This corduroy turned up in a bag of fabric from Freecycle last year, and as soon as I saw it I knew it was meant to become this little hat.
George has a hat much like it that once belonged to his grandfather. It is his favorite hat, and he wore it at our wedding reception. In a darker brown and with a wider wale, it is very much a man's hat, large and heavy and old-fashioned.
To make Asher's hat, I used Meg McElwee's Huck Finn Cap pattern. I may have mentioned before how much I love Meg's patterns—Growing Up Sew Liberated is a favorite book of mine, and both of my children have aprons made from her Montessori Child's Apron pattern—and this was no exception. The instructions were clear and easy to follow, and the cap came together easily and quickly. My only complaint (if you can call it that) is that the fit isn't quite what I was hoping for; I wanted it to fit Asher the way it fit Meg's son in the picture on the front of the pattern, but even though Asher's head measures smack in the middle of the range for size 2T–4T, the fit seems a little small. (Or maybe the fit I was looking for is a little oversized?)
Asher doesn't really mind, though. He loves his "birthday hat."
I have more of this corduroy—there was a whole yard and a half in the bag, so even after using some of it to make a smock-shirt for Julia I have more than enough for another hat—and I also have many yards of a nice, heavy grey and green wool plaid that I think would also make a very sharp little cap. Eventually I'll make another one, a little bit bigger, for him. In the meantime, he is just tickled to have a little cap of his own, just like papa's.
