Project 3: A Cut & Sew Hat Pattern - Step 4

The hat I've designed is intended for a Mommy and a young child/infant. I designed this whole project with my niece, Kristina, and her new baby, Paisley, in mind.  So, since it's now time to create a pattern - what would be more natural than to create a paisley pattern??  

I sat down on my couch with a blank sheet of paper and did a rough sketch in crayon of the paisley pattern, using pinks and grays since I had seen that color scheme on some of the pictures that Kristina had posted to her Facebook wall. Here is the original sketch: 

I imported that image into Illustrator and worked up a paisley design that would serve as the base for the pattern.

I ended up creating two different designs. The first had a large floral motif centered in the design.  

However, I wasn't fully satisfied with this design. I felt there was something lacking in it.  So I created a second design, similar to the first but this time with the paisley florals on a diagonal instead of by row.  This one I found much more pleasing to the eye.

Now that I had the pattern I wanted, it was time to fill in those blanks :)

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

After, literally, hours of playing around with different configurations, I finally found the layout that would fit on one yard of 42"x36" fabric, including a lining for each hat, and still leave room for instructions.

Now that this step is finished, it's time to "fill in the blanks" and create the fabric pattern.

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 :)