The Right Materials

Every crafter knows that having the right materials and tools makes a difference. Whether choosing fabric scissors over regular scissors or superwash wool yarn over regular wool yarn, there are times when it is really important to have the right material to do the job. Case in point is this hat.

This hat is yet another design from the book Hat Shop (blogged here). It's very attractive, is built from only 5 pieces of felt, and is ridiculously easy to knock together--traditional seams are replaced with a zigzag stitch that holds two adjacent pieces of felt together at the edges. The one issue with this hat? The thickness of the felt is incredibly important.

The first time I made this hat, I used some blue felt I had on hand. The 2mm felt simply did not provide enough structure and the resultant hat was not attractive. So I ordered some 4-5mm felt and made a new version, which is the grey hat shown here. The thicker felt just makes this hat work.

So now I'm the proud owner of a pretty felt hat, not to mention a fair bit of 4-5mm felt. But seeing as these hats take about 30 minutes to cut out and sew together, I don't think you've seen the last of the handmade felt hats on this blog.