I wear ball caps all the time. Probably more often than I should. Today when I was in the hardware store, I found this embroidered Dickies® hat that was made of a great washed brown fabric and shaped the style I like, so I decided to buy it and personalize it.
A leather patch would be cool, so I cut up a new and perfectly-good-but-ugly purse I’d picked up recently for pennies just for the leather.
With the dimensions of the current embroidery design on the front, I enlarged my ornate monogram to size and used a similar brown as the cap with a pink background. I added a border around it as a trim guide and a sewing guide.
I printed the monogram onto a t-shirt transfer sheet for dark t-shirts and ironed it onto a square of leather.
After trimming it out, I sprayed a light coat of spray adhesive to the back of the patch to keep it from shifting during sewing and placed it over the embroidered logo.
I sewed the patch along the inside of the outer border using my up-stitch/down-stitch button on my sewing machine. It took a while to stitch so slow, but it was the most accurate way I could keep the stitching on track.
There, now I have a cool, non-hardware-store monogrammed ball cap to put into my collection of bad-hair-day cover-ups.
This is a super easy project. Make them for special events, make your patch square or a custom shape, print and sew neat vintage graphics onto a hat you already have, there’s just no end to it.
More Leather Iron-On Tutorials:
LEATHER CUFFS & KEYCHAINS
EASY LEATHER PHOTO WALLET
DENIM & LEATHER NOTEPAD COVER
As a lover of baseball caps, this is fabulous! I cannot wait to start playing around with my stash. =)
Cool!
Another great post!
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http://christiecottage.blogspot.com
I absolutely adore that! SO VERY CREATIVE!!!! Of course!
Oh my gosh you are good..my husband collects baseball caps like I collect recipes:)
He looks charming in them..He would love this idea.
You are forever amazing and clever!!
What a great idea. Something I would have never thought of. I wish I had the computer skills to do the monogram! Blessings…Sherry
Very cool – my brain is spinning with ideas for things I could use that kind of gem for….. Thanks!
I love how crazy and creative you are!! This idea is fabulous..and you make it look so easy!!
This is such a great idea. Wish I had a sewing machine that could do all that! It is so girly! Love the the pics! Terri
You're amazing, I tell ya! Wow . . . what will you think of, next????!!!!!
Every time I visit your site I am so impressed. I like it if my brain operated like yours. You are so very talented and CREATIVE! I think it's fascinating how you turn and everyday object into something special. So inspiring!
Brilliant idea and the look is very professional. Well done!
just what Doreen said above! very imaginative and cool project!
Beautiful rezultat.J love skin.Jour project is beautiful. See my projects with the skin on my blog.
HOLY COW, what are you going to come up with next? Amazing!
Great cap! So much nicer after you reworked it with your magic!!
Karen
I think I leave this comment on every post…you are simply amazing!
Excellent idea, excellent tutorial, excellent finished hat! Did I mention how excellent this is??
I actually called my husband into my studio to look this. I love how you gather your supplies. I would never have thought of buying an ugly leather purse for the leather! You rock!
This is such a cool project! Thanks for sharing!
What a cool idea!!
I posted a link to your tutorial on Craft Gossip Sewing:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-creating-a-custom-patch-for-a-ball-cap/2009/08/27/
(link will go live at 10:50 pm CST)
–Anne
I just stumbled upon your site and am SO glad. Am totally bookmarking it?! I LOVE the hat… and I too wear one WAY more than I should?! Mine, however, are not NEARLY so cute?!
I just keep repeating myself… How cool is this. And what a great idea about using purse leather. I've reused material for years and never though about leather.
Thanks again, Tracy
I bookmarked your blog over a year ago and am just now getting back to it to read through it. I’m blown away by your creativity. I might have an idea where you could change out the round logo on the front of the cap depending on your mood. I’m a soccer referee; we have patches that we wear on our shirts designating our level of referee-ness. You could take the velcro patch thing that we use to switch out our designated patches and sew them onto your cap instead. I’d use just plain velcro on the badge/patch that you stick to the cap to save money, but this might give you the idea. You can see what I’m talking about here: http://www.aysostore.com/velbadhol.html
love Love LOVE this idea! I too wear baseball caps more often than any girl should… gotta love quick dashes out of the house in the morning! I was just curious how your cap has held up! I’d LOVE to make one! Do you have any more ideas/suggestions after having the cap for a couple years now?
such a great idea and i love your design , well done.
so smart to use on the leather a transfer sheet of fabric!!!!
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I need a leather patch made–2″x3″ with my husband’s name on it. Can you do this? How do I go about securing an order?
Thanks
does it take a certain kind of sewing machine or additional parts to sew in a hat? I am trying to sew into hats that a a little thicker and have been paying an arm and a leg to do so… I was told its not possible to do. I am a novice to sewing but can learn if it is possible to do on my own
There is so much more to a hat then people usually realize. A custom embroidered hat not only adds to your outlook but it can serve as a tool to express how you feel about certain things or topics.
Nice !!