I made a hat!!

If you have a look over at my Flickr pics, you can see the hat I made for myself this week. It turned out quite well in the end, especially for a first attempt. I will definitely be making variations of this for myself, as I often wear hats and like to have a bit of variety. It will be interesting to see how it washes – most of my other hats are woven paper or straw and I’m not sure what you can do with them once they get dirty, which they inevitably do when you wear them in the garden. Oh, and when you let your children borrow them. And they eat chocolate. And transfer it to your previously pristine white hat…

The pattern I used for the hat was McCall’s M4400. As I made this on a whim, I didn’t have any interfacing handy and just used some muslin I had in stock. I also had to reduce the height of the crown as it was too big for me. The next time I make it, I think I will use medium weight interfacing for the brim and reduce the height of the crown at the pattern stage.

The main issue I had with making this hat was that I broke the needle in my sewing machine, which resulted in an unpleasant and worrisome noise. I took it in to the shop, where they prised the beloved machine from my fingers. It was quite difficult to leave it behind. When I learned that the chap wouldn’t be able to look at it until he returned from holiday some time next week I decided to retrieve it. At least I would have it in my possession. As it turned out, the very, very kind repair man was in the shop at the time and mended it for me while I waited! What an absolute gem! It was just a burr on the bobbin case, so he could do it then and there. I cannot tell you how very happy I was to have my lovely machine back safe and sound and working perfectly again. I felt rather lost without it.

Anyway, all is well now and I have heaps of projects in mind and a few orders to fulfill, too, so it is going to be a fun summer! Crowns, tutus, bedding, another kaftan, lounge pants, handbags, crayon rolls and maybe even some things for me!