The trilby from the Japanese book is finished!
My apologies to Jane for my long delay in making this hat, which should have been finished a long time ago (we were going to tackle this project together but I fell behind). She did a super job, you can see her posts on the subject if you follow this link. The hat pattern comes from this Japanese book.
After finishing the hat I must say I get the feeling this is not really a trilby (the pictures on the Japanese book are misleading), because the brim is too wide and the angle too steep. It must be said though that the pattern is really good and the final hat is beautiful and has a nice structure.
I can reconfirm that the patterns in the book include the seam allowance (I thought they did not at first, sorry again Jane!). In this particular hat we’re talking 0.7 centimeters on the lining and 0.6 centimeters on the rest, except for the headsize which is 1 centimeter. Just knowing that it’s included makes it easier to follow the instructions, even though they are in Japanese.
The fabrics I have used are a black velvet I had left over from this hat and a black and white herringbone wool fabric recycled from an old pair of trousers. I used a heavy weight iron-on interfacing that I thought would give the hat the body it needed, but I believe that if I do another one of these I will try with a lighter weight interfacing.
To make my life easier, I traced the pattern onto the interfacing, cut it and then ironed onto the outer fabric, although to tell you the truth I started with the wrong foot, adding allowance (which turned out to be included) and worst of all sewing the top and side parts the wrong way around (doh!). But the extra seam ended up being a blessing because it gave me enough space to cut trim the excess and start again.
I made size L, which produces a hat with a 59 centimeter circumference. I believe the end result was a little bit smaller, but seems to be fixable by putting a stretcher and letting it stay there overnight (I did it and it worked, but shrunk back during the day… this time I’ve sprayed it with a little bit of water which I hope will help it to stay in place).
This is a hat that has many possibilities, on the picture I’m wearing it higher on one side, but can also be work square, or down… you name it (to see all pictures, also of making process, click here):