Trying to sew two halves of two hats together.
January 27, 2015 12:37 PM   Subscribe

I want to cut two hats in half and sew each half to the other (e.g. one half of the hat will be team A and the other half of the hat will be team B). How can I most effectively do this?

My mom who studied textiles says that keeping the brims together will be tough but if I just sewed it multiple times shouldn't it hold up? I tried calling a few places that do alterations but they all seemed confused. Anything I could tell them that would assist them? Overall, though, is this something that I could do simply with needle and thread?
posted by defmute to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (16 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: Oh yeah, the hats would be the same size.
posted by defmute at 12:38 PM on January 27, 2015


You say team A and team B so do I assume baseball caps?
posted by RobotHero at 12:40 PM on January 27, 2015


The brims are generally a solid piece of cardboard wrapped in fabric. It would be very difficult to sew through cardboard yourself with needle and thread. You could do it, but two pieces of cardboard sewn together will probably always be wobbly/hinged compared to one solid piece of cardboard.
posted by Juliet Banana at 12:44 PM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


If you're talking ball caps, depending on the rivalry, your hat may already exist. I grew up in SEC country and saw plenty of "house divided" apparel, hats included (e.g. Gators/Noles or Bama/Auburn). Before destroying two hats and investing a lot of effort, maybe take a look?

To answer your actual question, though. I agree with your mom that the brims are going to be the hardest part. Honestly I'd probably put down a bead of glue and join them that way, something like e-6000 that'll dry clear and not be terribly noticeable, because sewing through a brim is going to be a pita and my guess is it would look a bit flaccid.
posted by phunniemee at 12:46 PM on January 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


One problem I forsee is that you won't be able to keep the edges from fraying. Hats are usually a weaved fabric and will unravel. Maybe you can get a plain hat, fabric paint, and logo patches to sew/glue on.
posted by Crystalinne at 12:49 PM on January 27, 2015


If these are, in fact, baseball caps and if the brim is, in fact, filled with cardboard, a couple of thoughts:

Punch holes in the edge of each brim, then string or crochet together.

If it is possible to remove the cardboard entirely, either pull the cardboard out of one and use an uncut piece of cardboard for the brim, so that only the outer layer of material is actually cut in half. Then you just need to stitch or glue the material at the seam/adhere to the cardboard.

If budget is not a big consideration and/or you don't care which half of hat is for which team, "practice makes perfect." Buy two sets of hats and give yourself four shots at getting it right.
posted by Michele in California at 12:50 PM on January 27, 2015 [3 favorites]


Assuming baseball caps and a flat brim like the cool kids are wearing.

0. Make a brim support by tracing the brim onto a stiff piece of plastic or heavy tagboard.
1. Separate the hats into halves by attacking the seam of the panels where possible.
2. Cut the brim with a heavy utility blade like a great box cutter. Use a straight edge.
3. Sew two fabric halves together however you can. I would use a sewing machine and a zigzag stitch.
4. Glue the brim halves down to the brim support you made in step 0.
posted by advicepig at 12:56 PM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Let's say that team A is a white fabric and team B is a black fabric. I think your best bet is to take team A's hat, remove the three top triangles from the right side. Then remove the corresponding top triangles from team B's hat's right side and carefully transfer them to the right side of team A's hat. You will probably also need to cut the teams' insignias and move them, which will most likely be challenging. Keep the brim intact from team A's hat, and find a way to color the right half of the brim black. If this actually works, then you get two hats out of it!

Good luck--this is going to be challenging!
posted by oxisos at 12:56 PM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


It will be very difficult to do due to the bulky nature of the hats and as others have noted, the base of the bill will be really tough to cut & re-sew. how about doing a plain cap that you paint or bedazzle or apply decals to?
posted by RichardHenryYarbo at 12:56 PM on January 27, 2015


It will help if you think of having a big visible seam as a feature and not a bug, kind of like a Frankenstein's-monster of hats. You could even sew it in a contrasting color to be all fuck-you-here's-the-seam about it.
posted by fiercecupcake at 1:06 PM on January 27, 2015 [5 favorites]


What if you were to use a third hat as a substrate upon which you could assemble the other two?
posted by blue t-shirt at 1:16 PM on January 27, 2015 [6 favorites]


What about using Mod Podge to embellish an existing hat?

This one is obviously not going to be your style, but you could find a plain hat and print out the correct logos. Or you could find fabric in the right colors and use that. Mod Podge works with either paper or fabric.

You could also paint the correct team colors onto a hat and then add the logo on top.
posted by Ostara at 1:22 PM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


A brim is usually three layers: fabric, stiffener and more fabric. I would consider keeping one hat complete and cutting the other one in half, removing the stiffener. Now you should have half a brim's worth of fabric that you can applique onto the other whole brim. Your new layers are fabric(half), fabric(whole), stiffener, fabric(whole) and fabric(half).

Another way to do it is to cut them in half from side to side and have a two brimmed hat.
posted by soelo at 1:42 PM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


When you cut them in half, make the halves you will use actually slightly larger than 50% - leave a bit of extra to use as seam.

When you cut the brim, try to leave one of the brim stiffeners _whole_ so that you can just tuck it into the fabric of the other half. In other words, assuming the brims are the same size and shape on both hats, use one complete uncut stiffener to support its original fabric brim half and the other fabric brim half both. (The fabric may be glued to the stiffener, in which case you'll just have to improvise).

Prepare some extra fabric to use behind the seam.
posted by amtho at 1:55 PM on January 27, 2015 [2 favorites]


Leave the lighter colored brim alone. Cut out the fabric part (leaving a little extra on the hat as a tab for sewing). Sew the darker hat fabric/logo'd part in place - you'll want good, tight seams.

For the brim, put masking tape over the lighter part you wish to keep, then treat with fabric spray paint (warning, autoplaying Crafty Murm). There should be a color of spray that matches your needs.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:37 PM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Oh! Inspired by hal_c_on: What if you cut them in half as suggested, but sewed both brims together so you could have two fronts?
posted by Michele in California at 4:25 PM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


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