Setting Up the Pattern

Start Customizing

This pattern consists of:

Two round rings of fabric and buckram each.
Two semicircles of fabric, Two of lining, and four of buckram.
One rectangular stip of fabric, two of lining, and two of buckram.

Unlike the Tudor Flat Cap, the previous project, this hat requires no set patterns for you to print. All you need is a compass, which can be easily made with a push pin, a length of string, and a pencil or marker.

First, use this compass to make a circle 21" in diameter on the pattern paper, which will be the pattern for the brim and its interfacing.
Second, measure the span from the tip of one of your ears to the top of your head (sometimes this measurement will match closely the length of your hand, by the way Somethingto keep in mind when you do not have a measuring tape.) Take that measure ment, add 1" for seams, and draw a semicircle on the pattern paper, for the sides of the crown and their intefacing. You can make this bigger if you want, to make a higher crown.
Third, measure your head from right above your eyebrows, over the top to the occipital ridge on the back of your head, (that spot right where the flesh of your neck meets the back of your skull,) then cut a rectangle 1"longer than that length, and 5 "wide. This is the center of the crown and its interfacing.

Here are two makeshift ways to measure your head for the hole in the brim.

Measure the length and width of the hole in a hat that fits you well (A cowboy hat, a straw hat, or the like is better than a baseball cap, as the cap is too flexible for an accurate measurement.) Most heads are elliptical, shaped like a squashed circle, when seen from the top. So you have to get both measurements.
Have someone measure your head with a couple of T-squares or calipers. (See illustration.)

Now, you have to make a hole 1" smaller than these dimensions, since we are allowing a 1/2" seam allowance. That means it should fit exactly snug when you sew the crown into the brim, and take up that seam allowance. But that's described later. Just cut the hole smaller now.

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Back to Page One: Step One

Laying out the Pattern and Sewing

Fitting and Final Assembly

Finishing Touches