kraft-tex Color of the Month: Greenery

Sep 4th 2020

The kraft-tex color of the month for August is Greenery!

Stay looking and feeling cool this August with this handmade kraft-tex visor!

We invite you to join the fun and make your own kraft-tex projects each month along with us. If you create something with kraft-tex, please snap a photo of your creation and tag us on Instagram @ctpublishing and with the hashtags, #krafttex and #ctpublishing. If you make this specific project don't forget to tag it with #krafttexvisor.

Woven kraft-tex Visor

By Lauren Herberg

Kraft-tex is the perfect material to make a fun handmade visor bill. Kraft-tex is a tough and resilient material so you can wear the visor on any of your outdoor adventures. You can personalize the kraft-tex by dyeing, painting, embossing, stamping, drawing… or anything else you can imagine! I chose to weave Greenery kraft-tex with Saffron kraft-tex for this fun, summery visor. The optional addition of the buttons on the sides of the visor are not just decorative, they’re useful, too... Slip your mask loops over the buttons instead of your ears to make a much more comfortable way to wear your PPE!

Supplies:

1 roll Greenery kraft-tex

1 roll Saffron kraft-tex (if doing the woven visor)

1/8 yard of main fabric

1/8 yard of inner fabric

2 1/2'' x 24'' strip of fabric for sweatband

1'' x 24'' strip of foam or batting for sweatband (helpful if it is the fusible type)

4'' x 11'' piece of lightweight fusible interfacing (optional)

Material for visor bill insert (I recycled an old hat by taking its bill out. I also made one using 2 layers of Timtex interfacing. You could also try cutting a bill, Template D, from plastic or cardboard.)

Matching thread for topstitching

3/4'' wide hook-and-loop fastener strip

2 large decorative buttons (optional)

Directions:

Upper:

1. Cut out Upper Templates, A, B, and C.

2. If you would like the front of your visor to stand up and have some shape as I did in my samples, fuse a lightweight interfacing to the back of your fabric for Template A. If you’re using a heavier weight fabric, you may not need to do this.

3. Trace the templates A and B on your main fabric. Cut 1 of Template A. Cut 2 of Template B with 1 reversed so you have a mirror image.

4. Trace and cut 1 Template C from your lining fabric, making sure to place the marked side on the fold.

5. Now you have all your fabric cut. The 2 1/2'' strip will be used on the sweatband. Put this to the side for now.

6. Stitch the Template Bs to either side of Template A with a 1/4'' seam allowance, making sure the tops of each are going the same direction.

7. Press the seams toward the B pieces and top stitch on both sides of both of the seams.

8. Place this B/A/B unit right sides together with the Template C lining fabric and sew along the top and 2 short sides with a 1/4'' seam.

9. Clip the corners and turn it right side out. Press the seam flat.

10. Topstitch along the top edge.

You have completed the upper piece of your visor! Put this piece to the side as you make the other pieces for your visor.

Sweatband:

1. If your foam or batting is not already fusible, attach some fusible webbing to a strip.

2. Cut a 1'' by about 24'' strip of the foam or batting. Wrap the 2 1/2'' fabric strip around it with the edges overlapping in the center of one side of the strip and fuse it in place.

3. Topstitch down the center of the strip.

You now have 1 sweatband ready to go! Place to the side for later.

Closing Fasteners:

1. Cut 3'' length of 3/4'' wide hook and loop fastener strip.

2. Cut 2 kraft-tex strips 7/8'' x 4''. I put my strips through an embossing machine in an embossing envelope to give them some pretty texture!

3. Place 1 side of the hook and loop fastener on each kraft-tex strip and fold the kraft-tex over the fastener on one end.

4. Sew very close to the edge of the fastener and stitch the folded kraft-tex down. Stitch all the way around the hook and loop fastener, catching the edges, and stitch over the first few stitches to lock them in place.

Fasteners: Check! Put them to the side until the end.

Bill:

1. Decorate your kraft-tex however you wish.

If you would like to make a woven visor like my example, start by cutting about 10 strips 1/2'' wide and 10 strips 1/4'' wide in both Greenery and Saffron kraft-tex.

