Military Hat: A Tutorial (Part 1)

Last week I mentioned that my daughter needed a bunch of things for her new preschool.  Well, one of the required items was a hat.  This country has weird rules.  But as we're often yelled at by other moms at the playground for not wearing hats, it wasn't totally unexpected.  I'd never made a real hat before, so I decided to give it a go.  After a few hours, 1 hat, and many lessons learned, I decided to make her a second hat.  This is a tutorial for my 2nd version :)

Now, you could make a super simple hat by cutting a rectangle, sewing it into a tube, and slapping a circle on top, but that would give you a shape that looks like the mayor from Monopoly.  To make a nicely fitted cap, it's necessary to cut an angled strip, more like a quarter circle, and to use an oval for the top.  (unless you're a fictional Parker Brothers character.)

But to construct this nicely fitted cap, we unfortunately have to do some boring math-related pattern making first.  So I'm breaking this tutorial up into 3 parts.  I promise the next 2 are more exciting.

First, let's make the hat band (that's the part that wraps around your head).  I'm going to be inputing my daughter's measurements so this doesn't turn into a big algebraic mess of x's and y's.  But feel free to make a hat that fits your own kid's head.

Measure head circumference around the middle of the forehead.  For Z, that was 20".

Add .5" to 1" of ease, depending on how long you want them to be able to grow into it.  For an adult hat, .5" is fine, unless you plan on getting really smart in the near future.

Add 1" seam allowance.

Total so far = 21.5"

Divide your total by 2 = 10.75"

This will be your "A" measurement.  Go write it down, I'll wait.

Now we're going to find our "B" measurement, which will be the rise of the hat.  The rise is the height of your hat band.  Now, here's a little advice about rise that I learned the really hard way:  it doesn't change much.  My 4 yr old ended up having the same rise as my adult hat.  Maybe take a little bit off if you're making a hat for Barbie or a newborn, or add a bit for a grown man, but otherwise, don't mess with it.  Apparently as we grow our heads get larger in circumference, but not taller.

The magic number I came up with for rise is 3.25".

Add 1" for seam allowances.

This will be your "B" measurement (4.25").  Yep, write it down.

Now we'll plot the pattern.

Well, after one more math problem.  Take your "A" measurement and multiply it by .85.  For me, that is 9.15".

Now find a piece of wide paper, your bendy ruler (or a string and straight ruler), and a pencil.

First draw a vertical line that equals your "B" measurement.  From the top of that line, draw a curved line that equals your Ax.85 measurement (9.15").  This is the tricky part, because I don't have a definite angle to tell you for the curve.  It's a fairly gentle curve.  Here's a picture of my final pattern so you can get an idea:

Now use a ruler to plot the lower curve by marking points that are "B measurement" below your upper curved line.  Make lots of marks and then connect them with another curved line.  Make sure this line equals your "A" measurement.  Cap off the end of your curve with another line, making sure it equals "B".  Also, make sure all four corners are right angles.  Another picture to make sense of all that mumbo jumbo:

Now it's time to make the top of the hat.

First, find the circumference of the top of your hat.  To do that, multiply your Ax.85 measurement (9.15) by 2.  For me, that's 18.3.  Now subtract the 1" that was added for seam allowances (because you'll be sewing the top of the hat to the band after the band is sewn into a circle, you with me?  No?  Well, do it anyway.)  Now you'll have your circumference measurement (for me, 17.3)

Use that measurement to find your diameter (D = C/π , and π ≈ 3.1415, just fyi)
My diameter is 5.5.
You could use that measurement to draw a circle, but since we want a slight oval, you'll need to alter it a bit. I simply added .5" to the height and subtracted it from the width.  So my final oval shape had a height of 6" and a width of 5".

Take your oval height and width measurements and add an inch to both for seam allowances (7" x 6")

Now divide each of those measurements by 2 (3.5" x 3")

Now get your paper, ruler, and pencil again.  Draw a vertical line equal to your higher number from above (3.5" for me) and, making an "L" shape, draw a second line equal to your lower number (3")

Now connect the ends of the two lines using a curve to form a quarter oval.  A visual using my measurements:

Whew!  You're done with the boring and tedious part.  Now set aside your new pattern pieces and go take a nap and meet me back here tomorrow for Part 2!

Part 2
Part 3