Sorrento Bucket Hat is Tops

The Sorrento Bucket hat is a popular free pattern by Elbe Textiles.  The unisex pattern comes in XS-L sizes to fit heads between 21 and 24 inches and has 3 pieces: brim, band, and top. There are two seams in the band and brim. I traced out the other side of the band and brim pieces because I didn’t want to cut my fabric on the fold.

My head measures 22 and a half inches putting me between a small and medium. I chose to make the medium size.

The recommended fabric is denim, canvas, twill, or similar medium to heavyweight fabric.  It is a fully reversible hat so I wanted to use 2 different fabrics.  I upcycled the pants legs from 2 pairs of pants I never wore.

Even though this is not sewing in a straight line, the hat isn’t hard to sew.  There’s a lot of manual fabric manipulation involved, pinning, and cutting notches into the pieces to make them fit together. It’s like a little sewing exercise in sewing a circular object.

The pattern is well illustrated. There are 6 steps, starting with the brim. The seam allowance is 1 cm which corresponds to about 3/8 of an inch or a scant 1/2 inch.

I topstitched several circles around the 2 layers of the brim.

I became a little confused when I got to step 4, the step that attaches the top to the band creating the bucket part of the hat. The instructions mention both snipping into the seam allowance of the band, and matching notches on the band and top.  I didn’t know if that meant to cut notches like I did on the brim, and at first I didn’t even notice the notches marked on the pattern pieces.  The band seemed too small for the top, and didn’t fit together.  For a crazy second, the thought of cutting the top circle smaller flashed in my head. I think a clarification would be to differentiate between “easing notches” that are cut into the fabric,  and “matching notches” that are used to align the two pieces together evenly.  The band needs many easing notches to fit the top, and easing notches are cut into the top after sewing it together with the band to make a smooth circular shape.

I wasn’t sure whether to sew with the top side or the band side facing up. I believe the band side should be face up when sewing so the baste stitch on the band is visible and the seam can be sewn just a tad farther in from the seam allowance.

I place and remove pins with my left hand.

The wrong side of my flowered lining fabric is white.

This is messy work; keep the lint roller handy.

In step 5 the brim is sewn to the lining bucket.

In step 6 the top bucket is sewn to the rest of the hat, and two becomes one.

Done!

The fit is spot on.

So pretty with the flowered/leafy side peeking out from the underside.

 

 

Here I’m wearing the hat with the first dress I sewed back in 2013.

I really like these two fabrics together. Other fabric combinations like a classic khaki and black would work well.  I can even imagine using a print to match a top or dress. A lighter fabric could be interfaced, especially on the brim.  I made my hat without interfacing, and like how crushable it is, making it easy to fit in a bag.

I think anyone who knows how to work a sewing machine could make this hat. If you have some sturdy fabric on hand, or unwanted denim or twill pants, why not transform them to a Sorrento bucket hat?

Sewing Bloopers

My last post presenting my denims shorts and breezy Hawaiian top ran a little long so I’m giving my mistakes their own post.  Even though these were very successful makes, I made some major and minor goofs along the way.

When sewing, I often try to ignore that sound from the machine when something is going wrong.  This is what happens on the underside of the fabric when the the thread slips off a contact point in the upper threading. I used to think this was a bobbin problem, but it was very apparent that it was an upper threading problem as the beautiful contrasting topstitching thread was only used on top, and the bobbin thread was an all purpose blue thread. I had to keep rethreading as I worked on the shorts, as I needed regular all purpose thread for the top thread when sewing the seams.

Not all of my topstitching went smoothly. Some wandered off the rails.  Part of the bottom edge stitching was ripped out and redone.

I sewed one of the pieces on the back yoke backwards, and I even topstitched it before I realized my mistake.

Here I was almost done, and doing the bar tacks on the back pockets. When I put the fabric under the needle I settled on the wrong spot, and was bar tacking right in the middle of the back yoke. Oops!

I already showed the photo of the cracked rivet placed next to a very nice example of topstitching and successfully installed rivet.

I also had to redo one of the armholes on my Hawaiian top after I had already sewn on the bias binding, because it was too high and tight, and take in one side of the neckline.  I’m not a perfectionist, but if there is a problem that will keep me from enjoying wearing a garment or from wearing it altogether, it is worth the time to fix.

What mistakes? I’m very happy wearing these two classic summer pieces!

 

Denim Shorts and a Refashion For Two

I have been holding on to about a yard and a half of stretch denim I bought at my now closed neighborhood thrift store for several years.

It wasn’t quite enough for a long pants version of the Itch to Stitch Mountain View Pull-on Jeans, so I decided to use the same pattern for a shorts version.  I already sewed this pattern two times previously this year: these green pants and these gray pants.

I bought topstitching thread and jeans rivets for this make. I’ve read about some machines not being able to handle the thickness of topstitching thread so i practiced on a scrap.  This thread’s thick!

comparison of all purpose thread and topstitching thread

No problems and looking good!

I also practiced installing a rivet.  They are installed by making a hole in the fabric with an awl, and then hammering them in.  The difficult part for me was cutting down the posts, as I didn’t have a tool strong enough.

If the post is too long it will crack through the rivet.

one rivet installed, discarded cracked rivet on the right

I had to improvise to find a hard surface for hammering them in.  I used the back of a cast iron skillet.  Next time I will follow advice to use a block of wood.

I chose to eliminate the back leg seam of the original pattern.  The previous time I made the pattern I traced a new pattern piece after sewing the two back pieces together.

I love these shorts!  The fit is perfect. The waistband stays put with no slippage yet they are very comfortable when sitting down.  I haven’t had a pair of denim shorts that fit for several years, and they go with so many of my summer tops. The shorts have creases in the photos because I couldn’t wait until I photographed them to start wearing them!

front view

back pockets

front pocket bags

In the top photo I’m wearing them with my I love this fabric refashion,  but I have a new refashion to show you.

I’ve had this knee length rayon challis dress with a beautiful Hawaiian print in my closet for almost 20 years.  I’ve gained weight over the years and it no longer fit, but still I hung on to it.

I laid another refashioned rayon sleeveless top over the bottom of the dress, and thought it would be just wide enough to make a top.  I used store bought bias tape for the armholes and neckline.  I didn’t take apart the side seams so had to pinch out armhole darts to remove the excess flap of fabric that formed when I tried the top on.

 

I love it!  I like the way the high side slits from the original dress hem show off my rivets ( I put 4 in the front) on the shorts.

What to do with the top of the dress?

I saved the best for last…..

I grabbed the leis for some twinning with my dog Sparky in his matching shirt.

I am so thrilled to add these two pieces to my closet.  They will be summer staples for me!