A Small Hat

It's rather shocking to be blogging about something other than a bra, but I do occasionally sew things other than lingerie. These things are often hats, but at least it's a change from the last eight (!) items I've made.

This particular hat is another bucket hat from the book Sewn Hats. I made one for the toddler last summer in size XS and he's already outgrown it! So this time I sewed a size Small. As in, an adult-small hat. For my 2.5-year-old. I guess he just has a lot of brains.

I didn't have enough of the fox fabric (only a fat quarter), so I decided to make this hat completely reversible with a different lining. You might recognize the lining as leftover fabric from one of my Scout Tees. It's a bit of a departure from the pattern specifications (which don't call for lining the crown), but it wasn't a difficult modification and I actually prefer the full lining + reversibility.

We told him to smile for this picture and the results could not be more adorable. But at least he likes his new hat (and it actually fits him)!

Newsboy

I mentioned a yet-to-be-seen handsewn baby hat in an earlier post and was finally able to get kiddo to wear it for one minute so I could take a photo. Not a great photo, but for once the little guy didn't immediately take it off his head, so I'm calling it a win.

This adorable newsboy cap is another one from Sewn Hats, which is becoming my go-to book for hat patterns. I'm really sad that kiddo doesn't like this one more but it's too cute not to keep trying. Maybe one day he'll actually wear it from longer than it takes to get it off his head.

Sun hats

It's finally getting warm and sunny in Wisconsin, which means it's sun protection season for us pale people. While sunscreen is de rigueur for spending more than a few minutes outside, you may have noticed my obsession with another sun protection method - hats. I'll readily admit that this is partly an excuse to occasionally get new hats like this beauty.

The real challenge is the kiddo, who inherited my super pale skin coloring. He needs sun protection but doesn't always consent to wearing a hat. For some reason, the cuter the hat, the more likely he is to take it off. Let's not discuss his reaction to the first hat I sewed for him (which I still have to show you), but at least he seems to like the second.

A bucket hat is classic for a little boy. This pattern comes out of the book Sewn Hats (which I've used few times now) and the fabric is what I found in my stash that had enough yardage and wasn't flowery.

I made a few modifications, including:

• I used a heavyweight interfacing for the brim.
• I lined the inside of the crown instead of adding an interfacing and using the recommended bias tape seam finishing.
• I added a chin strap just in case kiddo didn't like to keep this hat on his head.

Happily, kiddo likes to wear this hat and has even brought it to me and asked for help with putting it on! So now I can worry a bit less about having a toddler with sunburn. Whew.

Camden

It's been a little quiet on the blog in the last few months. There are two reasons for this. First, I over-committed myself this autumn and haven't had a lot of crafting time until recently. Second, I just haven't had that much energy to craft. The reason why brings me directly to my latest sewing project:

I've had my eye on making a cape for a while now. In fact, I bought McCall's M6446 a couple years ago and have been hoping to get around to actually making it. That point finally came this autumn now that I'm actually in need of some looser-fitting winterwear.

Being due in early March in Wisconsin means finding new warm clothes that are hopefully also stylish. This had me pulling out my M6446 pattern, buying some absolutely lovely wool fabric, and starting to plan. And then Seamwork magazine (whose patterns I subscribe to) threw a wrench into the whole works by releasing the Camden cape pattern. All of a sudden, I was faced with the dilemma of which beautiful cape to make (I had enough wool for either).

I ultimately decided to go with Camden because I liked the clean look, the high neckline, and the fact that the cape was lined (meaning I wouldn't have to professionally finish the inside seams). The one detail I did borrow (loosely) from M6446 was the pockets. If you ever decide to make the Camden pattern, it's definitely worth taking the time to add some pockets; not only do they hold things for you but they provide a natural place for your hands to go in compensation for the unnatural armhole placement.

The pockets themselves are welt pockets, which I've never done before. Thankfully, the November issue of Seamwork also had an article on how to install pockets of this type, with several variations. Installing the pockets added several hours of researching, calculating, and sewing to the project but it was totally worth it and made me feel like a sewing genius for pulling off.

Overall, this was a lovely pattern and fairly straightforward to sew (with the exception of the pocket additions which I highly recommend). I especially loved the opportunity to add a pop of color to the project in the form of the red rayon lining. That said, it took me a good amount of time to pull this together - 3 evenings and 2 days, pacing myself manageably - which was well over the stated 3 hour sewing time listed on the pattern. Still, if you are looking for a stylish pattern for spring/autumn outwear pattern (pregnant or not), Camden is a pretty good option.

