in half, and join up the two edges for the back of the bonnet with a French seam, which is described in the chapter on “Dolly’s Underwear.”

Your sun-bonnet is now rather square in shape. To get it rounded at the back, take hold of the point and draw it down a little way on to the seam at the back. There catch it with a few stitches.

No sun-bonnet is complete without a frill, so the next thing is to sew this on. Cut off 18 inches of print 5 inches wide, hem along one side and both ends. Gather the other side, and draw it up until it is the length of the bottom edge of the bonnet beyond the second tuck. Sew it on the inside to the bonnet edge, leaving a little piece of the edge above the gathered piece. Turn in the edge, and hem it over the seam. This makes it quite neat. The edges along where the frill does not come are also hemmed up.

For the strings, cut off two lengths of 14 inches, each 1½ inches wide. Hem each side and one edge. Turn the opposite edge in, and sew it neatly to the inside of the bonnet.

Your sun-bonnet is now finished, and you will be able to ask nurse to put it into the trunk the next time she is packing to take you to stay at the farm. Won’t Maggie be surprised when you arrive with a bonnet like hers, only just a few sizes smaller!