Hand-Blocked Velour Hat

When Holly puts her mind to something, she doesn't give up. So when she decided her roommate needed a hat for the cold winter nights, she went to the library, taught herself how to make hats, and before long her roommate's ears were warm and trendy. She didn't stop there, however, as we see in this project, a fashionable hand-blocked velour hat.

Materials:

tape measure
plastic wrap
velour hood
velour scraps
rope
ribbon
straight pins
something to block hat on

1. To determine your hat size, put a tape measure around your head where you want your hat to rest. Usually, that is just above the center of the forehead in front and on the upslope of the "lump" in back.

2. Cover item you will be blocking your hat on with plastic wrap.

3. Steam velour hood. Let it get very moist and flexible. Remove from steam and stretch over blocking object.

4. Secure with rope about 6-1/2 to 7 inches from the center. This is where the brim will start. This is also where your head-size ribbon will be placed inside the hat.

5. Stretch and shape brim, using straight pins if necessary. Brush velour. Let dry.

6. Mark the center back with a pin or chalk.

7. Swirl ribbon; steam/iron ribbon in an arch shape to help with the placement inside the hat.

8. Pin ribbon inside the hat where the rope line is. This is going to be your sweatband. Place with the shiny ironed
side inside the hat and fold in the end so the raw edge is not showing. Hand or machine stitch in the head-size ribbon.

9. Iron /steam brim to get the shape right for sewing. Stitch brim edge by machine or hand; if hand-sewing, trim excess velour first before stitching.

10. Trim excess velour.

11. Now you are ready to trim your hat. For the ribbon: Take a piece of velvet long enough to wrap around hat at the rope line; this will be used as a accent and to cover any stitches from your head-size ribbon that are showing. If it is a thick ribbon, you will need to swirl it like the head-size ribbon to make it layer better.

12. Starting on the left side where the flower will be placed, tack the ribbon to the hat, hiding the stitches under the sweatband. Make about five tack stitches around to hold this ribbon in place.

13. For the flower: Take a scrap piece of velour and iron/steam to straighten it out. Trim it to be an even strip.

14. Steam and baste stitch while gathering the velour to make a circle and shaping for your flower. Pin if necessary and let dry. Trim excess from the flower back to make it lay flat.

15. Hand stitch inner circle where gather is and also the seam where the two pieces meet. Take out baste stitching.

16. Cut petal shapes on outside of flower. Make a small circle out of scraps for inner flower. Stitch to flower. Stitch flower to hat.