Variations On A Theme

Sewing is continuing apace at casa BrineyDeep, though I'm mostly working on some small items. First on the list was fixing my bucket hat from last month.

I fixed the hat by unpicking the crown-band seam and sewing a new seam with a deeper seam allowance. This took in a lot of the extra depth from the crown, but it also made it so that I was putting a seam into a place that had not been sewn over before. Sewing on "fresh" fabric is really important because even one seam weakens the laminated cotton.

I have about 1/2 yard of this fabric left, but no immediate plans to use it. It's a tricky fabric to work with, so it's just going to wait in my stash until the right project comes along.

In other sewing news, I made another patchwork bag. This one is a little bigger than the previous one, as I used these 3.5" Riley Blake fabric squares instead of a 2.5" Moda mini charm pack. I'm totally fine with the change of size because I adore this fabric, particularly the crown print on the lining.

Thankfully, I have lots of projects on my to-sew list. Otherwise, I could easily become obsessed with sewing charm pack bags. They're just too fun, quick, and adorable!

Tutorial: Butterfly Headpiece

It's no secret that I love hats. I often find myself perusing hats on Pinterest and on one of my favorite blogs, the Royal Hats blog. While I'm more of a true hat person, I can't resist the occasional headpiece and a recent offering from this Etsy shop got me hankering to try making a headpiece for myself. The result is this kaleidoscope of butterflies.

All told, the headpiece was easy to make and very inexpensive, costing me roughly $5 and an hour of time. Since it's such a fun piece of headwear, I thought it worth sharing some notes so you can make one yourself.

Here are the supplies you will need to make this butterfly headpiece:
- 6 feather butterflies affixed to wire (Oriental Trading, $4.25 for 6)
- Metal headband (Oriental Trading, $4.25 for 6)
- E-6000 glue
- Needle-nose pliers
- Small wire cutters

To start assembly, we'll set two butterflies "flying" an inch or so above the headband to give the piece dimensionality. These butterflies will be on the side of the headband, about 2-3 inches down from the top of your head with some space in between each butterfly. Use a mirror to be ensure placement is visually appealing.

To affix a butterfly, wrap its wire several times around the headband, leaving about an inch of wire between the butterfly and the wrap to suspend the butterfly above the headband. Once securely wrapped to the headband, wrap the tail of the wire several times around the suspension end of the wire to secure it. Cut with wire cutters and use needle-nose pliers to tamp down any sharp ends. Apply glue to the wraps and use a toothpick or pin to push glue in between the wraps and the headband for a better hold.

Remove the wires from the remaining four butterflies, as we'll affix each butterfly directly to the headband with glue. The butterflies should be crowded together, with variations in orientation and angle. Again, use a mirror to check for visual appeal before gluing the butterfly body (not the wings) directly to the headband. There is no right way to do this, so just go with what looks best.

The glue takes a day or two to dry, after which you'll have a lovely butterfly headpiece to wear out into the world.

I'm really looking forward to wearing mine, especially because it's finally spring in Wisconsin!

Hat Fail

For all I love sewing hats, they can sometimes be frustrating projects. Often it's an issue of sewing an awkward seam or getting the sizing correct (I have a big head), but my latest hat was an annoyance trifecta: awkward, mis-sized, with a tricky fabric to boot. I haven't entirely given up on laminated cotton, but I'm not particularly happy with my first trial run.

The hat in question is the Raindrop Hat from the book Sewn Hats. While it's a fine pattern, part of my problem with the finished hat was that I decided to get "smart" and modify the pattern to fit my large head. While this mostly turned out okay, the finished hat is too tall in the crown. Bugger.

The challenge of fixing the hat (and honestly sewing the hat) comes down to the properties of laminated cotton. Any holes you make in the fabric stay, meaning limited to no pinning and avoiding ripping out seams whenever possible. Additionally, you have to be careful with seams, as they can actually weaken the fabric and make it more likely to tear. And did I mention that the sewing machine feet like to stick to the laminated cotton?

So yeah, this was a bit of a pain to sew and I need to be a little strategic in how I fix the hat so I don't weaken the fabric. Until that happens, this little hat will be set aside while I can work on happier projects.

Hello Baby

My mother in law sent me this photo this weekend: my god-daughter wearing a sunhat that I sewed for her. She's such a cutie and I can't get over how adorable she is in her hat.

