Make Your Own Hats, Gene Allen Martin [ebook offline txt] 📗
- Author: Gene Allen Martin
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7-1 To cut wire see chapter IV.
7-2 To tie wire see chapter IV.
13-1 See chapter II.
CHAPTER II COVERING FRAME WITH VELVETMaterial required one and one-half yards milliner's velvet or any velvet eighteen to twenty-four inches wide. If velvet used is thirty-six inches wide, one yard will be sufficient.
To cover brim—
Place corner of velvet at front of brim on top side (smooth side). Edgewire and headsize wire should always be on top of brim. Turn velvet over edge of brim and pin. Stick pins through at right angles to brim to avoid marring the velvet. Pin closely all around edge of brim, pulling material with the thread to remove any fullness. Do not pull tight enough to bend the brim. Trim velvet off one-fourth inch to turn under brim. Baste close to headsize wire on top with stab stitch. Cut velvet out inside of headsize wire, leaving a half inch to slash and turn up with the buckram.
To sew velvet edge to brim—
This should be done with a close overcasting stitch on the under side, being careful not to prick through to the right side of the velvet. It is sometimes advisable in preparing the frame to stitch the buckram in from the edge about one-fourth inch with the sewing machine, using a long stitch. This stitching may then be used to put the needle through when sewing the velvet down. If the velvet seems thick and heavy-looking on under side after sewing, it may be pressed down with a hot iron. If done quickly and lightly, it will not show on the right side.
To face under side of brim—
Pin velvet on under side, using same method in pinning as that on top of brim. This must be pinned very carefully. Cut off velvet all around edge, leaving a little less than one-fourth inch to turn under. Facings are usually finished at the edge with a wire. Cut a piece of frame wire the exact circumference of the brim, plus one inch for lap. Bend to shape of brim and pin under edge of velvet, beginning at the center back. Roll velvet over wire and bring out to edge. Pin in place all the way around before beginning to sew. Place pins in at right angles to brim. A piece of velvet held in the left hand will prevent finger marks from showing on the velvet. Begin to sew at left of wire joining, while holding underside of brim towards you. Bring needle through from back close under wire. With the head of the needle press velvet along under wire to make a crease or sort of bed for the thread of the next stitch. Take nearly a half-inch stitch by placing needle close under the wire and coming through between the wire and the upper facing. Come back under the wire with a very small back stitch, being careful to adjust the wire as you sew, and to catch a little of the upper covering with each back stitch. When wire joining is reached, treat the lapped ends as one wire. Fasten ends securely by taking several small back stitches. Lace wire, being smaller than frame wire, is sometimes used to finish the edge of facing. It does not look as heavy, but is somewhat more difficult for a beginner to handle.
To cover crown top—
To cover the top, cut a piece of velvet with the bias at the front, same shape as top of crown plus one inch all around. Gather one-fourth inch from edge, place over top, equalize the gathers, pin in place, and sew with stab stitch over line of gathering. Make the edge lie as flat as possible and do not draw velvet too tight across the top.
To cover side crown—
Cut a piece of velvet on a true bias two and one-half inches wider than height of crown. Pin this strip wrong side out around side crown to find length and to locate seam. Draw it snugly and pin seam on straight of material with warp thread. (Warp thread is parallel with selvage.) Remove velvet and stitch seam. Open it and press by drawing it over the edge of a hot iron.
To sew crown on brim—
The simplest way to proceed is to sew the crown on the brim before adjusting the side crown covering. Pin back, front, and each side of crown to brim, placing seams at back. Sew through upturned flaps of brim and crown one-fourth inch from bottom wire. Stretch the velvet strip for side crown on the crown, placing seam at back, unless trimming has been planned which will cover the seam better if it is placed at some other point. Turn top and bottom edges under to fit the side crown, and press bottom fold down close to brim. If this band has been fitted tight enough, it will not be found necessary to sew it.
