how to make an m34 feldmütze

[moses]

so, moving on.

once you get the pattern size you want, print it out, trim off the edges so you can put the 2 halves of each piece together.

then pin them onto the fabric and cut on the outer lines.

several things to remember here:
- on the 'side' pieces, do the cotton liner first, cause it's the larger piece, then do the outer wool.
- when doing the liner side pieces, remember that cotton twill has 2 different sides to it. one side has the nice little ribbed pattern and the other side is mostly flat. you want 2 pieces, one facing in each direction.
- when doing the top piece, which is 1x wool and 1x cotton, remember to orient the cotton so that the ribbed side faces AWAY from the wool.


it just now occurred to me that the 2-part pattern pieces would work better if you taped the 2 halves together with something like clear mailing tape before pinning to fabric and cutting. it would keep the 2 halves from getting disoriented from each other and resulting in a deformed fabric piece. but i already did it without this, as you'll see in the photos.

[moses]

now with all the parts cut, you want to pin the various segments together for sewing. first thing is to take the top piece and remove the paper while keeping track of the center line, because you need to sew the wool to the cotton in a fold on the center line. i do it by removing the end pins on the paper and cloth, then inserting a pin on the cotton side (the side which will be "out" in the fold to sew) on each end, without going through the paper, and making sure it lines up with the center line on the paper. then unpin the rest of the paper and toss it.

[moses]

then fold the top pieces in half with the wool on the "inside" along the center line marked by the pins. insert a bunch more pins cross-wise near the fold in the fabric to hold it all together. while you're doing this, feel around with your fingers on the fold to make sure the wool isnt separating from the cotton and theyre nice and tight together.

once you've got that fold all pinned down (remove the lengthwise pins on the end and reinsert them cross-wise so you can sew over them all) it's time to sew.

load up your sewing machine with the thread and put it on straight stitch mode, with a stitch length around 4 stitches per centimeter. how to do all this you'll have to learn by reading your machine's manual.

sew the fold together about 4-5mm from the edge. hit the reverse button once or twice for a few stitches at the beginning and end so that it goes over itself to tighten up the thread.

[moses]

pin the other 3 pairs of pieces together for sewing their ends, as seen in the middle photo. remember that for the cotton side pieces, you want the ribbed sides facing IN.

sew them all together on each end, 1cm in from the edge, as seen in bottom photo.
the one exception to this is the cotton liner pieces. here, on the top side (the long straight edge) you want to start your stitch 1cm in from the edge, and go to about 2cm in when you reach the bottom side (the long curved edge). the stitches on the ends of the liner pieces will be angled inward at the bottom as compared to the edge of the fabric, but the stitch should still be a straight line, not curved or anything. the reason you have to do this is that if you don't, the liner will be larger than the wool shell when you're done and it'll be a real pain to sew the two together. the reason behind the reason for this is some fancy spatial relations crap that i obviously must have failed in school, or else my pattern wouldn't require this.

on the wool sides and wool flap pieces, you'll then sew the ends flat with topstitches. see top photo for the final result. sew the topstitch about 1-2mm from the seam between the fabric pieces.

[moses]

now to sew the first insignia to the outer shell.

take your eagle insignia and pin it to the outer front of the wool side pieces. the outer is the side without the little 1cm flap ends showing, and the front is the longer of the two ends. pin it on upside down and backwards. see bottom photo for what i mean. you want to pin it on so that the top of the eagle (not the top of the extra backing on the insignia piece) is about 2-2.5cm in from the edge. sew a stitch along the top edge (which is upside down so it looks like the bottom edge) of the eagle, just as wide as the eagle itself.

then fold the eagle down and trim the edges of the insignia off to around 0.5-1cm from the edge of the actual eagle and swastika. you want to leave enough to fold under, but not too much because you'll be folding it under in a curved shape, so too much extra will make the curves hard to do. fold the edges under around the eagle wings and the swastika circle and put a few pins in to try to hold it all in place. it'll be difficult because everything is so small. if you put the pins in lengthwise to your stitch, as i did, rather than crosswise, remember to point the pins toward your machine's sewing needle, so you can get them out as you go along.
sew all around the edge, except the top, pretty close to the edge. this is a pain to do, and my only advice is to take it slow. you might not even use the foot pedal on the sewing machine, you might want to only use the hand wheel so you can control the movement carefully. see top photo for final result.

[moses]

sewing the top edge of the flaps:

on the top (with the scoops and the curves and whatnot) edge of the flaps, fold over the edge, in the same direction as the folds you made on the 1cm end edges. do these about 1cm as well. pin them down like this. see the photo for how to do the pointy part of the scoop.

[moses]

stitch the first topstitch all the way around, about 5-6mm in from the folded edge. remove the lengthwise pins as you get near them, obviously. when you get all the way around to where you started, before you get real close to it, cut the loose ends of the thread, so that when you go over that part again, the loose ends won't get sucked into the sewing machine and mess things up.

then sew another stitch closer to the edge all the way around, like 1-2mm from the edge. this one will be easier cause you can take the pins out first and the first stitch will hold it all in place.

