Tissue box to Hat

This is a project with inspiration in stages.  It began with one of the many antique related T.V programmes. My mother watched the programme and it had a thinking cap on it.

My brother likes hats, wearing them, collecting them, so my mother mentioned  the thinking hat.  He noted it sounded like his type of hat but not at the £45 the one on the show sold for.

She then mentioned it to me and that lead to the oft expressed phrase of the crafter, I could make that.  Together my mother and I though about what material we might have at hand and of course there would need to be a tassel.

I am not sure if the project would have gone any further had I not spotted a tassel out of the corner of my eye in a box of mixed items at a Stray Aid Charity Shop.  I rooted it out thinking the tassel might be one I could use for the hat.  They can be expensive new.

The tassel was one of two attached to a cover for a paper handkerchief box.  A rather sumptuous handkerchief box cover. With two tassells, and looking like it had never been used, score!

Tissue box cover

The more I looked at it, the more I thought it might supply more than the tassels for the hat.  Look at the dark green velvet, the brocaded satin.  It even had lining and maybe the bias binding could be used.  I handed over the most reasonable price,(surely less then I would have paid for one tassel retail) got an odd look from the volunteer as I noted I was going to make it into a hat, and took it happily home.

I started unpicking it and the more I did so the more I thought this might all work for a thinking hat.  I looked them up online and viewed other peoples blogs, one of which had a nice link to Godleys patterns. I looked at lots of pictures  and realised that I needed something pivotal before I could start.

Measurements, the size of my brothers head to be exact. So I messaged my sister in law and asked her if she could get them for me without telling my brother why.  I thought she might measure one of his other hats.  Shortly thereafter my brother posted on facebook.

"Earlier this evening, as I sat in my tub chair watching nonsense on youtube....my wife measured my head....as quietly and unobtrusively as possible.....there was no exchange of words.....I pretended it wasn't happening......that's just normal isn't it.....happens to everybody doesn't it?"

Oh how that made me laugh, I could just picture the scene. My sister in law when passing on the measurements noted direct and silent usually worked and had made my brother most contemplative, she did not ask what I wanted the measurements for, content to also wait to be enlightened. Now I had the measurements I needed it was time to figure out a pattern to fit with the material I had. Basically a long strip pieced from the velvet and checks and then six triangles from the satin brocade.  This required some geometry!  I checked it would fit the material, finished unpicking and paused.

Then as I was looking for something to watch I came across Bagpuss, the pink and cream stripped cat who oft required a thinking cap in order to think of a story to fix things.  Between the Wombles and the Mice from the Marvellous Mechanical Mouse organ in my formative years is it any wonder I hoard, use scraps and discarded stuff and mend things...I think not.

Anyway back to the thinking cap/hat. I decided to reverse the order of the material and have the checkered at the bottom as it was stiffer being a gauze ribbon over a slightly quilted satin, and the velvet at the top in the hopes it would be easier to sew the top of the hat in.  There was already a thin layer of wadding in the hankie box case so I kept that  adding a bit of quilting to the velvet to add to its structure and hold the wadding in place. 

Whilst the material for the top had to be made from triangles to get the circle out of the strip of satin brocade, I could do the lining for the crown as a full circle cut from the lining of my charity shop find. 

It went together quite well. I did even manage to use the bias binding to make the edge all nice and neat.

Thinking Cap

Tassel on thinking cap

Inner thoughts? 

The original item had one small label attached to the lining 

It said

Emperor

I thought that quite suitable for my rather oriental looking thinking cap. So I left it on.












The Tassel went on through the crown of the hat and into the crown of the lining thus holding that in place.  Of course there were two tassels so I still have one left for some other tassley project some time in the future.

Happily it  the measuring was successful and the hat fit.

As requested, and gracefully granted by my brother, picture of thinking hat on the thinking head.