Gizmos
Published On: February 2, 2018

So I’ve talked before about how I really do think you should be blocking your hats.  And I definitely practice what I preach.  You’ve never seen a hat in a pattern photo that wasn’t blocked (and blocked firmly at that).  But something we haven’t talked much about is brims.

I like folded up brims, and I often like fairly deep ones (this one is approaching the upper limit of brim depth acceptability, but I like it, so I’m going with it).  Now if you use twisted stitches on your brim, your fabric is likely to bias a bit.  And really, that’s fine.  It would be annoying on a sweater (you’d feel like you were tugging it straight all day long).  But hats can bias all they want and still be adorable and comfy.  But if you want to tame the twist a little, you can.  And blocking is the time to do it.

See how my brim is straight?  I just folded it that way when I blocked it, making sure that each column of stitches lined up straight when it was folded.  I pinned it in place in a few spots and then left it to dry.

If you use regular T-pins for that, there’s a chance the head of the pin will leave a dent in your fabric.  So I keep a handful of bent ones on hand for this job.  It’s just my regular pin (I like these, they are long and they don’t rust), bent at a 90 degree angle to keep the head off the fabric (as always, amazon links are affiliate links).  I bend mine by holding the head with a pair of pliers and bending the shaft over with my thumb.  It doesn’t take a lot of force, but do be careful (and maybe use two pairs of pliers instead if you’re feeling skittish).  They make a nice addition to your blocking toolbox!

 

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