Panic Horse

Panic Horse
laura

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

now here's a sunny suggestion...




make your own hat!

You will be needing...

  • Fabric for the brim and top of hat

  • Interfacing for the brim of hat like Shape well or a stiff interfacing if available

  • Perhaps a ribbon to tie your hat to your head or to attach to the top

  • Any other decorations you wish to include such as flowers, bows, bells...


First measure your head where your hat will sit (the circumference) and add 1cm to the measurement for wearing ease.

Now it's time for some maths...


Divide the circumference by 6.28. This new measurement will be the radius. Place a compass on your paper and draw a circle with the radius just discovered, the inside area will be cut out.


Then decide how wide you want your hat to be (the brim), the wider it is the floppier it will be which also means more protection! Add 2cm to the width of your brim (this will be your 1cm seam allowance for both sides)


Draw another circle outside the first with the desired depth of your brim (including seam allowance)


There will now be a doughnut shape on your paper, cut two of these "dough" pieces from your fabric and one from your interfacing.


Attach interfacing to the back of one fabric layer (depending on your interfacing you will have to either iron it on or sew it on) Sew the other piece of fabric to the interfacing so you have a "sandwich" of interfacing between your pretty fabric, do this by placing right sides of fabric together and sew 1cm in from the brim. Turn right side out and admire the beautiful brim.


If you choose you can sew on the brim in random patterns or in simple lines, or if you're feeling very outrageous you can add beads and sequins or even put some wadding between the layers and attempt some quilting!


Time for the top... the circumference of your head must be divided by 3.14 to obtain the radius and then add 3cm wearing ease/ seam allowance. Using a compass, draw a circle on a piece of paper with the magic number just created as the radius. Cut out two of this shape in your fabric and if you want a more stable top then also cut out and attach an interfacing.


Sew the two layers together with a 1cm seam allowance, then gather the outside of the top piece so they fit to the inner brim.


Match the inside of the brim with the outside of the top, rights sides together and sew the top layer of the inner brim to the top piece with 1cm seam allowance.



To finish the inside, sew the inner bottom brim layer to the top piece by placing both with their right sides together and sewing with 1cm seam allowance (the last stitches may need to be hand sewn) If you want to attach a ribbon to tie to your head, sew it in now!

Another alternative is to attach the top pieces to the brim with the seam allowance facing out so it frays. As you should notice, this hat is reversible so you can choose to hide the seam completely by gluing or sewing a ribbon over the seam!


Finally... Try it on and if you love it then make more! Send me any pictures of you in your hat and I'll put them up!

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