How to Weave a Hemp Hat

Hemp fibers are very strong and absorbent.

Hemp hats are practical hats for summer time; they shade your face and the hemp fabric itself is very absorbent. You can wet the entire hat and the evaporation from the hat will keep your head cool for hours. It's not easy to find a 100 percent hemp hat, though. If you have a loom, you can weave the fabric for the hat and then sew it.

Things You'll Need

• Hat pattern
• Tracing paper
• Heavy interfacing
• Hemp yarn
• Loom
• Temple or stretcher
• Warping board
• Shuttle
• Sewing machine
• Wide bias tape

Instructions

Planning Your Weaving

1. Trace the pattern pieces for your size off the pattern sheet onto tracing paper. Cut the pattern pieces out and lay them on a table or floor. Measure the widest hat pattern piece; this will probably be the brim piece. Add about 20 percent to this width measurement, as this will be the width of your warp.

2. Lay the pieces out in a row as close together as possible to estimate the length of the fabric you will need. For hand weaving, it's most economical to weave the narrowest warp you can but weave it long to accommodate all the pieces.

3. Wind your warp yarn around a ruler. Count the number of winds per inch and divide that in half. That will be your "sett," or the number of warp ends per inch. Multiply that number -- for example, 12 -- by the width of your warp that you calculated -- for example, 20 inches. This will give you the number of warp ends you must wind, in this case, 240.

Winding the Warp and Weaving

1. Wind a warp at least 3 yards long and whatever width you calculated that you need. Make a figure-eight cross at one end of the warp. Tie the warp at the beginning and the end and in the middle at one-yard intervals. Bring the warp to the loom and pre-sley the reed by pulling four ends through every fourth dent in the reed.

2. Wind the warp onto the back beam. Remove the reed and beater. Thread the loom to a straight draw -- harness 4, harness 3, harness 2 and then harness 1 across the warp. Put the reed and beater back on the loom and sley the reed to your final sett. Tie in the front ends of the warp to the apron rod. Tighten the warp.

3. Wind a rag shuttle with some rag weft and weave a few inches with the rag weft. Wind a bobbin with the hemp weft and begin weaving with it. It's a good idea to use a temple or stretcher when working with hemp yarns. Check your selvedges regularly.

4. Weave until the back apron rod comes over the back beam and up to the heddles. Cut the warp behind the heddles. Pull the cloth off the cloth beam and cut it free. Zigzag the fell -- the weft edge -- at both ends of the cloth. Wash the cloth in hot water and dry it in the dryer. Hemp is very strong and stiff, and laundering softens it and makes the cloth easier to sew.

Sewing the Hat

1. Press the dry cloth with a steam iron on the hottest setting. Lay the pattern pieces on the fabric and pin them. Try to place them so that you waste the least amount of cloth. Cut out the pattern pieces and transfer any markings with a washable marker. The raw edges may fray; you can put some Fray Check on them to make them easier to handle.

2. Cut out two pieces of heavy interfacing with the brim pattern pieces. Fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the two brim pieces. Stitch the ends of the two brim pieces together, making a circle. Pin the brim pieces together, right sides together. Sew around the outside edge of the brim. Turn the brim right side out and press.

3. Stitch the crown pieces together according to the directions on your pattern. Finish the raw edges with a flat-felled seam or a zigzag stitch. Stitch the brim to the crown, right sides together. Stitch one edge of the bias tape to this seam line on the inside of the hat. Press the bias tape over the raw edge and slip stitch to the inside of the hat.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure you use the heaviest fusible interfacing you can find so that the brim will not droop.

• Select a hat pattern with a brim that is not too wide. Hemp is heavy, and a wide brim will droop.

• Wind a warp at least 3 yards long. If you have extra fabric, you can make cup towels with the hemp fabric.

• If the hemp weft is too wiry or hard to manage, you can wet it a bit by pre-winding the bobbins and then wrapping them in wet towels while you weave. Then when you need a new bobbin, you'll have a damp one. You can also mist the warp lightly as you weave.

References

• All Fiber Arts: Weaving With Hemp
• Leena's: Sewing Instructions for the Patternmaker Hats