Edge of brim facing, when finished without wire—
A brim covered with velvet or any fabric may also be finished underneath without a wire, the edges being slipstitched together. In this case, the underfacing would be turned under one-fourth inch and pinned in place all the way around before beginning to sew. Bring the needle through from underside of facing to the very edge of fold. Place point of needle directly opposite this stitch and take a small stitch in upper facing, then take a small stitch in underfacing. Each stitch always begins just opposite the ending of preceding stitch, so that the thread between the two facings crosses the seam at right angles to edge of brim. This method makes the work look smooth, and also it will not pull out of place; however, this style of finishing an edge is not popular and requires much practice.
To cover narrow brim sailor without an edge seam—
This method can be used satisfactorily only when the brim is narrow, and the fabric pliable. For convenience we will give measurements as for a two and one-half inch brim, flat sailor, outside edge measuring forty inches. Cut a bias piece of velvet forty inches long and seven inches wide. Fold this velvet through center lengthwise and stick pins every three inches through edge of fold at right angles to edge and close to edge. This is to mark the line that must be placed on the edge of the brim. If the velvet is not placed evenly, there will be found a greater amount of fullness on one side than on the other. Place velvet over the brim and pin on edge at points marked by pins. Stretch as tight as possible. On a brim of this width all of the fullness should be worked out. If this is found to be very difficult, lay the brim aside, with the velvet pinned on, for an hour or for overnight, and the velvet will be found to give a little more. Remove as much of the length as possible. Locate seam, remove from frame, sew seam, and replace as before. Sew on top close to headsize wire, working out all the fullness possible; pull under part up into headsize. Sew one-fourth inch above headsize wire onto the flaps, being careful not to pull the thread too tight or the headsize wire will be reduced in size.
Facings—
A pleasing variety is sometimes obtained by using a colored underfacing on a black hat. The entire facing may be of a contrasting color or extend only from headsize wire to within an inch of the edge of the brim. In this case there could be a strip of material the same as upper facing an inch and a half wide finished at the edge of the brim with a wire. Then the colored facing would be finished over the edge of this with another wire.
Brims covered with two kinds of fabric—
A flat brim or mushroom shape is often covered by using two fabrics, which may be of the same color or of contrasting colors. Small pieces of old material may often be conserved in this manner and the hat at the same time have much charm. For instance, the edge of the hat could have a bias band of satin, two or more inches wide, stretched around the edge of the brim, with the rest of the brim covered with velvet overlapping the satin and finished with a wire both on top and bottom, or only on one side. Underside of brim may be finished the same way, or the facing may be brought out even with the edge and finished with a wire.
Shaped brim foundation—
The simplest shaped brim is the mushroom style.
To make pattern for brim—
Make a paper pattern the same as for the straight brim sailor. Measure the same for the headsize wire, join ends of wire, shape to fit the head, and pin on paper pattern of any desired width. To make the brim droop, slash the pattern from the edge to the headsize wire in four different places equally distant. Lap these slashes one-fourth inch at the edge, and pin. The pattern may also be slashed in eight or more different places if desired, the slashes being adjusted by lapping more or less according to the amount of droop which may be becoming.
After the pattern is adjusted satisfactorily, mark with a pencil all around just inside the headsize wire. Remove the wire and cut the paper on this line. Cut pattern in two at back and lay out flat on smooth side of buckram, leaving pins in slashes. Cut close to outside edge and allow one-fourth inch for the lap at ends. Mark on buckram with pencil close to headsize line and cut one-half inch inside this mark. Lap ends one-fourth inch and backstitch closely at each edge of flap. Sew a strip of crinoline flat over seam to smooth it up. Sew headsize wire on place marked, which will be one-half inch from inside edge. Keep all joinings at back. Slash buckram from inside edge to headsize wire every half inch. Wire edge of brim and cover wire with crinoline—same method as used on sailor brim.
To cover a mushroom-shaped brim—
If not very drooping, it may be covered without making a seam in the material. To do this, begin by placing the corner of the fabric on top at the front of the brim. Pin the front, back, and each side, always pulling with the thread of the material, and pin closely at edge, with pins at right angles to the brim. If covered with georgette, satin or silk, which is pliable, the fullness may all be worked out without a seam. Baste close to headsize wire and finish edge by following same method as used in finishing sailor brim. Also follow same method with facing. If the material used is not pliable, or if the brim is too drooping to admit of stretching the material
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