Black wool embroidered deerstalker witch hat
A while ago I made two witchy deerstalker hats – both out of brown plaids that I didn’t have a lot of fabric. I really loved them, but decided what I really wanted was a black one instead – going more “witch” and less “sherlock”.
Of course, with all of the time that I’ve been spending (hyperfixating) on the Maker Space’s embroidery machine, this meant that I also wanted to find a way to embellish it a little more – and make it a little more personal.
An Instagram account I follow, @Deadly_couture posted a photo of a graveyard-printed beret, and I thought the graveyard and bat motif was super cute, so went into Adobe Illustrator to design my own. (If you want your own beret, and can wear “one size fits most” headwear, you can find it on their website here.)
From there I referenced the brim of my hat pattern, and at first thought of scanning it in, but then just decided to do the math, and drew out two ovals in Illustrator to the correct dimensions, double checked the circumference using an online calculator, and had a “hat brim” pattern in illustrator.
Ok. That makes it sound pretty simple.. but it did take me a minute…
On a separate layer I added my graveyard design, and then used the warp/arc feature to adjust the “curve” of my graves to match the curve of the brim. This is designed to sit on the SIDE of the brim though, so will only be seen when the ear-flaps are down… not when they’re tied up. (I didn’t like the idea of having it on the front of the hat…)
Stitching up the embroidery on the witchy deerstalker hat brim
I stitched up the design in the Maker Studio on fabric (double-checking with the pattern on the fabric for the right placement, since I didn’t want to cut the fabric out first), and then when it was done (it stitched up really fast actually, since it’s just one colour), laid the pattern out again, double checked, and cut out the brims, crown, ear flaps, AND an additional straight crown, which will give me a little more comfort I hope with this hat.
Additional fabrics
With my previous two witchy hats, I used batting in the crown to make the hat really stand up. This time around I opted not to do it. I did interface both brim pieces, the crown, and the band however. I also cut out some lovely thin black Bemberg lining for the crown and band.
Construction
All things considered, construction was pretty quick – I think it came together in a few hours. It would have been faster if my sewing space were better organized, but I just didn’t have the spoons to clean before sewing. (Plus it’s already really cold down in my sewing space!)
The interfacing was fused to their respective fabrics, and then I sewed the two brim pieces together on the outer seam, right sides together. I also sewed the band to the crown, and stitched the ear flaps together right sides together, inserting some pretty leftover black satin ribbon for the ties. (The ribbon came off a hat I bought and needed to alter.)
Black wool embroidered deerstalker witch hat
All of this got pressed, and then I sewed the back seam of the crown, top-stitched the ear flaps, and did the first line of top-stitching on the outer edge of the brim. Then I pinned the ear flaps in place, basted them down, tested the fit, and then attached the crown.
From there I constructed the lining, and did 3/4 of the stitching it in place by machine, turned it, and finished attaching the lining by hand. I also edge stitched the lining into place, and used a lighter to fuse the ends of the ribbon.
Trying it on, I decided I should have either made the brim more stiff – or wire it. Since I couldn’t really put more interfacing into the brim, I decided to stitch a channel into the brim right against the top stitching on the outer edge, and inserted a length of aluminum wire from my stash. I used my curling pliers to roll the edges and stitched them down on the outside, so that they won’t poke anything. I don’t totally love that solution, so might end up taking it out.
Thoughts
I think I’d like a stiffer brim for this hat – but also I don’t really love the combination of the ear flaps and the embroidered brim. As much as I wanted a floppier pointed cone crown, I ALSO really want a super pointed one… LOL. It might mean another witchy hat is in order in the future!
I REALLY do like the way the hat fits with the additional rectangle band however, so this is something I’ll want to do again if I make another version of the witchy hat.
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Wow it came out really well! I love the graveyard graphic, it adds the right amount of spooky/creepy to the hat.
Thanks! I love it too – I have another one in the works that I hope comes out just as cool. 🙂
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