Let's get sewing together. Unpack your ready-to-sew kit and thread your machine with the included spool of Gütermann thread: first, fill the empty bobbin, then thread your machine, carefully threading the thread into each designated nook and cranny.

NB: we have developed this assembly range using iron-on adhesive - please note that for the moment only our Viscose Crepe - Lilac version requires it, the other 2 fabrics currently offered are quite rigid and thick and can therefore be assembled without iron-on adhesive. So do not pay attention to the steps with iron-on adhesive if this does not apply to you.

• Cut out each piece of the pattern using your paper scissors.
• Fold the fabric in half in the direction straight grain and pin each of the pattern pieces, as detailed in the cutting plan below

➡️  Since you only have one piece of each piece of paper (simply to save paper), first pin and cut the 3 top pieces of the cutting plan (1/3: the Top, 2/3: the Visor and 3/3: the Side) then pin again the 2/3 and 3/3 pieces lower down as indicated in the cutting plan. So make sure that there is enough space left on the bottom before cutting the first 3 pieces.

⚠️ We pin the 2/3 and 3/3 pieces "on the fold", as indicated on the pattern. The 1/3 piece (the Top of the bob) is not on the fold, but by cutting it on the 2 thicknesses we obtain 2 fabric Tops and 2 iron-on Tops. The pieces cut on the fold allow us to obtain pieces that are actually twice as large and perfectly symmetrical once unfolded.

 

• Cut out each piece of fabric using your fabric scissors this time, taking care to follow the pattern lines perfectly.
• Do the same with your iron-on coupon if your fabric requires it.

✅ Remember that seam allowances are always included in < disclothed > paris patterns, so there is no need to leave a margin around the pattern outline.

❓ What is a seam allowance? When you join two pieces of fabric together, 1 cm from the edge for example, you end up with a margin of 1 cm between the edge of your fabric and your stitching. This is called the "seam allowance" - also called "seam allowance":

➡️  Saying that the seam allowance is included in our patterns means that the outline of each piece of our patterns represents the cutting line (the edge of the fabric) and not the sewing line (where you sew). In patterns without a seam allowance included, you must therefore draw a line yourself (0.7 cm / 1 cm / 1.5 cm from the edge - depending on what is indicated) before cutting out your pattern.

• Mark the 4 notches on the top of the bob

❓ What is a "notch"? A notch is a reference point that will help us when assembling (they are small lines in our case, but they can also be represented by triangles). You must therefore "mark your notches" when cutting your pieces so that you can find them later.

❓ How to "mark a notch"? To mark a notch, simply take your pair of fabric scissors and make small cuts at the notches, 0.5 cm long (no more!). Our seam allowances are 1 cm, so we won't see these "notches" after assembly, but they will simply serve as guidelines for assembling.

 

• Remove the pins and the different pieces of the pattern
• Iron-on all the pieces of your bob: gently press the iron on each piece by carefully following the care instructions for your fabric – we advise you to always test the heat of your iron on a piece of fabric beforehand

⚠️ Be careful not to use steam with your iron when ironing. This would prevent the iron-on glue from adhering properly. Gently press the iron on each piece. Do not "slide" the iron over the fabric; simply press for 10 seconds per area to be ironed.

• Iron each of the pieces of fabric obtained

So you end up with 6 heat-sealed and ironed pieces:

💡 Good to know: no need to overlock/serge your pieces because you will see that all the edges will end up on the inside of the hat at the end. There is therefore no risk of the fabric fraying over time.

• Fold the 2 Visors and the 2 Sides in 2, following the fold line, right sides together:

• Insert the <disclothed> paris textile label provided in the kit between the two layers of fabric on one of the two sides, more or less in the middle. Be careful to have the "white" side of the label - without the logo, against the edge of the fabric: it is in fact this part that we want to take in the seam, and not the logo. If you have opted for our pattern in pdf format, obviously you do not have a textile label so do the same thing as us, without the label.
• Pin edge to edge:

• Sew each of the 4 pieces thus folded on themselves with a straight stitch, 1 cm from the edge: we adjust the straight stitch of our machine by first doing tests on a scrap. When your settings seem good to you, and only then, start on your work, not forgetting the backstitch, at the beginning and at the end. Cut the excess threads

❓ What is a backstitch? A backstitch is basically like tying a knot when sewing by hand. Backstitching is done every time (with some exceptions) you start and finish a stitch.

❓ How to make a backstitch? To make a backstitch, simply machine-stitch your fabric normally over 3 stitches, then reverse over these same 3 stitches before continuing your stitching forward. When you reach the end of the stitch, we make another 3 stitches backward to make the final backstitch. Going over these 3 stitches on the machine allows us to tie the threads together and therefore secure our seam.

• Iron each piece, opening the seam allowances with the iron.

