You know when you see a pattern that appeals but think of all the reasons why you don’t need to make it – a whole pile of other hat patterns jostling for space, a need for more sun protection, the fact that bucket hats don’t suit me, and so on. However, that didn’t stop me from downloading the pattern when it was first released and having it sit around accusingly. I have to mention that this is the Sorrento Bucket Hat and is a free pattern from Elbe Textiles, and now I’ve made it, I want to convert the world!
I have seen so many of these hats on IG that I thought it was time I gave the pattern a fly and took it and a few scraps of denim, left over from covering my sofas (see them here), down to our holiday place where I knew the weather might be a tad unsettled.
I set myself up and then realised that the lovely silk scarf I had thought might make a lining was probably too light weight, so had a fossick in the shed where I found a box of unwanted tea towels. I have a thing about tea towels. I like them to be undamaged and clean, I also like high quality ones. The box of tea towels proved to be a bit of a treasure trove and I pulled out several likely candidates, settling finally on this linen and cotton one which was consigned to the rag box because of the hole in the middle. I could have fixed the hole and kept using it, but we have so many tea towels, it’s not worth it. However, as a hat lining, it certainly ticked all the boxes!
There were a couple of grubby marks which I was able to cut around and I managed to avoid the hole. I even managed to get a chicken in the middle of my head!
I set my little Elna Lotus up inside the Airstream that we live in down here, as it was too wet and windy to sew outside and too miserable to sew in the sewing tent.
I also managed to set up an ironing/cutting station on the kitchen bench, which proved to be the perfect height. This fold up board is the best thing ever.
Making the hat was a bit of a cinch but I didn’t like what happened when I attached the hat band to the brim with the overlap method. It looked really bad inside, in spite of pinning and tacking. So I burritoed it. Here I am with the hat in the process of being turned. Always an exciting time.
I had a few centimetres to sew down and then a bit of topstitching and voila! A hat!
I think a tea towel makes a great lining. I’m still not happy with that top stitching on the inside of the brim, and I already have the unpicker out ready to have another go at it, using a different coloured thread in my bobbin!
I was pleased with the chicken on my head. However, there is an orange headless chook in there somewhere…
More of these are planned, including a rain version to supplement my Vera hat. Apologies for the lack of styling in the photos, camping gear is essential!
I like your hat
Thank you Marieke!
Brilliant use of a tea towel, I must say! I absolutely love this and your burrito solution was genius. It looks like it would fit nicely in my suitcase – – you’ve inspired me to jump right in and make my own…..
I think these are great hats and I have more planned, including a rain version. The burrito method will be useful with the rain hat as I don’t want too many needle holes in the fabric.
nice hat….love your Elna Lotus machine. I missed buying one several years ago and have regretted it. Hope to find another one someday
They are getting more expensive by the minute. I just bought a Stella, which is the 1980s version and it is even better. See if you can find one of those as an alternative.
I have this downloaded and waiting as my next project. I have some corduroy and denim planned. Did you use any interfacing? I can’t decide if I should or not. I did not get caught up in the Ogden cami craze but I can definitely see all my scraps being used for these instead! Also influenced by IG!
I didn’t use interfacing, but will next time. I suspect that denim and corduroy won’t need any more stiffening so have a think about that. I think this is a great scrap buster!
I really enjoyed making this pattern and your version in denim looks so fun with chickens inside! I’d love to make one for the cooler season in tweed or wool fabric. A great statsh buster!
Thank you, it is good and I’ve just made a rain hat version which I’m tossing up whether to blog or not! You may even see it…
Love this Sue!!! Super cute hat…. the lining is great!!! And totally love your setup in your trailer.
Thank you Lisa, I love the lining too. Also love my Airstream and the fact that it can accommodate my sewing when the weather is dire!
What a good idea! Love me some chooks!
Haha, me too!
Hi Sue,
I just made two fully reversible bucket hat prototypes and posted them off to my son and his partner. Hoping they will fit and if not I will have a basis to remake them in their correct size. I am curious which seam you used the burrito method on and how you did it. For the ones I made, I essentially made four hats and the final seam was the outer brim one, leaving a hole about 7-8cm, turned them right side out and then topstitched closed close to the edge and added a couple of rows of brim stitching. Was really happy with them. Used an old pair of my husbands corduroy slacks and some of my old denim jeans, all black. Love your tea towel option!
Regards,
Linda
Thank you Linda. Isn’t it a fabulous pattern? I can’t think at which point I did the burrito. I suspect I did it and then decided that I hadn’t needed to do it! I have a pair from old jeans and they are the best.