For this project you will need:
- Brown paper bag for making a pattern, plus tape for changing the pattern when you decide on how to improve it.
- Markers and scissors for making the pattern, transferring the pattern, and cutting out the pattern and fabric.
- A bit of the stiffest interfacing you can find, or double layers of the not-quite-so-stiff stuff for inside the brim of the hat.
- A few inches of elastic. I used 1/4 inch flat elastic.
- Sewing machine with appropriate colored thread.
- Thick, contrasting colored thread and a hand needle for gathering.
- About *this much* of a non-stretchy fabric for your bonnet. Maybe a 1/2 yard will do? Maybe get a bit more just to be sure. Or lay out your pattern pieces and see how big they are all together. I'm using PUL waterproof fabric because this is for commercial fishing. Breathable is also nice.
Step 1: Trace and cut out all pieces
Step 2: Sew brim
Step 3: Sew and turn ties
Step 4: Make the neck ruffle
Step 5: Gathering and pleating the bonnet
Step 1: Trace brim pattern on to interfacing. Notice that the brim pattern is long enough to wrap around your head to about where your neck and head meet, somewhere behind or under your ears. The brim is also about 5 inches wide, though this is very arbitrary. The pattern has an extra inch at the bottom that is folded up for later use and has evenly spaced, symmetrical notches for lining up the many layers of interface and brim fabric.
See? now the pattern is traced on to the interface. Remember to do this twice if your interfacing is not awesomely thick like cardboard. I folded my pattern in half to make it and tried for it to be symmetrical, but nothing is ever perfect, so I also marked one corner by coloring in the triangle notch to note which side that is for better brim alignment. We've got a lot of brim pieces to line up, particularly if you are using double interface.
Cut along the lines. Don't cut out the notches, just leave the lovely little marks for future use. I guess if you really wanted to cut them out, it would probably be fine as long as they are less than your seem allowance and might actually help with the turning right-side-out bit, but I'm nervous about cutting things extra.
Now we make the body of the bonnet. It should be a big circle or oval, big enough to reach from the base of your neck to your forehead and from ear to ear, with room to spare. The rectangle bit will be folded up and is the part the brim isn't: the back of your neck. Mine is about 5 inches by 10 inches we'll say? It's important that this bit is plenty big enough for all the folding and will be the encasement for the elastic that makes the whole bonnet fit, so if your skeptical about having a mullet look with a big flap on your neck, know you can make it go away later with the folding but for now leave it there and race it all on to your fabric. Oh, and make sure you have all those notches; one in the center and evenly-ish marked down the sides for a total of 9 notches. If they aren't perfectly even, it won't matter; get close.
Trace your brim piece on to the fabric; once with the inch folded up and once with the inch folded down and included. This means there will be one brim piece an inch wider than the other and than the interface. The wide one will be the inside of your brim, so if you are thinking of using multiple fabrics, know that.
Also trace two rectangles about 2 inches by 12 inches. These are going to be the ties for your bonnet, so if you want them REALLY long or REALLY wide, now is the time. Starting with 2 inches, they will end up about 1/2 an inch.
Now that all the pieces are laid out and traced on to the fabric, cut everything out. What a nice bonnet!
Step 2: Take one of the brim pieces (I used the longer inside one but it doesn't matter much) and fold it wrong sides together on itself.
Mark the center with a small mark less than your seem allowance (1/4 inch or less will be completely hidden).
Fold corners to center mark and mark those folds.
Fold the corner to the far 1/4 mark and mark again.
Fold the corner to make thirds with the last 1/4 section. (The corner point is half way from the fold to the mark, then mark the fold and where the corner point is.)
Place brim fabric right sides together.
Add the interface on top of the smaller piece. Line up all those marks.
Pin each of the marks. I find it easier to pin from the fabric side than the interface side.
Sew along the edge. Do this interface-side up to prevent bunching and stretching. I am sewing at about 3/8 inch, even with the edge of my presser-foot. It's where most of my sewing takes place.
Sew from where the interface starts to where the interface ends. We don't need to sew on that extra inch flap.
Fold right-side-out so the seem is folded towards the larger side. Press the seem.
Sew on the right side close to the edge. I put my needle in the far right position so I can keep using the edge of the presser-foot as a guide.
