Project 3: A Cut & Sew Hat Pattern - Step 2

There's nothing like a little sleep and test-driving your ideas with paper to make you see design flaws and find easier ways to do things.  The bridge of the hat (part that connects crown to bridge) doesn't need to be done in separate pieces at all.  In fact, it's a simple rectangle. I also realized, after testing with paper, that a 23.5x23.5" circle is WAY too big. The dimensions need to be closer to dinner-plate sized, so probably 12.5x12.5 will do just fine. This also means the brim will be adjusted in size, but I still want the width of the brim to be 4". Based on the adjusted size of the crown, the bridge will be It will be 5" wide by 40.25" long, but that's really too long for our cut-n-sew dimensions so it will be done in two pieces - each one 20.13" long.

I also got another idea while I was working. In honor of Mother's Day (and my niece and her baby daughter), I'm going to make my cut&sew hat pattern into a Mommy&Me style. I will have one hat my sized and a second hat about half the size.  Should be very cute, and a good use of fabric.

After trying that avenue, I discovered that half the size of Mom's head was going to be way too big for it to fit on the dimensions I have to work with (42" x 36"). I had to adjust the final pattern for the kid's hat by a full inch. It should still be big enough.  The final dimensions for the kid's hat are: crown - 5.5"x5.5" circle; bridge is 3.5x18.25"; and brim is 5.5"x8".  This should be plenty large enough for her head but still workable in the pattern.

Now that all the math is done, and I've figured out the dimensions, it's time to get to work on the actual pattern layout.

Project 3: A Cut & Sew Hat Pattern

Spoonflower has once again inspired me with a new project: A cut-and-sew hat pattern. I have to design it, test it, and finish it in one week.  This means I get to start tonight with the pattern creation. The specifications are that the entire pattern has to fit on one yard of cloth, 42 inches in width, 36 in height.

I start by taking the measurements of my head. The circumference of my head is 23 inches.  I open illustrator and create a square canvas sized 23.5 inches by 23.5 inches to allow for seam allowances.  I then hold down shift and drag to create a circle of 23.5 inches by 23.5 inches in one color.  I also create a smaller circle of 23 inches by 23 inches, align it horizontally and vertically with the larger circle and save this. This will be the crown of my hat.

The brim of my hat will be 4 inches wider than the crown, and will be laid out in two segments. To create the pattern, I create a circle in Illustrator that is 28.5x28.5 inches. I then create a smaller circle that is 28x28 inches wide and group the two together. I create a third circle that is 24.5x24.5 inches. I use horizontal and vertical align to be sure everything is centered and subtract the third circle from the first two.  I then bi-sect the circles with a horizontal rectangle that is 0.5 inches wide by 28.5 inches long, align it with the first three. I use it to separate the two parts. This is the result:

Now the hardest part: creating the link between the brim and the crown. I need to decide how far down on my brow that I want the hat to go.  I measure the top of my head to the top of my brows. It's 4 inches. I will do this part of the hat in 4 parts.  Each part, therefore, will need to be rectangles of 5" high and 7" wide (allowing for a .5 inch seam allowance on each side).  I will, of course, need to remove semi-circles at the top and the bottom to match the crown and brim pieces. Those to come tomorrow night as I am too darned tired to finish mucking with it tonight :)