[moses]

now we'll start attaching the outer sides to the top. the spatial relations of this part may confuse you, so i'll try to explain in detail. you want to pin the top front of the side pieces, inside out, to the top front of the wool part of the top pieces. the top front of the sides is the end of the NON-curved side, on the wider end. the little 1cm end flaps that you topstitched flat will face OUT as you pin it on. the front end of the top piece is slightly wider than the back side. the fold that you sewed into the top pieces will run front to back in the hat when done. the cotton top piece will face AWAY from the sides as you're pinning it on, and you will NOT pin the cotton to anything or sew through it at this point. the cotton will stay sewn to the top wool at the center seam, but nothing else, for now. you're kind of pinning it together upside down and inside out. put your first few pins at the front and back of the hat, and then work your way around the sides. you may end up with certain parts too tight or too lose, and you'll have to take out a few pins and shift the fabric around so the edges of the top and sides are even all the way around the hat.

[moses]

now sew the sides to the top in two separate stitches.

start at one end, right near but not on top of the center fold in the top piece. make sure that stitched fold is folded out of the way underneath so that you dont sew over it. you want to get as close as possible without touching it. then stitch all the way around that side of the hat until you reach the other end of the center fold, and stop the stitch the same way you started it, as close to the top center fold as possible. do this all 1cm in from the edge. then, repeat the steps for the other side of the hat. remember here that you're sewing the wool sides to the wool top and NOT sewing the cotton pieces at all. the reason for all this fancy dancy work is so that when you're done, there will be no visible stitch on the inside of the hat, but it will be visible as a topstitch on the outside of the crown.


* alternative construction note: i've seen many photos of originals where the stitch WAS visible on the inside of the crown, so you could actually do that to save yourself some trouble. i didn't do it that way and i don't have photos of it, so i showed it this way.

[moses]

now you start pinning the liner sides to the rest of it.

align the front of the liner with the front of the rest and start pinning around the edges. remember that the front is the taller end. make sure that the edges of the top liner, top wool and liner sides all are even. put the pins in lengthwise because when we start sewing this, there really won't be room to put them in crosswise.

now, don't sew it, instead, fold the wool sides down over the cotton ones and pull them so the top outside edge where the wool sides meet the wool top is fairly tight, and put another set of pins in, on the outside. you do this 2 step pinning so that everything stays aligned on the inside. put your new outside pins in all the way around, pointing counter clockwise around the crown, and remove the pins from the inside. if you have some larger pins for the front and back, where everything is thicker, that's handy.

[moses]

now to sew it. this is probably the hardest stitch (maybe with the exception of the eagle insignia) to do. you want to sew it 1-2mm down from the wool top/sides seam. you want your needle to go through the wool sides, through the raw 1cm edge of the top, and just once through the top edge of the liner sides. i wish i had taken a better photo to illustrate this complicated setup, but here's a couple pics from my m43 howto, where the process is the same.

take it slow, be careful your needle doesnt stray off the wool sides and into the seam with the top. also be sure you don't accidently sew over stray ends of the liner underneath. remove the pins slowly as you go.

[moses]

this is what it looks like between the outer shell and liner when done.

[moses]

now to sew the cockade insignia to the flaps.

cut the cockade down to a square, if it wasn't already, and fold the edges under to a few millimeters away from the cockade circle. pin it onto the front outside of the flaps (the scooped end) with pointy sides up and down. the upper point should be right about on the lower topstitch.

sew around the edges in straight lines.

[moses]

now we need to attach the flap to the hat, which is a little bit tedious.

here's the best way i've thought of to do it. first you need to "measure" out a line 1.5cm in from the bottom edge of the flap all the way around. i do this just with a ruler or measuring tape and a bunch of pins. with the inside of the flap toward you, measure 1.5cm in from the bottom edge at various places all the way around and put pins in lengthwise there. see top photo.

then, still with the inside of the flap facing out, and the flap upside down in relation to the hat, insert the flap into the hat until the pins meet the edge of the sides of the hat, so that the sides overlap the flap 1.5cm. change the pins so that they go crosswise to the edge of the hat sides all the way around, pinning the flap and sides together. do NOT pin the liner here. keep the liner out of the way entirely for this step. then sew a stitch about 1-2mm into the hat sides from their bottom edge all the way around. see bottom photo.

[moses]

and here it is, the last stitch of the hat.

first you want to fold the flap up around the sides so that it'll be in its final position on the hat. you don't want to fold the sides at all, just fold the flaps up around it. put some pins near the edge all the way around to hold this fold in place. see top photo.

and then fold the edge of the liner up and in toward the outer wool and use the existing pins you have to pin the liner to the outer wool all the way around. you'll want to start at the front and back to keep things aligned, and meddle around with the sides a bit to make sure the liner isn't too tight or too loose in places, so that it's even all the way around and doesn't fold over itself. the liner will fold inside like 1.5-2cm for this. you also want the liner to be a little up farther inside than the outer wool. i recommend putting the pins on the inside with the liner rather than the outside cause you need to be fairly precise with your alignment to the edge of the liner, whereas you've got a little more room to move around on the outer side without the hat falling apart. ideally if you do it right, the lines should be pretty even all the way around on the inside and the outside.