Tag Archives: From the Studio

Woodland Baseball Cap

Having made a baseball cap for myself, one for my Dad and one for K, I couldn’t very well leave out making one for my Mum, could I? I spotted this woodland themed fabric at Hobbycraft, and realised it would make a great Clovelly Cap.

This is the first time I’ve tried using topstitching thread, and the first line I made was clearly the wrong stitch to use! I stuck with a regular straight stitch for the other topstitching, and that worked a lot better.

The peak is stiffened with fusible buckram and a layer of clear pvc (vinyl) above that. My hope is that the pvc will stop the rain from soaking in too much, while the buckram gives the peak better shaping.

I also bought myself a self-cover button kit, and my fussy-cut dragonfly fitted the button perfectly! I was doubtful that the kit would be worthwhile, but it did make covering the button a great deal easier.

No modelled photos unfortunately, as Mum is a little camera shy! But in the two months since I gave Mum this cap, it’s had a lot of wear, so I think we can safely say she approves!


Pattern: Clovelly Cap by From the Studio (Jamie Kemp)
Fabric: Fat quarters from Hobbycraft

Happy Father’s Day

When I asked my Dad what he wanted for Father’s Day, his immediate response was “a hat”. To make sure it was something he would actually wear, rather than it just hanging on the clothes hook gathering dust, I got him to pick the fabric from the local shop. He chose a plain navy polycotton, which would make a very lightweight summery cap.

I picked out some navy and white starry polycotton to liven up the inside, and was able to also use a small piece of that to cover the button for the top.

I used brown thread rather than a blue, as I wanted it to be a slight contrast without being as obvious as a white thread would be. This also meant it was a lot easier to see the stitches when I needed to unpick a mistake!

The peak has buckram fused in place, although I think I must have got a crease in there at some point, as it refuses to lie as flat as I’d hoped. It’s still usable though, and Dad didn’t seem to be fussed by it not quite lying flat when it’s being worn.

Dad wasn’t overly keen on the idea of having his photo taken, so there aren’t any modelled shots of his cap. But it’s already had some wear (he was allowed to unwrap it a day early), and that has given me an idea to make a warmer cap for his Christmas present!


Pattern: Clovelly Cap by From the Studio (Jamie Kemp)
Fabric: Plain navy polycotton from Sewing Studio
Bias Binding from Sew N Sew

Minerva Product Testing

I’m over at the Minerva Crafts Blog again today with a product test of this super stretchy denim! Head on over to see what I made – I’ll give you a hint, this time I made two items!


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Pattern designers: WinterWear Designs* and From the Studio (Jamie Kemp)

I Finished the Dinosaur Hunting Cap!

I wasn’t too sure if the Clovelly Cap would work for a child – the pattern is designed for adults after all. But after checking the head sizing against the pattern, I realised I could just grade down to make an XS size which in theory would work for a child.

I was pleasantly surprised that I could fit the pattern onto one and a half fat quarters – I used one for the front two panels, and another for the rest of the cap. The underside of the peak is also patterned, while the inside of the cap is a plain black polycotton.

I cheated with the topstitching, using a zigzag stitch to ensure the biasbinding was caught with the stitches on the inside. I found it too fiddly to manipulate the layers to get my stitches accurate enough for a straight stitch.

Unlike the caps I made for myself, this one has buckram fused on the inside of the peak for stiffness. It actually gives a much better feel to the peak, so I think I’ll be using that for any hats I make in the future too!


Pattern: Clovelly Cap by From the Studio (Jamie Kemp) graded to a XS size
Fabric: Dinosaur fat quarters from Hobbycraft

Dinosaur hunting hat

What do you do when the shirt you’re sewing isn’t progressing as quickly as you’d hoped? You shelve the shirt, and make a small Clovelly cap instead of course!

As you can probably tell from the raw edges, this isn’t quite finished yet – I need to get another metal rectangle loop thing for the back, to feed the velcro section through, to make the cap fully adjustable.


Pattern: Clovelly Cap by From the Studio (Jamie Kemp)
Fabric: Dinosaur fat quarters from Hobbycraft

Showerproof Clovelly Cap

Having cut out the fabric for my Showerproof Fashionista Jacket, I wanted to use some of the left over fabric, but wasn’t too sure what to make. I liked the idea of making some kind of showerproof hat, especially as the jacket doesn’t have a hood and as luck would have it, that day I was browsing on Instagram and discovered that From the Studio (Jamie Kemp) has just released the Clovelly Cap pattern!

Whenever I go outside, I always wear a baseball cap so I don’t get caught with the sunlight, but the caps I’ve been wearing are looking past their best now. I don’t know about you, but I’d always thought that baseball caps would be really complicated to make, involve a lot of additional hardware (which no doubt would be hard to find in local shops), and wouldn’t be worth the effort.

I was intrigued to see how Jamie’s pattern instructions compare to some of the other Indie designers’ patterns I’ve been using. The most noticeable difference is that Jamie uses a more traditional style of line drawings rather than photos to illustrate each step.

But the instructions are really well written, and after holding the pieces together and reading the following step, it made sense what was being sewn where – I didn’t even need to unpick any stitches!

I wasn’t brave (or reckless) enough to iron my softshell, so I stitched the seam allowance down instead. Because those stitches were then stitched over to attach the bias binding, that did leave a few extra stitching lines on the crown. If you don’t look too closely though, you wouldn’t notice them.

As for the supplies needed to make the cap, I already had the softshell left over from cutting my jacket. The lining is a black polycotton I had in my scraps box, I bought the bias binding and velcro, and surprisingly enough finding the square buckle-like piece for the back wasn’t as challenging as I’d thought!

The only potential struggle was the brim stiffener – while my local sewing shops have a good range of items, I had a feeling this would be something too specialised for them to have in stock. I had a rummage through my sewing box, and came across some clear vinyl (pvc) I’d purchased for a different project. I cut two brim stiffener pieces from the vinyl, stitched them together around one edge, and used that inside the brim pieces. Even with the heavier weight of softshell as the underside of the brim, those two layers of vinyl seem to be the perfect choice.


Pattern: Clovelly Cap by From the Studio (Jamie Kemp)
Fabric: Softshell from Fashion Fabrics