It’s that time of year again. No, not Christmas, not yet anyways. It’s the time of year for endless, soul crushing rain. But this little project might brighten things up a bit. And it’s almost sort of practical. Gaile and I looked to the stylish yet practical look of the granny set and then modified it a bit. I believe that the rain bonnet has been traditionally used to keep perfectly set perms in place and to stop blue rinses from running. These are both looks that are rarely sported by the readers of DiSCORDER, but anyone who has gone to the trouble to flat-iron their hair (and it seems to be very popular lately) will attest to the havoc wreaked by the elements. So get crafting as a nod to a generation that has better style than any of us.

Begin by laying out the pattern on top of your fabric/plastic/whatever. With careful positioning you may be able to get pieces for two hats from a half meter of material.

Trace and cut out pieces. Where the pattern says “cut on fold,” fold the cloth in half before cutting. If you don’t have enough material to do that, sew the pieces together where the fold would be (right sides together please. Right sides are the front sides of the fabric, the parts you want on the outside of the
finished product).

Assemble the pieces and sew together. After the bonnet has been put together sew binding tape along the front edge of the brim.

The order of this should be obvious, but hey: 1) Sew the two crown pieces together, right sides facing. 2) Sew crown to brim, right sides facing again, and then 3) sew the crown to the collar. Use fairly tight stitches as this will cut down on leaks. You can make seams on the inside, as you would on a regular garment, or on the outside and cover them with a binding tape.

If you are using a layer of clear plastic over a separate layer of fabric, you may find them slippery. To fasten them together avoid pins, as they will poke
holes. Use bobby pins or those snappy hair clips to hold the layers in place, since they won’t damage them. Be extra careful to avoid the needle of your
sewing machine.

If you are particularly worried about leaks, or are expecting a heavy squall, you may want to waterproof your seams even further. Open the seams on the inside and apply a thin line of glue gun glue along the stitches. It may take a while to get a steady line with this so you may want to cover it with a binding until you are all practiced up.

Sew the piece of ribbon onto the collar around the back of the neck. Leave the ends free to tie. All you need now is an immaculate tweed suit and some
comfortable shoes and you can be in the running for the best style in Vancouver.

If you’re freshly made headgear isn’t keeping you dry enough you can always come to the Seamrippers craft center to get out of the rain. We have a brand new workshop calendar out, and classes start in a little over a week. Friday, November 4th of the opening for Diorama-rama, a show of dioramas. Friday, November 18th sees the opening of our screenprinting show. And because Christmas is unpleasantly close, the first of our holiday craft fairs is on Saturday, November 12th from 1-9 pm. It will includes many fabulous wares by lots of local artists and crafters. So please feel free to stop by: 436 West Pender (at Richards).