A hat

I'm rummaging around my sewing room, looking for things to make, fabric for some more bags as the last set were pretty popular. I spied the messy purple fabric I made a coat from last year and remembered I thought I could make a tam out of it. This time, I have a pattern which includes a tam but I have it in my mind that a trilby style hat would work and I have a pattern for that too.

I'm using McCall's M5773 and decide to go with view F, the blue one with the brim. Actually, I really want to make view E in the red, using the red boiled wool from that jacket I recently finished. But I figure the purple wool will serve as a template and I can pitch it if I don't like it.

It's very simple and I use some cream coloured lining scraps I have for the inside.

I decide to interface one side of the brim, even though the pattern doesn't cal for it. This wool is very loose and I figure I can't go too wrong with interfacing.

I get the crown of the hat put together and try it on and it's HUGE. I think it's the fabric, more than the pattern, so I take up one half of the crown seams by another 5/8 inch and it seems to work better. I sew the interfaced brim to the outside of the hat.

I sew the lining to the other brim. Then I sew the hats together at the edge of the brims, leaving a small opening to turn them right side out. The hat sheds mightily each time I hold it.

After I turn the hat, I sew around the brim, first to seal the open edges together, then to add rigidity to it, with a line of stitching about 1/4 inch from the edge stitching and one around where the lining joins the brim, to keep the lining at bay. It's not brilliant but it's okay and gives me hope that the red one will look better. And now of course, I have "the ensemble", with the coat and the hat. Hmm. At any rate, it is covering up my bald chemo head and that's the main thing. You can just see that I am wearing a blue skull cap under the hat. When I have hair again, it will fit over the the hair too.