Tece de Kaxtone's blog

This hat I made to be worn sort of crashlanding on top of my Wulsthaube and to sport a lot of feathers. It was my first adventure into german 16th century hats other than the Wulsthaube.

 

This is how I made it:

First I made a mockup in a stiff cotton fabric similar to those Indian beadspreads. The first thing to get right was the top part: How big a square would I need. Then it was the hole for the head. After a few trial and errors I came up with a pattern that was likely to give me the look I wanted. This is what I came up with:

 

Instructions:

• First cut two squares 33by 33 cm (add seam allowance) in two different colors. Mine are black and burgundy.
• The black square will be the outer layer and in this I cut a hole to fit my head (17 cm diameter). Then I proceeded to make the slashing. This is what the black piece looked like after I hemmed the slashes:

• Then put your two squares together, right sides facing and sew them together all the way round. Turn and press.
• Fold each corner towards the middle so that they all meet and stitch them down.
• The top’s done, now onto the brim.
• With a little experimentation I made squares 16 by 8 cm. One black and one burgundy for each of the “flaps” for the brim. I needed 11 to go around the hole.
• Sew two squares together, one of each color, along the long sides. Turn and press. When all are done pin them to the edge of the hole and secure them by sewing
• Cut a long strip to cover the edge of the hole. Mine was ca 5 cm by 63 cm. line the edge of the hole with this. Add ties if needed and you’re done!

And of course lots of feathers:

      
 

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 Brim: To make pattern piece E:

 

 

This is based on a semicircle, but to get the brim to stand up you make a circle lots bigger that the actual hat. Mine is based on a circle that the inner edge has a diameter of X and the outer x cm. The difference between the inner and outer circle decides the height of your brim.  By making the circle way too large then cutting away the excess you’ll get a brim that will stand up but not be straight like a chimney. The larger the circle you make the closer to a flat brim you’ll get, and the opposite applies – the smaller the circle the more upright your brim will be. To determine how much of the semicircle to cut away for a two piece brim just measure the circumference of your basic hat made from pattern piece A witch should be approx. X cm and add ca 4 cm (the overlap). The circumference of your head divided in half +4 adding allowing for the extra created by the fabric of the hat. Cutting the excess away will give you pattern piece E:

 The Green Hat: Use pattern piece A + E: Instructions:

•   Cut 4 pieces of A, remember to add seam allowance! Cut 4 pieces of pattern E
• Sew the four A pieces together along the sides. Fell the seams. Fold the hem and sew it down.
• Take two pieces of the brim and put the right sides facing. Sew along the side edges and the outer edge. Trim and turn. I put in a decorative stitch partly to decorate, and partly to keep it nice and flat. Make the other part of the brim.
• Pin the brim to the hat. The pieces should overlap some. Fold the inside edge of the brim into the hat and sew it down. I also did the dot-stitch here to help secure it. Where the brim overlap you can sew a short line of stitches to hold them together and help the brim to stay up.  If your fabric isnt stable enough you can use a stiffer fabric as interlining or do as they did: add ties/bows!
• Add the bling!

 

     

One of the easiest and quickest hats to make!

 

Instructions: Use pattern piece A                  :

• Cut 4 pieces, remember to add seam allowance!
• Sew the four pieces together along the sides. Fell the seams.
• Fold the hem and sew it down.
• Done!

This is my version of it:

        

The mannequin's head is not the same size as mine....


The next post will be about making the Black hat with split brim and bows.