Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Welding Cap

When I started dating Curtis (who is now my fiance) he came with a rather large group of friends who have been together since high school.  This group of friends is tighter than any group friends I've ever had.  I guess that is because most of my friends come in singles, not a group.  At first it was pretty intimidating because they are so tight knit that you feel like an outsider (it's 3 years later and sometimes I still feel that way), but eventually they became my friends as well.  Every year "the friends" have what we call "Friendsmas".  It usually in January to give people a little time to recoup from Christmas.  Before I came along, everyone bought a gift for EVERYONE (we are talking 13 people!! $$$$$!!!), so I suggested that we draw names and just buy for one person.  At first they were not supportive of the idea but then we came to a compromise.  We would make "stocking stuffers" for everyone in the group ("stocking stuffers" consist of something that costs no more than $5 OR is homemade) and then draw a name and buy a big gift for ONE person.  This year I made padded cases for sunglasses/eyeglasses for stocking stuffers.  Some people liked them, some couldn't give a shit at all.  That's usually the way it goes, you can't make everyone happy. *shrug*  This year I drew our friend Sean's name.  He just recently finished welding school.  I asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he gave me specific things.  Specific things are great but they lack the element of surprise.  So I got him the specific things he asked for and I also included this welding cap. I found the free pattern on flickr here and the instructions for the pattern are here.  Now I don't know if you are familiar with welders or welding caps, but when I was a kid I remember my dad and Uncle welding and they always had pretty wild looking welding caps (flowers, paisley, bright colors, etc.).  I guess the louder and busier the better when it comes to these caps.  Well, Sean is a simple man who is not too into wild or busy, but I still wanted it to be fun.  So I decided to make him a reversible one.  One side wild and fun, the other side plain black.  This was my first attempt at sewing a hat of any kind.  It actually came together surprisingly easy.  Did I also mention that I was running short on time and had to throw this baby together in a matter of an hour and a half?  I'm glad that it came together so easily.  I think it's the first project I have ever done that I didn't use the seam ripper, not even ONCE!  I impressed myself.  I didn't have time to take the greatest pictures because we were in a hurry to leave the house.  We were already 15 min late (we were also the second people there! go figure!).  I think he liked it.  It's hard to tell,  he's not an excitable kind of guy.  He thought that I bought it at first until someone asked me how I made it and then he overheard and said "oh you made this?!  Nice!".  I wish I had a need to make more of them, but he is the only welder I know.

Here is a picture of the sunglasses case

12 comments:

  1. Very impressive! I love the glasses case.

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  2. Fiance of the year! I'm sure his friends must love you. Now put some tutorials on here, so I can sew some shit. :)

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    Replies
    1. What kind of shit would you like to learn how to sew Miss Holly? Do you have a sewing machine?

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  3. I wish I had this kind of talent! You amaze me.
    Jen m

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  4. My husband is an electrician that works at a nuclear facility, He wears these all the time!!! Thanks for the pattern and know how!

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome! I might make another tutorial of my own sometime. My uncle brought me one of his favorite caps to deconstruct and the way it was sewn together was much easier than the way this pattern describes. Also, the bill is kind of long on the pattern (so says my uncle) so I had to make a pattern from the bill on his old hat. Ask him if you can have an old hat that you can take apart. Take pictures at every step of the deconstruction and then make patterns from the pieces. The hat should come out pretty close to the same! =)

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  5. Sweet cap!! I can never quite get myself to spend $10-12 for a cap, I always put them back on the rack or cancel my order online lol. Maybe I'll raid my wife's sewing kit this weekend and give this a shot :)

    Thanks a bunch!

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  6. Excellent website you have here, so much cool information!.. welding gloves calgary

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  8. Insanely comprehensive :)

    Thank you so much,
    Now I have something to read during the holidays. This will take a while but well worth it like always
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