I’m normally very alert to Mark’s requests but I completely dropped the ball on all his hints about me making him a hat – he claims for years! When I did finally get his request into my frontal lobe, we had a chat about what he wanted and the list was comprehensive!
- Must pack completely flat
- Wide brim
- Must not blow off his head
- Soft inside
- Really comfortable
- Look presentable enough to wear out and about, but be suitable for gardening and other outdoor activities
I did my usual thing of thinking I’d have to draft something as I’ve seen hats for men here and there and none of them met all the criteria. I measured his head and began thinking about possible designs when I happened to find the Angel Lea Escape Hat which ticked all the boxes with the added benefit of being reversible. I immediately bought the pattern even though I have sworn off buying new patterns – so that didn’t last long!
I used fabric from my stash for the first one, both linens, one plain and the other one is tie dyed, but not by me. Mark loved both fabrics but I note that he always has the tie dyed side showing.
I had to make it quite tight so that it wouldn’t blow off his head in fairly strong winds. It was a compromise between firmness and comfort.
He doesn’t shave much now that he’s retired, so apologies for the wild man look!
We were out and about on a walk when it began to sprinkle with rain and Mark commented how nice it was to wear a brimmed hat as it stopped the rain running down the back of his neck. This throwaway comment got me thinking and I did a little stash dive when I got home and found some fabric left over from my raincoat which I bought at Misan Fabrics in London. I found some herringbone wool for the lining. The first two hats were a doddle to make so I didn’t check the fit on the third one, and so, Murphy’s Law, it was too tight! I pulled the entire thing apart, removed the inner band and trimmed some of the interfacing away, and it now fits like a dream. I wanted a contrast band on the waterproof fabric, so found some leather which just sets it off perfectly. We even had a tiny bit of rain so I could get photographs of him wearing it.
I felt that a closeup view of the three hats might be useful. I didn’t topstitch the brim of the waterproof one because I didn’t want to make holes which might leak.
Although all the hats are reversible, Mark doesn’t reverse them, so here are the insides.
