Why Saving Scrap Fabric is the Best Thing You Could Ever Do

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Hello my Introverts! I hope you are ready to learn all about the Vogue pattern 9044 hat that I made recently using only scraps that I had in my fabric stash. A little back story about how this came to be. One of my IG friends started a challenge called the Sewing Bowl where she creates categories for everything from what pattern company to choose to what type of fabric to use. I decided I needed some help getting back into the swing of things with sewing so I signed up for September. She picks the categories from a literal bowl and then shares and tags you in the post on Instagram. Below is a screenshot of my challenge. I had to do some type of headpiece so I decided to go with a hat because I love wearing hats. I have always felt they are the perfect accessory to any garment.

Here’s how I came to decide on what to do. I have a private board on Pinterest of what would be in my ideal closet. It’s organized down to the accessories that I would wear. Slowly I have been acquiring those items and then moving them onto a board that says “in my closet”. I use this as a way to help with coordinating and trying new ways to wear the clothes that I make with clothes I have purchased. Something for you all to think about if you want to get the most out of your closet. Well, I was tired of wishing for a designer hat from Net-A-Porter and decided this was the perfect opportunity to make a test hat and see if I would even like the style before spending my hard-earned money.

The challenge called for Brocade fabric and I’m not gonna lie I struggle with finding any that I liked online for my hat and then I discovered that I had some scrap brocade denim fabric from my very first project. Can we say winning? This is why you should keep your scraps because you don’t know when you may need them again and if you care about saving the environment this is a way to keep more fabric out of landfills. Way to be a Planeteer. Totally just aged myself, haha. After gathering the other materials for my project the only thing I was missing was something metallic so I looked for some metallic trim and lucked out at S.A.S Fabrics, my favorite store. The initial trim that I found wasn’t shiny enough so I purchased another yard of one I saw while waiting in line. This project was meant to be. After much debate, I decided to use the wrong side of the trim because it was shinier. Finally, I needed some lining and I happened to have some leftover satin from an old project so I used that for the top and crown of the hat to keep my hair from getting snagged (another trick if you didn’t know cotton can pull out your tresses cause your hair to dry out).

Let’s get down to business. Here’s my review of the pattern and what I used:

Pattern Description: Hats

Pattern Size Chosen: I actually had to adjust the size to an XXL because the largest size they had was at 23 1/2 inches for the circumference. I always have this problem with hats in stores as well. They don’t make hats for women with big hair. I’ll explain how I adjusted it below.

View: E

Fabric Choice: Brocade denim, satin, Interfacing, and buckram (everything was from my scraps box I used 1/2 a yard

Color: Black and royal blue

Sewing Tools Needed That Aren’t Mentioned:

Walking foot
Ham (this is for pressing the seams, which are extremely important with hat making)
Polyester/synthetic thread
Label for the inside of your hat

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing it? Yes it did!

Are the instructions easy to follow? Yes and it’s actually a great pattern for beginners. There aren’t a lot of pieces.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I love the pattern. The one thing I would say there should be more of is instructions on pressing the seams. I do this anyway because I know that can help tell the difference between a store-bought item and a handmade one, but for a novice, they can end up with a lumpy looking hat if they don’t do this one step.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I added about 1 1/2 inches to the circumference (head size as they call it) of the top and crown pieces. I did that for the fabric, lining, and interfacing of those pieces. I also cut the trim the same length as the band, stitched those pieces together before stitching the ends together. The only thing I would have done differently is make the width of the band a little bigger so that I didn’t lose space in the hat. But I will definitely be rocking this one multiple times this fall as it gets cooler.