Friday 2 August 2013

Strangely beret in a summer....

It's time to talk about my June's projects. I can't believe it's August already. And I only managed to finish one garment in July. But about that a bit later.

It might sound very strange, but I made a beret in the middle of the summer. Don't worry I'm not going crazy. The reason for making a beret was a fancy dress birthday party and the theme was anything beginning with a letter A. So I've decided to be an artist and a part of my costume was a beret. After doing a bit of research online and finding that it was going to be even easier than I thought, I've decided to use a cashmere jumper to make it. I inherited two cashmere jumpers from my boyfriend. I swear I hand washed them each time in freezing cold water, but they still shrunk, a bit more each time I washed them. I am really innocent. Who would want two grey cashmere jumpers anyway? I can only wear one, right? So using the other one to make a hat was a good idea. I washed and tumble dried it couple of time on hot setting to felt it.

Beret pattern is very simple, only need 3 pieces, two circles and a hat band. The measurement you need is head circumference.

To explain the pattern, You need to cut out two circles, one upper crown a one lower crown with the circumference of 31 cm (12 inches), so your finished circumference will be 29 cm. You need to cut out a circle from the lower crown circle. The size depends on your head circumference.
 
My head circumference is 56 cm, but as fabric was a bit stretchy, I've decided to make circle 2 cm smaller, so the hat doesn't fall of my head. To work out the circumference of the circle you need to use math formula C = \pi d(C means circumference, Pi ({\pi}) which equals {3.14} and d means diameter). As the measurement I needed to work out was not C, but d, I needed to change the formula to 
d = c
      p
 
d = 54
      3.14
 
d = 17 cm 
 
As 17 cm is the finished diameter of my inner circle, I added 2 cm for the seams and only cut out circle with the circumference of 15 cm (hope it makes a sense)
 
 


 
 
 
 
I must say, that I hardly ever make sewing projects that take such short time from start to finish, I think it must have taken me about an hour. Not only short project but very simple as well. So if you're a beginner this is perfect project for you. And if you're an experienced sewer, and make more complicated projects all the time like me, you're probably going to find it to be a bit of a fresh air, I did anyway. And I'm sure when winter comes, I will definitely wear my new beret. Thinking maybe of making couple for my etsy shop. Will see...
 
Thanks for reading and have a lovely weekend!
 
                                                                        Petra, X