Forgot your hat? Make a new one!

a.k.a "The pillow case hat" - and this too is up on my old blog:

This is the most basic of all the hats. Pattern's dead easy, just one big square, the only finicky stage is when you fit it around your head but otherwise i'ts just straight lines and not that many of them to make this type of hat:

   

Instructions:

• Cut two pieces 35cm X 70cm. Put the right sides towards each other.
• Sew along the edge with your usual seam allowance. Leave an opening so you can turn it inside out. Trim the corners and turn. You may want to iron it flat depending on the fabric. Fold it in half.
• Here comes the trickiest part of the construction, and the hardest to describe in writing: You are now going to prepare the hat for the side seams. What you need to figure out is how high your brim is going to be. I folded mine so it’s 14cm high. Put a pin as a marker on all side edges. That will mark the bottom edge (the fold) of the hat. If you’d sew it together along the sides it’d be way to large and if you look closely at the pictures the brim looks likes it overlaps. So adjust the size of the hat by overlapping on both sides. I chose to let the front piece overlap on both sides. Pin it along the edge both on the inside and outside. Sew it together both on the inside and the outside with as invisible stitches as you can manage. Fold the brim into position and continue to stitch the brims together about 4-5 cm. This will help the brim to stay up and not flop down even without some nice pin to adorn the hat.
• The hat is ready to add the bling! 

 

 

 

 

I think it looks a lot like this one too:

 

The Black Hat with Split Brim and Bows

Another hat description moved from my old blog:

 

To make the brim for this hat: Cut four pieces ca 18cm x 18cm  Then use pattern piece A:

Instructions:

• Cut 4 pieces of A, remember to add seam allowance! Take your 4 brim pieces.
• Sew the four A pieces together along the sides. Fell the seams. Fold the hem and sew it down. You may want to shorten the bottm sides. To get the brim to look good I only had about 1 cm before the bulge started (after hemming).
• Fold one of the brim pieces, a bit uneven, on one side of the fold you should have about 2c more fabric. This to make it easier to attach to the hat part.  Sew along the sides. Trim and turn inside out. Repeat with the other 3. Pin the pieces to the bottom edge of the hat. Fold in the bottom edge and sew it to the inside.
• If you do nothing more this is what it looks like: 

 

To make the brim stay up. Make 4 ties. I finger looped mine, but you can make them any way you want. Make little bows and sew them to the brim. Mine are attached about halfway up the “split” and have aiglets at the ends.Now it should look something like this:

 

There are images where the brim has even more splits, so you kan adapt this to your liking. And for the ties you can use plain string without aiglets or to be even more extravagant make them out of a wider silk ribbon!

 

The “Schlappe”

Another move from my old blog. I'm not entirely happy with this one and have some ideas on how to inmprove the look and construction to more closely resemble the images, but here is the first version of the Schlappe:

 

 

This is a type of headwear I've so far only seen worn by men, if anyone out there has proof for this beeing worn by women in period please share!


To make a pattern was a bit more tricky: this is what I came up with:

 

and of course, some other little bits that are square.

I had a pattern for a scullcap made from 6 pieces. I wanted 4 so I quickly made a mockup from the old pattern and cut it into 4 pieces. Traced one and made another mockup. It fit just right so then I added the strips at the bottom edge. Mine are 7.5 cm long. The Earflaps I also experemented a bit. It's great to have those boxes of toile fabrics (old sheets and bedspreads and leftovers that really cant be used for anything else). Trial and error is so much easier on the mind if the fabric's inexpensive. My earflaps just barely meet underneath the chin when tied together. My earflap turned out to be 17 cm long. The square pieces were just trial and error as I went a long.

So this is how I made it:

• Cut two of B1-B2 pattern piece. Flip pattern piece B2 over for the second piece which will create a left side and a right side. Cut out the linings for the earflaps (B3) in a nice contrasting colour. Cut a strip of fabric 38 cm long and 8 cm wide and another 20 cm long and 12 cm wide. (B4 and B5)

• Pin and sew the four pieces together. Alternating the pieces B1 and B2. Make sure that the Earflaps end up where you want them!

• The earflaps: Pin the lining right sides facing each other. Sew as close to the edge as you can. Trim the edges and turn. Press the flaps flat. You now have something looking like this:

 

• Take the longer of the two strips (B4) Start pinning the slashed edges to the strip. Make sure they are pinned as close together as you can without letting them overlap. Stitch them all together and back to the ironing board! Press and fold the strip so it looks like a brim. Sew the edges together on the wrong side ( the side that goes on the inside of the cap). Pin the ends into each earflap. Do the same with the neckslashes. As you’ll notice I’ve made the back strip wider. This is to make it fit better. When both front and back are pinned to the earflaps:
• Put a stitch in along the inner edge at each slit. This makes the strips/slashes bulge nicely on the outside and the brim to stay put.
• Try it on and adjust the fit by angling the back strip, depending on the shape of your head you may want to adjust the front strip as well. I had a steeper angle on the back and none on the front one. Use chalk to mark the edge. Cut away the excess fabric and fold in the seam allowance and sew it shut.
• Put ties at the end of each earflap.
• Done!

 

This is my first "Schlappe"

In trying it out I thought I needed to move the earflaps forwards wich I've since adjusted accordingly so the pattern you've got above is the new and improved one! (and one I will probably adjust further still as stated above)