• Place one of the 2 Tops on one of the 2 Sides, right sides together

⚠️ Be careful not to get the direction wrong: we will of course assemble the Top to the less flared part of the Side, and not the other way around:

➡️ The diagram below helps you understand what we are trying to do, so we have shown you the bob on the right side, but since we are assembling "right side against right side", it is easier for you to turn your pieces inside out to pin everything properly.

To pin the two together, use the notches at the 4 cardinal points on the top:

• a first notch is placed right on the stitch that we have just made on the side
• the opposite notch is placed at the level of the fold on our side (when we cut it "at the fold")
• the last 2 notches must coincide with the middles of these 2 half-sides

➡️ It may seem complicated said like that, but see below what it looks like, with a top view, it's immediately clearer:

• Pin the entire circumference of the bob. Don't hesitate to use a lot of pins to ensure precision.

➡️  Are you finding it difficult to make these two pieces fit together edge to edge? Do you feel like the edges aren't exactly the same length at all? Don't panic, this is perfectly normal. It's due to what's called "gap."

❓  What is fullness? Fullness is an excess of fabric that needs to be absorbed from one piece in order to assemble it with another. We have fullness every time we try to assemble two curved lines that don't have the same trajectory. We also often plan for fullness during pattern making in places where we need ease: this is often the case, for example, at the armholes. This is what will make your garment comfortable and, above all, it's what will allow you to move in it! Properly "distributing the fullness" actually means distributing the small "holes" formed by our fabrics evenly, in order to avoid creating creases. If you've never heard of fullness before, we recommend you refer to our tutorial video to see how to properly distribute the fullness on your < villette > bob.

⚠️ Be careful to pin the side seam allowances well too: we ironed them open earlier, so pin them open as well. It may seem like a detail, but respecting the direction of the seam allowances allows you to avoid unsightly excess material. Generally speaking, we iron the seam allowances when we want to distribute the material evenly.

💡 Tip: For those who prefer, you can also "baste" your bobby pin (and therefore pre-sew by hand with a loose stitch) instead of using pins. Basting is often used in sewing when joining two pieces seems tricky.

• Still using a straight stitch, sew 1 cm from the edge, making sure to secure your stitch at the beginning and end. Take your time and again, be careful when sewing your seam allowances (which you want to keep open). Trim any excess threads.

➡️ This step is certainly the most tedious of our project because the rounding makes the task complicated. Be patient, breathe, and everything will go well!

• Notch the seam allowances to obtain a nice rounded shape on the top of your bob.

❓ How to notch a curve? It is important to notch the curves when sewing: this allows the fabric to position itself neatly, without pulling or warping. As we did to mark the notches when cutting our different pieces earlier, take your fabric scissors and make small cuts (0.5 cm, no more) evenly on the seam allowances, going all the way around your hat (every 2 or 3 cm). Again, be careful not to cut too close to the stitching, or you risk making a hole.

• Iron everything, placing the seam allowances down (against the side). You will have the first bottom of the bob.
• Do the same with your 2nd Top and your 2nd Side in order to obtain a second Background of bob

We will create a "rib" topstitch all around the bob to obtain a well-structured cut.

❓ What is a pintuck? It is a decorative stitch, also called a "hair stitch" (but it's rare honestly), which is sewn 1 or 2 millimeters from the edge of a fabric (or a fold). Beyond its purely decorative function, the pintuck can be used to reinforce a seam, to flatten an area, or even to keep a seam lying in one direction (our case here with the bob for example).

❓ How to make a rib stitch? We position ourselves on the right side of our work and we come to sew with a straight stitch, all along our fold / our seam, at a distance of 1 or 2 millimeters. There is therefore nothing very complicated, the only difficulty with the rib stitch is to make it as regularly as possible (perfectly parallel to the fold / to the reference seam).

• Position yourself on the right side of your work
• Stay on the straight stitch of your machine and adjust your settings if necessary: If your fabric is thick, increase your stitch length slightly. This is because the needle now needs to pass through 3 layers of fabric (the Side + the Side seam allowance + the Top seam allowance) and not two as before.
• Place your needle right on the side seam to start. Sew with a straight stitch along the entire length of the seam we just made, 1 or 2 millimeters apart and keeping the seam allowances firmly pressed against the side. Remember to make your backstitching stitches at the beginning and end of the topstitching, as you would for a normal stitch.
• Go back and repeat this step for the second bob base.

• Place the 2 Visors right sides together, placing them edge to edge.
• Pin all along the widest side (= the bottom of the bob)

• Check your machine settings again if you touched them earlier (go back to 2 layers of fabric)
• Stand at the seam and sew with a straight stitch 1 cm from the edge, going all the way around. As usual, remember to backstitch at the beginning and end, and cut any excess threads.
• Before turning your Visor right side out, trim all around it

❓ What does "trim" mean? Trimming in sewing simply means "removing material." In our example, if we turn the visor right side out, the seam allowances will be tucked inside. To avoid unsightly excess material, we remove some material: this allows us to obtain a nice curved line and a very flat visor.

