Summer hats have made a well-deserved comeback and are also a fashionable means to dress up. Protecting your skin from the sun's harmful rays in a pretty chapeau? Yes, please! They also happen to be delightfully easy to make.

Here are a handful of stylish toppers to enhance your wardrobe:

• Before you set out to create a hat, it's best to know what shape is most flattering to your face. The Already Pretty blog has a great guide for helping to determine what looks best.
• For a chic but casual summer hat, try this one pattern reversible sunhat. You'll get a quick and easy lesson in pattern-making along with learning the sewing basics. Author Cal Patch is working at making most of her own clothes and we say that with this hat, she's off to a roaring good start. Or try your hand at this free Boho beach hat project from BurdaStyle that's worthy of Sienna Miller.
• Commercial sewing pattern companies also offer plenty of heady opportunities. You'll have your choice of seven brimmed hat patterns in a versatile Vogue pattern, or whip up a clever Patricia Underwood scarf hat or turban a la Little Edie Bouvier Beale, also from Vogue patterns. Make a matching tote to go with your beachy headgear with this simple Butterick pattern.
• If you are smitten with vintage style, try this simple flower toque pattern with instructions reprinted from an 1890 Ladies Home Companion. A toque is a brimless, close-fitting hat, often made with velvet. Get the scoop on this quick project from "How to Make a Victorian Hat" in this Victoriana blog.

For more DIY Design columns, click here. Next week, sew your own bathing suit.