There are three hat patterns in the Sewgirl collection;
Brompton Military Style Hat, Chelsea Baker boy Hat and Brighton Bucket Hat.
SUMMER BRIGHTON HAT
WINTER BRIGHTON HAT
CHELSEA HAT
BROMPTON MILITARY STYLE HAT
I really love making hats! Tweed ones or cotton prints, denim and velvet or needlecord, a hat is an all year round wardrobe essential for any occasion and time of the year.
This blog will show you some of the step by steps to give you an idea about whats involved. To buy any of the patterns, please click any of the Etsy shop links.
Sewgirl hat patterns are available either as a PDF digital downloads or as a paper pattern (link above to my Etsy shop). All hats can be made in sizes small, medium or large. To measure your head diameter, extend a tape measure around your forehead and above your ears.
SMALL = 55cm, MEDIUM = 57cm, LARGE = 59cm
Suitable for sewists with some previous experience
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED: tailor’s ham, pinking shears, pins / quilter’s clips, stitch ripper and a poking tool. Insert a walking foot attachment on your machine if you have one, which will make it easier to sew.
Tailors ham
Quilting clips are good for holding layers together
A walking foot makes bulkylayers so much easier to sew.
HOW TO MAKE THE BRIGHTON HAT
Winter version of Brighton Hat, for the rosette brooch pattern scroll down
Sew together the Side band and Brim outer and lining pieces.
With the RST, pin the Brim outer and Brim lining together at the outer edge. Sew.
Nick the outer edge all around.
Turn the Brim inside out. Press. Pin all around at the inner edge. Zig zag together the inner raw edges all around.
Now for the fun bit…… Stitch lines all around the brim, this helps to stiffen it and it looks good too!
You need about 5 lines, for the small brim and 7 for the large brim, 1cm apart from each other.
Pin the Crown to the Side band.
Hand tack stitch. Sew all around.
Nick the seam allowance all around.
Repeat for the outer fabric and the lining.
Clip or pin the brim to the outer cap
Pin or clip the lining cap on top of the brim/outer cap piece.
Stitch rip a small opening in the Side Band seam. Turn inside out through the opening.
Sew up the opening.
Et Voila! One lovely Brighton Hat!
Why not add a rosette on the side
HOW TO MAKE A ROSETTE
From the left over hat outer fabric, cut a circle approx 18cm (7″) in diameter. Machine tack 6mm (1/4″) in from the outer edge all around with the longest stitch length setting, leaving long thread ends.
Pull the thread ends to gather up the rosette. Stitch to secure. Sew on a lovely large (vintage) button to hide the raw edges.
Attach a brooch pin on the reverse side positioned centrally with a few hand stitches.
Make a Crown in the lining fabric, in the same way as the outer fabric but leave an opening in the seam for turning the hat inside out at the end.
These are the Band and Band lining pieces joined together to make ‘rings’.
Three peaks! All interfaced and one is reinforced with stitching (this one is sandwiched inside the peak.
The lines of stitching make the peak stiffer.
Add the reinforced peak to the peak lining. Stock with glue or bondaweb.
Stitch around the outer curved edge only. The seam allowance is then trimmed down to 5mm.
Turn the peak inside out, pushing out the edges on the inside with a poking tool. Topstitch around the outer edge. Machine tack the inner curved raw edges together with a zig zag stitch.
With the seams at the centre back, clip (or pin) the peak to the lower edge of the outer band and machine tack to hold. You may find it helpful to nick the raw inner curved edge of the peak to ease it in.
With the seams matching at the back, clip (or pin) the other band lower edge to the peak aligning the centres. Tack.
Stitch all around. Flip the bands up. Press. Machine tack the raw edges together. Try it on at this stage. If you feel it needs some elastic you could add a ring of 3/4″ elastic into the band before tacking together. Adjust to fit.
Heres the outer crown you made earlier. With the RST, matching the centre back and the centre front, pin the band raw edge to the crown raw edge with the right sides together. Sew.
Pin the lining to the other side of the band edge. Hand tack. Sew. Turn the hat inside out through the opening in the lining. Push the lining inside the hat. Give it a good press using your trusty tailors ham.
So this ‘Chelsea’ baker boy style hat is similar to the BromptonHat and possibly a more classic style, with its segmented crown, side band and peak. This is an enjoyable project, quick to make, I wouldn’t say any hat project was a beginners project, it can be a tad tricky with bulky seams when inserting the peak, which is why I recommend a walking foot attachment (if you have one), but why not have a go! Its so satisfying and once you get the hang of it, you will want to make one for all your friends and family.
The main difference between the two hats is the Crown. The Chelsea Hat Crown is made in segments like a chocolate orange. (yummy!). Suitable fabrics you could consider: Tweeds, corduroy, cotton, denim so its a hat for all seasons.
Please note that the pattern includes one 29mm self cover button, if you need any more for making a hat for friends and family, you I have some available in the haberdashery listing on my shop as well as fusible interfacing by the metre.
The Crown pieces, when they are cut look like this. There are 6 of them in outer fabric and 6 in lining fabric and they are interfaced either with medium fusible interfacing or fusible fleece wadding (Vlieseline H640) for warmth or just some batting with something like a spray textile glue or bondaweb to fuse the interfacing to the outer fabric pieces. You also need the Band piece and the Peak pieces.
The crown pieces are assembled like this….
Join two pieces
Sew two pieces together, then add the third segment, so you have three pieces joined at the side edges.
snip snip snip the seam allowancesRepeat for the lining as before
So after you have the Crown outer and lining, you make the Peak and the Band in the same way as with the Brompton Hat. So scroll up to see this bit.
Attach the peak /band piece to the Crown.
Pin the Crown lining to the outer Crown/Band/Peak piece.
You need a 29mm self cover button and a scrap of fabric to make a small circle approx 5cm in diameter.
Tack stitch around the outer edge of the fabric circle, pull the top thread to gather the ‘dome’, insert the button, push the fabric around the claws of the button all around then finally snap on the backing disc to secure.
Hand stitch to the apex of the hat where the seams converge, this covers up any mismatches! (what mismatches I hear you ask!)
Copyright Fiona Hesford. Please do not copy or repost any images without prior permission.
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