On this season of Love to Sew Podcast, Caroline and I are continuing with our “We Sew ____” challenges! We love these fun episodes because we both get to make something we may not normally make and learn new skills along the way. It is also a fun opportunity to try out new patterns and discover new pattern makers! We recently did an episode all about sewing hats.
Head over to the Love to Sew Podcast website to listen to the episode!
For my hat, I chose to make the All Caps Cap by Minimalist Machinist. This is an excellent pattern with lots of great advice on materials, fit, and structure. I’ve only ever made simple hats like bucket hats, so this was totally new to me! It was so fun to learn about the special notions required and to try my hand at constructing this hat. I loved that this pattern held my hand!
I decided to use a bunch of leftover bull denim scraps for my hat because this was my first attempt, and I really like the look of colourblocked hats. It was a great scrapbuster! I chose burgundy, green, and royal blue colours. I opted for contrast stitching on the seams (which I would not recommend for a beginner because it is hard to stitch straight on these seams)!
The seams on the hat are finished with bias binding and I used some leftover single fold binding I had lying around. It is bright yellow and it looks really fun on the inside of the hat!
For the size, I made the largest size and I added 2 cm of height to the hat. This was easy to do and it makes the hat sit lower on my head, which is what I prefer. I find shallow caps like this style always fall off my head, so it was great to be able to customize it!
I purchased some cap inserts and back hat clips on Amazon and I had many more leftover to make more hats with! I am also sharing them with any sewing buds who want to try a hat, too. I got some nylon webbing for my back strap from my local Fabricland and I even included a little Sarah Hearts tag on the back. I love this detail!
The hardest part of sewing the hat is definitely attaching the brim. The angle is awkward at the machine, but it is do-able and I was able to get it on there! In hindsight, I wish I had trimmed my brim to better sit against the curve of my forehead. I find the brim wants to sit pointing up or pointing down, but not straight. Both ways look a bit silly. Rachel includes lots of advice about trimming the brim and templates for different shapes so there was a ton of info in the pattern about this, I just got a bit too excited to finish the hat and I sewed it on as-is. I am still really proud of and happy with my cap!
I had so much fun making this cap! I love learning new sewing skills and I look forward to trying another one soon. For my next one, I will use a lighter weight fabric for summer and remember to trim my brim down.
Head over to the Love to Sew Podcast website to listen to the episode and see the hats Caroline made!
