Two years ago I purchased a swatch of indigo corduroy from Savers thrift store with the intent of making it into a hat. While it would never cross my mind to buy new corduroy, the vibrant blue and the exclusive nature common to all secondhand finds compelled me. If you are someone readily compelled by corduroy, you might want to consider joining the
Corduroy Appreciation Club. As established, I am not.
Procrastination is a complicated thing. I have read many riveting articles about how not to procrastinate and several even more riveting articles about the purpose procrastination might serve. Had I been forced to write a dissertation, 'The Purpose of Procrastination' would be my subject of choice. Exhibits A, B and C: my college education. For the most interesting take in recent memory, read this article by James Surowiecki-
'Later- What Does Procrastination Tell Us About Ourselves', The New Yorker, October 11, 2010.
I finally made the hat.
How to:
I made the pattern above using a universal technique for pattern making. I will warn you up front that it involves dumb luck or trial and error, depending how lucky you are.
-Take the garment to be reproduced and identify all seams. You will be copying each separate piece of the garment by lying it flat on top of mid-weight oversized paper (I use old newspapers, which is not ideal) and using a basic sewing pin to perforate the perimeter of each section.
- Prick the garment right along the existing seams for accuracy. It is impossible to lie most pieces of a garment completely flat. This is the luck part. You must manipulate the garment at intervals to best reflect the shape of the actual garment. For a puffed sleeve, this requires far more imagination and/or luck. A puffed sleeve is a great example of referencing patterns to visualize a basic version of what you hope to accomplish.
-Once every piece of the garment is represented, cut out your pattern pieces leaving a 1/2 inch seam allowance on all sides.
-Cut these pattern pieces out of the desired fabric and reconstruct the garment according to your intuition.
Tip: It is quite likely that your first attempt at copying a garment will be a highly qualified success. The easiest way to modify your pattern is to pin it as you would a garment. My first attempt at making a version of the hat below was a year ago. It was far too big in circumference. A very experience seamstress told me to pin the center back of each of the central panels to achieve a perfect fit, then reproduce those pinnings on the pattern itself. The end result was a marked improvement.
It remains unclear whether my procrastination in this case was
"the kind that's telling you that what you're supposed to be doing has, deep down, no real point." -James Surowiecki