The hat in question is made from McCall's M4478 and fabric that I had left over from the lining of this sunhat. This hat proved that sunhats are super fun to make, no matter if they are adult or baby sized. And having sewn them in both size ranges, I could probably draft and sew one entirely from scratch at this point. Maybe I'll do that for my next sunhat (because there certainly will be a next sunhat).

Yet Another (Ysolda) Hat

Though I've knit a mountain of items since I first picked up the needles, a few finished objects stand out above of the rest for their beauty and wearability. One of them is my Veyla mitts (which were tragically lost and then reknit) and another is a Gretel hat that I made for a friend. Gretel has now followed in the footsteps of the Veylas and has been reknit, this time for myself.

The Gretel I made for myself is almost identical to the one I made for my friend. The yarn is different, Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted instead of a yarn I bought at the farmers market, but still a close match. I don't know what it is about this grey color, but I really love it in handknits.

I realized the other day that this is the 6th Ysolda hat pattern that I have made (one, two, three, four, five), meaning that I'll have a lot of hats to choose from come wintertime. Somehow, I think that I'll be reaching for my Gretel more often than the others.

So now I have yet another hat to wear. At the rate I'm going, I'm going to be buried in a mountain of hats soon--Ysolda knit hats for the wintertime, big sunhats for the summer, and store-bought structured hats for the times in between. One hat at a time, I'm determined to bring hats back into fashion.

Walnut Whip

Do you ever have the sudden strong desire to knit a particular project, despite the fact that you have other things on the needles and had previously not had any plans to make that pattern? That happened to me this week when I stumbled upon the pattern Walnut Whip on Ravelry. It's a pretty little hat and the fact that it's a Ysolda pattern (surprise!) may have something to do with my immediate need to knit it.

On its surface, Walnut Whip is a simple cable hat but it has some interesting details in the form of pleats on the back of the hat. These pleats are akin to those seen in Ysolda's Ripley pattern, but done to mimic the surrounding cables. It's pretty genius actually.

I wasn't initially sold on the pleats until I started wearing the hat. The pleats pull the back up a bit, making the hat sit perfectly and comfortably on the head. The hat is so comfortable, in fact, that I haven't stopped wearing the hat since I finished it (that might be related to the fact that it's not warm in my apartment, but probably isn't).

I know I say this about all Ysolda patterns, but people should really knit this hat. It's one of her least knit patterns (as of writing, it has only 15 projects on Ravelry) and is definitely a hidden gem. So now I'll spread my Ysolda Fever a little more by encouraging you all to knit this beautiful hat!

Yet Another Hat

Now that my sewing table is set up, I'm excited to start working with fabric again. I have several projects in mind but I think I'll start with something small like a bag or (yet another) hat. Because even though my secret sewing project from last month was my fifth hat sewn since last summer, I can't stop making them.

The hat in question was another copy of my favorite sunhat pattern from 'Hat Shop', complete with my mods to make it wearable. This version was shipped off to my sister who, as she lives in Hawaii, will surely find use for it.

I love pairing fabrics for these hats, though I'm not sure I succeeded for this version. I initially thought to put the bright floral print on the outside but upon finishing it was clear that it looks better as a pop of color on the underside. Thank goodness for reversible patterns. Which ever way she ends up wearing it, I hope my sister enjoys her new hat!

Yarn Swap 2: What I Made

A few months ago, my college best friend O sent a skein of yarn as part of our second yarn swap. The idea was to knit something for her from her yarn while she did the same for me. I mailed off her finished item a couple of weeks ago and, now that she's received it, I can finally show it off on the blog!

The yarn for this swap, a custom cotton blend from Yarnia, was a bit challenging for me to deal with. This was partly because the yarn was slightly thicker than the DK listed on the label and partly because cotton behaves very differently than wool, which is my standard fiber. Cotton isn't as sleek or elastic as wool, so I don't really like knitting with it. For this yarn, I think I sampled 2 or 3 different patterns before settling on Almond Comfit (surprise, surprise, another Ysolda design).

Even settling on a pattern was difficult because my friend lives in a warm-weather climate. I'm actually thankful I live in Wisconsin because knitting is invaluable for at least half of the year. What do people knit who don't live in cold areas? I made a guess for this swap and settled on something fashionable that doesn't have to be warm. I hope there are opportunities for her to wear it.

