526 Arctic Circle Caps Ideas

by Molly Hamilton.

I was eyeing our 526 Arctic Circle Caps pattern the other day, and thought I ought to make a set of hats from it.  The pattern looked simple, and there were several options, plus I had a small stash of beautiful, artistic felted wool scraps that I thought would make interesting options to add to the pattern.  The Arctic Circle Caps pattern has several appliqué motifs that can be added to the top (circle) of the cap.  

Also, the pattern is quick and easy and doesn't use much fabric, so I thought it would be a great way to use some of the scraps we have.  

First, I wanted to make the double cap with a small piece of organic cotton sweatshirt fleece I had left from making my 520 Mock Turtleneck Pullover.  But, I didn't have quite enough to be able to cut the one large piece.  But, this pattern has an option for a contrast cap.  I wanted to use the same color for the band and body of the cap, so I just cut those two pieces from my cotton fleece.  They fit just fine.

Then, I looked at my felt scraps and saw a piece that had a great color match to the gold of the cotton fleece, and since it was so large, I decided to use that for the entire top of the cap.  I love how these two fabrics go together.

Then, I cut a double cap from a scrap of black polar fleece (I had enough to cut the whole large piece). I saw a piece of the felted wool that was mostly black and white, so I cut the snowflake applique for that cap.  I liked how it looked very wintery, but I wanted something a little shiny there too, so I found a button in my stash that looked good with the applique and added that as well.  I appliqued the snowflake with a zigzag stitch on my sewing machine, and it was quick and easy.

These hats took hardly any time to make, and were very easy. I have a couple of tips for sewing this pattern below:

1. The sizing runs a bit large.  My head measurement put me close to a size large, but I decided to try the size medium first (yellow cap).  The medium was a little too large for my liking.  It fit fine, but was a little loose -- perfect for when you've done your hair and don't want it flattened by a hat.  I made the black cap in a size small and it fit perfectly. 
2. The double cap has fabric doubled on the inside, so it will be a little bit warmer than the others.
3. You don't necessarily have to use a stretch fabric for this pattern.  If you use a woven fabric, you might consider staying with the larger size (for me, the medium).  It would be a good idea to make a quick muslin of the pattern in a woven to make sure you have the size you want before cutting your main fabric.
4. You can use a woven fabric for the top instead of a stretch fabric, even if you use a stretch fabric for the sides.  That is what I did for the top of the yellow cap. It is a felted wool, so it doesn't really have much stretch.  The top won't really need to stretch much anyway, so it will be fine.
5. If you don't have enough fabric to make the double cap, use the pattern pieces for the contrast cap but use the same colors/fabric that you wanted.  The contrast cap version takes less fabric.
6. The pattern calls to zigzag stitch in several places after stitching a straight stitch.  This is to secure and finish the edges.  You could serge the edges if you would rather.  You also don't have to do either.  I did use a slight zigzag stitch in a few places, so you could do that too.  But it doesn't make much difference.  You don't really need a stretch stitch here.  And I would recommend stitching the main seams with a regular stitch (and not a serger) because if the seams pull, the serged threads will show much more than a regularly stitched seam.
7. Use your creativity for this cap!  You can make loads of them very quickly, so experiment with what you want to make.  Use different fabric combinations, color combinations, add applique to the top or sides, add buttons to top or sides.  Use your imagination (and your scrap pile)!