ElsewhenMillinery PDF Cloche hat pattern The Sybil

I love hats! And I do enjoy making them. I have several patterns by ElsewhenMillinery on Etsy. This is the first of her patterns I have made. With this pattern you will be using millinery wire in the brim. If you haven't done this before or made any hats ever, then I would probably go with an easier pattern first.

In most of her patterns she is asking for mid weight fabrics. I used a lightweight silk taffeta. To give the fabric more body I underlined it with mid weight cotton canvas. The hat body also has a lining. I used a light weight cotton lawn.

What I really love about her patterns is she goes up to a size 25. The 20s cloche was meant to sit way way down on your head. Well this chick Mimi has a big head, 23 1/4 inches. Her instruction are very thorough. And she does discuss sizing and how the hat should fit on your head. I made the size 24.

The whole process of putting the hat together is very straight forward. However, if you make the view without the bias binding on the brim you will be stitching a wired brim to the hat body. I chose to do this by hand instead of trying to wrestle it on my sewing machine.

The finished hat is lovely and it fits perfectly. I forget I am wearing it because it is so comfy. My advice is to read through all her instructions before you get started. Look at all the pattern pieces and don't forget to add seam allowances. I would highly recommend her patterns.