❓ How do you "trim" the seam? It's very simple! Simply cut small triangles along the length to remove excess material. As with notching, be careful not to trim too close to the seam, or you risk creating holes.

• Turn the visor right side out and iron, flattening the seam well with the iron.

💡  Good to know: ironing can seem tedious and when you start sewing, we often tend to skip this step. If this is you, do yourself a favor! Ironing each stitch thoroughly at each stage of the sewing process will have a considerable impact on the final result of your work :)

Now we'll move on to the visor's topstitching. We've decided to space them 1 cm apart at a time, but you're free to make them more or less, more or less spaced apart. It's really a matter of taste.

➡️  As an exception, we recommend not using backstitching at the beginning and end of your topstitching, so as not to overload the hat. Backstitching is considered unsightly in sewing. Instead, we suggest leaving a bit of thread at the beginning and end of your topstitching, and making small knots by hand on the wrong side of your hat to secure them. Doing this will prevent us from ending up with a row of backstitching on the right side at the end:

• Place your needle right on the side seam of the Visor to start, 1 cm from the edge
• Stitch all around the Visor, without making a stop stitch, either at the beginning or at the end.
• End your stitching exactly where you started it, and leave a little tail before cutting.

• Using your sewing needle, bring the front thread to the wrong side and tie the two threads together. Trim any excess threads.
• Repeat this operation as many times as necessary, then iron everything again.

💡 Tip: Use your sticky note as a guide. Your sewing machine's needle plate serves as a guide if you want to sew 0.7 cm, 1 cm, etc. from the edge, but the grooves rarely go beyond 2 cm. Draw marks on your sticky note, spaced 1 cm apart, and place it on your needle plate. All you have to do is follow these marks to sew all the stitches on your Visor.

⚠️ Be careful if you're a beginner: this step isn't complicated in itself, but you can easily end up sewing a bit sloppy by trying to go too fast! The problem is that if the first stitch isn't straight, the second one will be even less so - since it's parallel to the first, and so on. So take the time to sew all these stitches at your own pace, and stay calm 🧘‍♀️

We will now assemble our Visor to one of our 2 bucket hat bottoms:

• To do this, turn your Visor inside out and pin the 2 parts right sides together and edge to edge, as follows:

⚠️ Be careful to match the seams to obtain clean connections: the side seam of the bob bottom must be pinned against the side seam of our Visor

• Insert your needle 1 cm from the edge, at the side seam.
• Sew with a straight stitch all the way along, remembering to make a backstitch at the beginning and end.
• Cut the excess threads and iron, placing the seam allowances upwards (the bottom of the hat).

• Place yourself on the wrong side of your bucket hat (NB: the visor is on the right side on both sides since we have already assembled it)
• Fold the visor inside the hat
• Take your second bob bottom and place it on its right side.

We will fit it inside our bob, keeping the Visor inserted between the two as in the diagram below (the two bob bottoms are thus right sides together):

• Pin all along, making sure the seams match up: the side seam of Bob Bottom No. 1 matches the side seam of Bob Bottom No. 2
• When pinning, remember to leave a space of about 7 cm without pins: this space will allow us to completely turn our bobby pin right side out before the final stitching. We will stitch all the way along, leaving these 7 cm unstitched.

💡 Tip: we advise you to put 2 pins placed in a different direction than the others on both sides of this hole so as not to miss it when pricking (it happened to us! Without realizing it we pricking all around and forgetting to leave the hole, so we could no longer turn our bob right side out).

Like just now, increase the length of your stitch if necessary (as the needle will go through several layers of fabric and not just 2).

• Sew all around the bob with a straight stitch, always 1 cm from the edge: start on one side of the hole with a backstitch and finish on the other side of the hole, going around it, also with a backstitch.

• Turn the bob right side out, passing it completely through the hole we just left.
• To "close" our hole, you now just need to topstitch the rib at this level: don't forget the stop stitch, at the beginning and at the end as usual
• Final ironing of the bob <villette>

 

We hope you had a good time with us.
In any case, you can be proud of yourself; you are now the proud owner of a 100% homemade bob!

If you have any questions about this model, please do not hesitate to contact us, we are here to help you: hello@disclothed-paris.com .
Finally, don't forget to tag us on Instagram with the hashtags #disclothedbyme and #bobvillette , we love seeing your creations!

PS: If you have a closed Instagram profile, we can't see your photos even if you tag us. Feel free to share your photos with us via private message in this case!

We can't wait to see the result 🖤