This is a copy of a hat my friend Doc Pop brought back from (East) Germany. He got it near Checkpoint Charlie so that's what he calls it; to me it looks more like the hat Governor Tarkin is wearing when he gets insulted by Princess Leia. But either way it's cool.
I made this from a thrift store blazer, rather than buying fabric new. It cost about $9 (in expensive San Francisco) and I'll get another 2 hats from it, easily. If you have fallen in love with yardage, you'll need about a third of a yard -- but take the pattern to the store and lay it out there to be sure.
For the brim, I use a piece of flexible clear plastic of the kind blister packages are made from. Many packages have large flat areas from which the plastic can be reclaimed, although a lot are just too closely molded to the product. I have a stash of flat plastic for brims. Yay reuse!
The only other material needed is a yard or so of quilt binding or wide bias tape for the inner hat band. Tools required are sewing machine (although you could do this by hand as well), pins, and scissors.
Update: pix of one made from paper! http://www.flickr.com/photos/29317731@N08/sets/72157617448800455/
I made this from a thrift store blazer, rather than buying fabric new. It cost about $9 (in expensive San Francisco) and I'll get another 2 hats from it, easily. If you have fallen in love with yardage, you'll need about a third of a yard -- but take the pattern to the store and lay it out there to be sure.
For the brim, I use a piece of flexible clear plastic of the kind blister packages are made from. Many packages have large flat areas from which the plastic can be reclaimed, although a lot are just too closely molded to the product. I have a stash of flat plastic for brims. Yay reuse!
The only other material needed is a yard or so of quilt binding or wide bias tape for the inner hat band. Tools required are sewing machine (although you could do this by hand as well), pins, and scissors.
Update: pix of one made from paper! http://www.flickr.com/photos/29317731@N08/sets/72157617448800455/
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1: Pattern
Download the attached ZIP file for the pattern. It contains five files:
charlie_brim.gif
charlie_crown.gif
charlie_flap.gif
charlie_side.gif
charlie_strap.gif
I have not worked out a good way to get a paper pattern into a computer. If anyone has a good idea I'd love to hear it. Anyway I traced these in Photoshop... I didn't take the estimated 4 hours I thought it would take to add the seam allowance, so each of these shows only the stitching line. When you print them out, you'll want to cut a quarter inch out from the line; it may be easiest to draw the cutting line on first.
Also: the sizing is probably not correct. I marked a red line with a number of inches on each file, so you may need to make some xerox adjustments to get that marking to the right length.
Thanks for your patience everyone! Please post pictures of yours!
charlie_brim.gif
charlie_crown.gif
charlie_flap.gif
charlie_side.gif
charlie_strap.gif
I have not worked out a good way to get a paper pattern into a computer. If anyone has a good idea I'd love to hear it. Anyway I traced these in Photoshop... I didn't take the estimated 4 hours I thought it would take to add the seam allowance, so each of these shows only the stitching line. When you print them out, you'll want to cut a quarter inch out from the line; it may be easiest to draw the cutting line on first.
Also: the sizing is probably not correct. I marked a red line with a number of inches on each file, so you may need to make some xerox adjustments to get that marking to the right length.
Thanks for your patience everyone! Please post pictures of yours!
charlie.zip182 KB
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29317731@N08/sets/72157617448800455/
http://www.instructables.com/community/June-is-I-Made-It-Challenge-Month-Win-a-Pro-Mem/
I made mine out of a fleece boucle onto which I applied a light interfacing on the back of all pieces. Instead of using anything (other than the interfacing) inside the brim as a stiffener, I topstitched five lines. The end result is not stiff, but stiff enough to do the job. I realized that the hat was going to be too big the intended recipient according to the given dimensions, so I cut out all pieces on the pattern lines (i.e., not cutting them larger for a seam allowance), then sewed with a 1/4" seam allowance - meaning that each piece was 1/4" smaller on all sides when finished. This worked well for all parts except for the ear flaps, which I wish I'd made longer.
Thanks again for a great pattern. Much appreciated.
Post a pic of your hat when you're done, I'd love to see how it comes out.
With very little previous sewing experience, I managed to make a couple of hats a while ago. For the first version, I used unmodified pattern pieces, which turned out to be much (much) too big, so I adjusted the pattern to fit my head better. It serves me well as my work hat, now.
Thanks again.
On the side and flap pieces, I removed an inch from the length by taking it from the center. I cut a triangle shaped wedge from the top piece, so the circumference removed equaled what I took out of the sides. I'll make diagrams if I didn't explain well enough.
The bill and band didn't need modification.
I imagine scaling would work better than what I did, especially for smaller iterations where my method would break down, but this was sufficient for me.
I had a little trouble following step 4. In the third picture, is that the unfinished edge of the flap facing down?
Attached is a picture of where I ended up. I used some flannel, probably about 1/4 yard x 60 inches (no liners).