Felicitations and a Free Pattern!

Sassy hat, no?

Greetings and felicitations! 

I am hoping you are as much of a crafting junkie as I am... if not - come along for the ride. It's fun, breezy and usually includes a bunch of laughter!

 Life at my house is always full of projects in various stages of completion. I've got my knitting, sewing, beading and whatever else I happen to be into at the moment - spread out in various locations. Right now, I'm into hats. I've knitted one and sewed a couple. My momma raised me with the belief that anything was possible - so long as I tried hard enough & was willing to keep at a thing 'til it was done right. 

Pictured above is my second attempt at the millinery arts. I have to admit, I wear this hat with just about everything right now - as I am between hair styles & a sassy hat beats bad hair any day!

Here is my rendition of an old classic - the Newsboy Cap.

Simple pattern

This pattern fits my head - which is approximately an adult medium (21" - 22" in circumference) I drew the pattern onto a piece of standard printer paper & included exact measurements just in case it doesn't print or open to a full size document. All seams call for a 1/4" seam allowance

Materials: 1/2 yard of material for hat body

                1/2 yard of material for hat lining

                1/4 yard of pellon or something to cushion the bill

                8"x3" square of plastic - be creative & repurpose something

                25" of bias tape to match your hat

                1 fantasmo button to top it all off

Here is the "how-to":

1. Cut out all pattern pieces

2. With right sides together, sew 2 pieces of the hat body together. Continue putting pieces together until there are 4 "pie pieces" together in total.

3. Sew the next 3 pieces of the hat body together.

   *** you should now have 2 parts of hat body. This is very important, as these curved pieces can be tricky to sew together.

4. Sew the two pieces together. 

5. BEFORE you open the hat - press each curved seam FLAT - let each seam lay flat (like it was as you sewed it on your machine) and press ~ give it a shot of steam even. I do this in my quilting, as it causes the threads to tighten.  

6. *Optional* Press your seams open

   ** You should now have a full hat body.

7.  Repeat steps 1-6 with the hat lining.  

8. With WRONG sides together, run a loose basting stitch as close to the edge of your hat body as you can.

9. With right sides together, sew hat bill FABRIC pieces from corner around the outer curve to the other corner. 

10. Press seam (like step #5) then clip around the curve or just cut with pinking shears. (this will allow your seam to lay flat when you turn it right side out.)

11. Turn your bill casing right side out & press.

12. Make a pellon & plastic sandwich. Insert this into the bill casing being sure to get it snug against the seam.

13. Pin the inner curve closed and run a tight basting stitch along the curve of the pellon & plastic sandwich curve. (You will use this as a stitch guide in steps 16 &  .)

14. Cut out a strip of fabric for your hat band. This strip should measure around your head + 1 inch, and should be 1.5" wide (mine was 22 1/2" long by 1.5" wide). (If you are using light weight fabric, you can cut out a second strip of pellon for added support)

15. With right sides together, join this strip, forming a circle. ** TEST to see if it fits & make adjustments if needed. As a general rule of thumb, you want to be able to comfortably place 1 finger between your head and the hat band.

16.  Opposite the hat band seam, center the hat bill and sew pieces together.  (This part is kind of tricky and calls for lots of pinning before you sit down to sew. Take your time lining up the edges with the hat bill on top follow the seam created in step #13)

17. Along this bottom seam, with right sides together, run another seam, sewing a strip of bias tape all the way around. Remember to include a folded edge where you begin to avoid any unfinished edges upon completion. Press these pieces together. This is tricky to get around the bill, but as long as you keep your edges lined up you'll be fine.

18. With right sides together pin your hat body to the hat band. You should have the hat band touching the main hat material and the lining on the outside. Sew and press this seam DOWN toward the hat bill.

19. Adjust the bias tape seam and either hand sew or machine stitch this to cover your unfinished edges.

20. Lastly, add a button to the top ~ and you're done!

If you make one of these, please be sure to leave a comment and a photo! Can't wait to see what you creative types can do :D

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