I love the idea of a hat in hot weather.  Something to shade one’s face.  Something to look elegant and sophisticated beneath.

The reality of a hot weather hat is that I can’t get one to stay put.  The merest whisper of the most gentle of on-shore breezes and pooft, my hat is cartwheeling its way into the nearest rock pool.  Ah me.  Perhaps I’ll stick to gazing lovingly at my handiwork:

I adore the colour and texture of this fabric.  It’s a brocade-y, terry-toweling-y, stretch something and it is an absolute blighter to work with.  Every manipulation is an opportunity for this cloth to fray and distort.  The hat band?  A bias strip some 62 centimetres long .  Knowing a bit about bias I kept the band carefully folded with the pattern piece.  Over the course of one night it grew a whopping 8 centimetres. 8 centimetres.  Overnight.  I know fabric can relax but this hat band must have spent the evening at an expensive spa resort.  In the hot tub.  Being massaged by attentive staff.

Despite having reservations about the whole concept of a hat for hot weather I found the construction entirely engrossing.  Crown.  Brim.  Decorative top-stitching.  Inner ribbon for stability.  Teeny-tiny shiny bead at the top.

I want to have another go!  Would this work in a wintery fabric?  Must put my thinking cap on!

#VintagePledge16 small print.  This is Pledge Number 6.  Previous pledges took the form of, a pink floaty top, an orange jumper, a black shirt, some purple pants and a zebra scuba jacket.