My latest sewn hat is a stocking cap with a roll-up cuff. Some define a stocking cap as a head-hugging knit cap with a long tail. Others equate the stocking cap with a beanie, the only difference being that a stocking cap might sport a tassel or pom pom. A nylon stocking cap or wig cap is worn underneath a wig to keep both the wig and your hair in place.
To sew this bamboo rayon stocking cap, I used Kwik Sew Pattern 2527, a vintage pattern designed by Kerstin Martensson. After studying fashion, clothing construction and pattern making in Sweden and England, Martensson worked with the Swedish sewing machine company, Viking. She rose to the position of international representative, an unusual achievement for a woman in the 1960s.
When Viking produced a revolutionary new sewing machine with stretch-stitch capability, it initially did not sell well in America. Home sewers just did not know what to do with the new stitches. So, Martensson developed a few simple stretch-friendly sweater patterns. The response of home sewers to the sewing machines and the patterns was positive and huge. In 1967, Martensson founded her own Sew Knit & Stretch Company in Minneapolis and later renamed it to Kwik-Sew Pattern Company.
While Kerstin Martensson was designing patterns for knit and stretch fabrics, the home sewer would have had to search out such fabrics. Today’s market includes a wide range of knit fabrics made from cotton, linen, rayon, bamboo, wool, nylon and polyester combined with Lycra, Spandex, or Elastane. These fabrics have wide applicability from activewear, where the ability to stretch is important, to figure-flattering fashion garments.
Hats by Tracy J 