Now that her item has been sent off, I can't wait to see what she makes for me! My item from the first swap was lovely and I know the second one will be just as amazing.

Bits and Bobs

I'm doing super secret things in the Briney Deep. The kind of things which lead me to take mysterious photos like this just to have an image of my crafting to share:

But don't worry, not only am I counting down the weeks until the end of this super-crazy-out-of-control semester (3 weeks plus finals), I will have a whole pile of things to show off post-Christmas. I honestly can't wait until January arrives; I have so many things I want to make once I have free time again.

In other news, I cut my hair and bought a new hat. I might have a bit of a hat problem, if my recent blog posts are any evidence. An intervention may be necessary before this becomes a blog all about hats.

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.

Husband's Cap

My husband's birthday is today. It's one of those quiet birthdays with no big round number to celebrate, so we just did a few fun things over the weekend with his parents. Despite the quiet festivities, I've been looking forward to finally giving him his birthday gift. (I'm really terrible at keeping secrets from him so the suspense has been killing me.) I made him a newsboy cap!

The pattern is from the book Hat Shop, which I blogged about previously. The cap was a lot of fun to make and I particularly enjoyed working with visor board for the first time. I love making hats: they're quick to sew up, don't require many materials, and are great-looking accessories. And given the amount of visor board I now own, it's probably a good thing that I like making caps.

Husband likes his cap and I, personally, think the cap makes him look even more handsome that usual. So the next question is: how many caps do I have to sew before hats come back into style?

Two Ways to Fix a Pattern

Last time we spoke about my sunhat, things were not going all that well. The hat was too small for my (albeit somewhat large) head and the brim was too deep to be usable. Things obviously needed fixing and I'm happy to report that I figured out two ways to do so.

The first solution involved styling the finished hat. My friend P was over for Olympics watching/craft time and had the genius idea to fold the brim twice instead of once. The result not only worked but was super cute. Since the folds would only stay in place if pinned, I whipped up a tsumami kanzashi pin to complete the transformation.

Beyond styling, the other solution was simply to fix the pattern itself. I took 1.5 inches off the bottom of the brim, which was a compromise between still having a broad brim and being able to see below the brim. I also took 0.5 inches off the top of the brim, which added an inch to the hat size and, more importantly, fixed an error in the pattern by making the inner brim size match the cap circumference. The resulting pattern was much easier to sew and the finished hat fits me very well.

Sewing a mock-up, making pattern alterations, then sewing the final project is a standard habit in sewing; it is referred to as 'making a muslin', after the inexpensive material used for this pattern testing. In my case, I made a 'working muslin' because the first hat was intended to be wearable. Making muslins takes time but is something I definitely need to start doing as I work with more expensive fabrics. I'm just glad that in this case my working muslin turned out to be usable after all!

Millinery

I would love to take a millinery course, partly because making hats seems interesting and partly because I love hats and wish they would come back into fashion. The appeal of a formal course is due to the fact that I find millinery a little intimidating; it uses such different tools and techniques from anything I've worked with before. While I'm still waiting to take my formal course, I do have a less intimidating method for making hats in the meantime: sewing.

I recently picked up the book Hat Shop, which contains 25 patterns for making hats. Most all of the hats can be constructed with a sewing machine, though one hat requires blocking and traditional hat making materials. The patterns themselves range from classic sunhats and baseball caps to cute kid's hats (there's a chicken hat!) and fascinators; there are also several great hat patterns for men. I definitely see myself making lots of different hats from this book.

While I love the range of hats in this book, I do have a couple issues with the book's format. The book is obviously a compilation of patterns from many different designers and I wish there had been a little more editing done to the individual patterns. There's very little consistency between patterns on things like seam allowances and the some of the photographs that accompany the instructions are downright terrible. So while the final stylized photos of each hat are adorable, I'm going to proceed with a little caution when it comes to the instructions in this book.

I have already made one pattern from the book, The Classic Sun Hat; this is the project I was working on in my last blog post. The hat came together fairly easily and quickly, but I’m not super happy with the results. The brim is much too deep, which obstructs my vision, and the circumference of the inner brim is too small both to fit the cap portion of the hat and my head. I’ll definitely be tweaking this pattern before I make this hat again with my second set of fabric.

See what I mean about the brim? I don’t want to say that I’m disappointed by this hat, but rather that it will fit me better (both in dimensions and in style) after a little pattern editing. I'm hoping that the other patterns in the book turn out better than this one because I am very excited to start making hats!