Make a second seem with the needle to the far left to have a pair of stitched lines holding that fold tight.
I like using the edge of the presser-foot for a guide so I can plant my finger on the corner and let the fabric roll on by.
Line up the brim with another mark on your machine, or make a mark with a piece of tape (I'm using the edge of the needle plate) and sew another line around the brim.
Now the brim is all done and ready for attaching to the bonnet. (Watch for bunching and stretching on that last seem...)
Step 3: Fold tie in half, right sides together and stitch, leaving one short edge open.
I tapered my end to a point and cut off the extra. This is optional; square is also fine.
Do twice for your two bonnet ties.
Poke the closed end back into itself and keep working it until both ties are right-side-out. I used a seem ripper with the cover on.
Step 4: Fold the neck flap up about 1/4 inch, then fold the side in about 1/4 inch. Do it in this order to help hide edges. (If you are still skeptical about the whole mullet-neck flap ruffle thing, make that first fold of the long side of the rectangle a little bigger. But really, the ruffle is fine.)
Fold up to where the curve of the bonnet starts and pin, keeping the 1/4 inch hem fold.
Sew up both short edges, stopping about an inch from the long folded edge.
Sew straight across along the fold, holding tight and straight. Sew close to the fold - maybe put that needle back to the far right position again.
Sew a parallel line about 1/2 an inch in from that seem, or 1/4 inch wider than your elastic - about where you stopped the seem on those short edges.
Put a small safety pin on the end of your elastic and thread it through the channel you made.
Pull until elastic is even with the edge, or leave long and trim later.
Sew back and forth across the end of the elastic. I did it once with the needle to the right and once with the needle to the left to make a double line. Don't sew the other end yet - just leave the elastic and safety pin dangling out. Or better yet, the elastic and safety pin could still be tucked in to the little tunnel.
Step 5: With that thick, contrasting thread doubled up on your hand needle and long enough to go around your head with room to spare (as long as your arm is good), make a big ugly knot by wrapping the thread around your finger...
...rolling it off...
...holding the thread in your fingers...
...and pulling tight.
Do a running stitch around the edge of the bonnet - bigger stitches make bigger pleats and make the bonnet lay flatter on your head, smaller stitches make smaller pleats and make the whole thing a little more puffy. When you get to the far end, cut the needle off and make another big ugly knot, the same way on your finger.
Pin the center mark of your bonnet to the center mark of your brim, even with the interfacing and top fabric, right sides together with the shorter side of the brim.
Match and pin all the marks. Pull the running stitch thread tight as you go if it helps.
Above, all the marks are matched and pinned, there is the extra elastic and the extra running stitch thread to the right. The whole thing is starting to take shape!
Take your straps and line them up with the corner where the brim and the neck ruffle meet. Put the seam towards the neck ruffle or down towards the inside of the bonnet.
Make sure everything at that corner is lined up well, pull the extra thread and elastic out of the way, and pin it together.
I put two pins straight through all the layers on the corner because it was too thick to try to make a pin bend and come back through without messing up the alignment.
Spend some time messing with the pleats to get them even, then sew them from the corner to the center to press all the pleats towards the top center of the bonnet.
Flip and repeat on the other side, corner to top center, to have all the pleats pressed towards the center.
Step 6: Fold that inch flap left from the brim in half towards the ruffles...
...then in half again so it covers the seam and pleats and pin.
Work all the way around folding and pinning. Again, it is way too thick for the pins to do anything but stick straight through, but statue of liberty is a good look for this toothpaste green bonnet.
From the brim side "stitch in the ditch", making sure to get that latest layer of the flap folded over the ruffle seam, and try to stitch as close as possible to right in the pulled open seam of where the brim attached to the bonnet. By "stitching in the ditch", it will hide this seam.
Last thing! Pull the elastic tight. Maybe try it on and see how it feels, then pull the elastic a little tighter since it seems to feel looser when all is said and done. Maybe just get the elastic as tight as it seems in the mood for. While holding the elastic tight, sew back and forth, making two seams, like we did so long ago on the other end.
Ta-daa! Combined with your custom made Little Mermaid skirt, you should now be all ready for commercial fishing in Bristol Bay, Alaska.
