Make: Garrison Cap 1

Making a garrison cap, Part 1

Because this will be a great steampunk accessory, and also be good for winter.  These instructions are quite detailed, so this post will be broken up into several sub-posts.

Part 2.

Why a hat?

So when I decided that just making a corset wasn't enough, I used the idea of "steampunk" as my inspiration, mainly because I already own a lot of the elements that would work, like skirts and shoes*. But I don't have any hats that would work, so I decided to make one.

Why a garrison cap then?

A garrison cap is a military style cap, often used by air cadets.  I feel if I'm going to make a steampunk costume, I need to have a specific direction, rather than just general "steampunk" and a fictional airship captain seems like a good way  to go. And every Victorian lady needs a hat, even if she is a fictional airship captain.

It's also known as a side cap, flight cap or field service cap.

A garrison cap pattern

While browsing steampunk sites I found my way to the free pattern at Urban Don for a garrison cap (after Googling to work out it was called a garrison cap in the first place).  Conveniently enough the pattern was already sized for my 57cm head, so I didn't even need to adjust it! Score.

If you're going to make this for yourself, make sure to get both parts of the pattern, as well as printing out the instructions.

Materials

You'll need a little bit of scrap material. It should be a heavy cotton or denim, or a wool would work well. I had 75cm x 140cm of cashmere wool left from a previous project** which I decided would be pretty good for the hat (and good for winter). I got away with about 15cm x 75cm or so. Really, you just need enough to lay out your pieces.  This is also a good project to "upcycle" an old piece of clothing, like a pair of jeans or similar; you'd probably get 8 hats out of 1 pair.

You'll also need some 1" wide grossgrain or Petersham ribbon to go around the inside of the hat.  This will stop it stretching out of shape.

Next

Coming up next: actual instructions!

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* So many shoes; at least 6 pairs that would count as Victorian in style. I may do a post later ^_^.
** More than 8 years and still not completed. That may be a record. This blog may even get me to finish it! It would be a wonderful steampunk addition. 
*** Women's clothes in general the right side goes over the left, for men the left side goes over the right, if you're worried about such things.

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