First, you'll need to come up with a pattern. I just free-handed mine as best I could, after measuring Jed's head. It is about 19 inches around, so I divided that measurement in 2 and added about 4 inches. Don't make the mistake of not adding additional inches, or your hat will end up way too small. The number of inches I came up with (13.5) was the approximate length I made the bottom of the triangle-shaped part of the hat. Curve the bottom of the hat a little, make the top angle about 60 degrees, and voila! The top part of your hat.
For the brim, again make the bottom part (the less curved side) the number you came up with after measuring, dividing by 2 and adding 4 inches. The brim should be in the shape above--I don't have any good way to describe it. Make the back of the brim piece about 2 times the side of the front and curve the lines to join them. You're smart--you can figure it out. Or curse my name when you can't. Cut your pattern out of slightly-stiff paper and now you're ready to cut fabric.
Fold your fabric right-sides together and pin your hat piece and brim pieces down.
Cut 1 hat piece and 2 brim pieces, for a total of 2 hat pieces and 4 brim pieces.
Don't pull the pieces apart when you un-pin the pattern from the fabric--they're already right-sides together and ready to sew. Pin the fronts and backs of each brim sets and the front and back of the hat piece. Sew all three pieces, backstitching as you go. I like to use 1/4 inche seam allowances--just line your fabric up with the edge of your presser foot.
Once you have sewn the hat piece, trim the corner around the seam so that the excess fabric won't get in the way of a nice sharp point once you've turned the hat right-side out.
Like so. Then turn the hat right-side out and set it aside. You're ready for the brim!
After you have sewn both brim pieces front and back, place one brim piece inside the other, matching fronts and backs together, seams facing outwards. Pin the 2 seams together, pulling the fabric to either side of the seam so it will lay flat. Pin both sides of each seam--top and bottom. Now pin around the entire bottom of the brim--the more curved section.
Once it's all pinned, it should look like this. Sew around the bottom of the brim.
Hooray! Your brim is taking shape. Now unfold your brim. It will look like a funny tube:
Take your funny tube and fold it so the seam around the middle sits at the bottom of the brim. Basically you'll be just flipping it right-side out. Line up your front and back seams again and pin them. Pin around the top of the brim. No need to use too many pins at this point, just attach the two sides together. Once it's pinned, grab your hat piece. Poke the brim INSIDE the hat. Your hat will be right-sides facing out and your brim will also be right-side out. Match up the front of the brim (the smaller side) with the front of the hat. Pin all three layers of fabric together at the seam with the brim INSIDE your hat. Again, fold the fabric sides on either side of the seam--you don't want any bunching.
It should look like this. Now match up the back seam of the brim (the longer side) with the back side of the hat. Pin around the seams again. After you have the seams pinned up, pin the sides of the hat to the sides of the brim. Remember that your brim should be INSIDE your hat. Now, pin the heck out of that sucker. You don't want any puckers in your seam.
Sew around the outside of your hat, attaching the brim to the crown. Once it is sewn, unfold the brim from the inside of the hat. Your brim will be facing down and you will have a seam on the outside of the hat. You'll think, "Holly, you rat!" but you'll be wrong, because the seam won't show once we're through. Fold your brim up and over so it hides the inside seam completely and the seam is showing along the bottom part where your head will go. Pin the front and back seams again, then around the sides. It should look like this:
Sew around your brim, using a larger seam allowance if you have to. In these pictures, I used fleece, which was so bulky by the time I got to this point that I used a 3/4 inch seam allowance. Felt is a little more forgiving. Your hat will look like this:
Hooray, you have a Peter Pan or Robin Hood hat! You can stop here, or you can make a feather for your hat if you want. For Jed's PP hat, I used red knit cut with pinking shears into a feather shape. I cut two feathers and sewed them together. For this hat, I used 2 layers of blue felt with some very stiff interfacing in between. Sew around the outside of your feather, then add little details if you want. Stitch the feather into the brim of the hat, and attaching it to the hat higher up if necessary.
Once I sewed the feather down, I felt like the brim poked out a little. So I tacked it down by hand. Now as I look at it, I'm not very happy with the poofy bits in-between the tacks, so I am thinking of taking them out. The bulkiness of the fleece is probably the cause of the poofs--Felt should not give you this problem. You can tack your brim down, or not, as you wish.
Ta-da! Your hat is totally done, in about an hour and a half. Give it to your little one and see what fun they come up with.
No comments:
Post a Comment