This past week was my friend’s Ogulcan birthday and I always try to make something handmade as small gift. We, my boyfriend and I (he actually helped for this project), decided for a hat.
The pattern
I made this hat before for my boyfriend in a wool tweed, but we choose a summer version made with leftover cotton twill, and cotton lining. I used the Fell and Dale Flat cap pattern by Made by Jack’s mum which comes in 11 sizes: from newborn to XL adult (head circumference: 24 3/8″). This project needs just 5/8 yard of fabric for the outer fabric and the same amount for the lining. The cotton twill comes from Mood Fabrics and I originally bought it and used it for some pants. It is a stretchy fabric, but I interfaced all the pieces, so it behaved as a stable woven once interfaced.
In addition to the fabric you’ll need some sort of rigid material for the brim. The pattern recommends craft fabric or to up-cycle some plastic milk bottles. Although I really liked the idea of using milk plastic bottles, we don’t drink milk. Instead we used a broken chopping mat, those flexible, plastic ones, that we had at home. Since this material was slightly thicker than the recommended one, I used a denim needle and sew the brim really slowly. All seam allowances are included (3/8”) and the instructions are very easy to follow. As I wrote I made it this pattern before, but these two are the only hats I made, and everything was clearly detailed.
For my friend I made a size M and it fits perfectly! Here’s how the end result looks on him.
Cost
I think that having an idea of the cost of a project is very helpful, since sewing is not necessarily cheap. For this project specifically I used all materials that I already had, so these estimates are just to give an idea of a total cost in case you’d like to replicate the hat.
- pattern cost : $8.77
- fabric: outer $4.99, lining $4
- thread: $2
- brim: $0 (I suggest to up-cycle something that you have already at home, the milk bottle is a great idea)
Happy birthday Ogulcan!
Francesca's fold 