Introduction: Make a Newsie Hat

About: An engineer, seamstress, cook, coder, and overall maker. Spent a summer at Instructables; got a degree in E: Neural Engineering at Olin College; made a microcontroller (tessel.io); now thinking about climate c…

I edit a newspaper (Frankly Speaking), and I was discussing with a fellow editor how we might make Frankly Speaking-type swag to -er- inspire people to join us.

So I looked at pictures of newspaper-related things and saw newsie hats online. And then I reverse-engineered them to come up with this newsie hat approximation. It's pretty cool!

Step 1: Cut Circle

Use something bigger than your head, like a big mixing bowl. Cut out one circle.

Step 2: Do Some Measurements and Math

Measure around your head.
Measure around your fabric circle.

Calculate (fabric - head) / 6 = the base of the triangle you will cut.
Calculate head / 6 = the spacing between triangle bases.

Mark around the perimeter of the circle. Put little exes on the bits that are going to be cut out.

Get a smaller circle (still bigger than your head) and trace it in the center of the fabric dot. Draw triangles that take up the x'd bases and have points on the inner circle.

Cut them out.

Step 3: Sew Up the Seams

Sew up the triangle edges. This will form your hat shape.

Step 4: Decorative Stitching

Don't turn the hat right-side-out yet!

Get a straightedge and trace across the top of the hat, opposite corner to opposite corner. They should all cross in the same place in the middle.

Sew offset from both sides of these lines to make decorative seam-like stitching.

Step 5: Hemming

Turn hat right side out. Turn raw edge under and sew.

Step 6: Cut Out the Brim

Cut two crescents out of fabric. But wait! If you want to embroider them, do it first. I did, and these crescents are not the ones I used. But they work too.

Step 7: Sew the Brim

Sew the crescents together at the outer edge. Also cut out a crescent of cardboard and put it in there.

Iron the raw edges inside and sew the cloth over to completely encapsulate the cardboard.

Step 8: Add Brim to Hat

Put the brim on an edge of the hat and sew those together.

Step 9: Wear and Be Newsy

Look how pretty that is! I will also make one out of newspaper when I get some newspaper.

Oh! And if you add a cloth-covered button to the top of this hat, that looks very authentic too.

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