Lay out the strips alternating the 1/2'' and 1/4'' strips of one color and tape across the top.

Weave the other color strips in by alternating going over and under the vertical strips. I followed the exact pattern that Gailen shows in C&T’s instructional video, How to weave using kraft-tex over on kraft-tex University on YouTube. Click over there to get a great introduction to weaving with kraft-tex!

2. Trace and cut Bill Template D out of your bill material.

3. Cut 2 pieces of kraft-tex roughly 8'' x 9'' (or use a woven piece of about that size).

4. Trace Bill Template D onto the wrong side of one of the pieces of kraft-tex. (Or trace the specific bill insert that you are using, if you’ve upcycled an old hat)

5. Clip the pieces of kraft-tex right sides together.

6. Sew around the outside of the line that you traced, leaving some space so your bill insert will still fit after you’ve turned it. Only stitch on the outside convex curve (not the concave curve that goes against your head).

7. Trim the excess kraft-tex around the outer curve leaving a 1/4'' seam allowance. Notch the seam allowance with triangle cut outs while making sure to not clip the seam.

8. Turn the visor bill pocket right side out. Don’t worry about scrunching up the kraft-tex as you do this, even if it is woven like my example. Some of my strips ended up slightly twisted after turning, but it was easy to simply twist them back to lay flat once I had it turned right side out.

9. Fit the bill insert inside the visor bill pocket. If you’re using an old hat bill that already has some curve to it, put some glue on the inside of the bottom of the bill, so that the kraft-tex will stick to the curve of the bill rather than stretch across it. Alternatively, you could sew some lines of top stitching so the layers of your bill stay together.

10. Stitch the visor bill pocket closed by stitching right against the bill insert. It is helpful to use a zipper foot so you can stitch as close to the edge as possible.

11. Trim the excess kraft-tex along the concave curve leaving about 1/2'' seam allowance and notch the seam allowance.

Woohoo! You’ve finished all the pieces you need to make a visor! Now all that’s left is to assemble it!

Assembly:

1. Gather up all the visor pieces that you’ve made.

2. Layer the upper piece on top of the bill with the bill face up and the lining side of the upper piece up. Line up the centers.

3. Continue using your zipper foot to sew as close to the bill insert as possible. Start from the center and sew to the side. Maneuver the upper piece so its edge lines up with the edge of the seam allowance of the bill as you sew.

4. Turn the visor the other way to start from the center and sew to the other side. Remember to switch your zipper foot to the other side.

5. The sweatband will cover the lines of stitching from the underside of the visor. Put a line of glue along the stitches to temporarily hold the Sweatband in place.

6. Make sure that you are placing the center of the Sweatband on the center of the Bill and that the ends of the Sweatband will extend past the ends of the Upper fabric piece.

The next couple steps are the most difficult of the project, so it’s okay if you don’t get it right the first time, but I know that YOU CAN DO IT! I like to have my seam ripper out and next to my machine so when I inevitably go to reach for it, I find it quickly and it doesn’t become a desperate search where I end up throwing in the towel on the whole project!

7. Turn your visor so the upper is on top again. Starting at the center, sew along the edge of the bill insert through all three pieces: upper, bill and sweatband. You will have to pull the fabric of the Upper piece out of the way so that it doesn’t get caught up in the stitches as you also try to stitch as close to the bill insert as possible.

8. When you get to the end of the bill, continue to sew the upper to the sweatband by overlapping the raw edge of the Upper on top of the bottom edge of the sweatband (the side that is now sewn to the bill).

9. Turn the visor around and sew from the center out to the other end.

Whew! You are soo close!

10. Fold the sweatband up so it is behind the upper fabric and press.

11. Topstitch along the bottom edge of the upper piece.

12. Trim the ends of the sweatband so they extend past the upper by about 1/2'' – 1''.

13. Fold the end of the sweatband in even with the upper. Sandwich the unfinished side of the fastener between the ends of the sweatband and the upper. Topstitch through all the layers. Make sure that the hook side of the fastener is face up so it won’t catch your hair or scratch your skin while in use.

14. Stitch the loop side of the fastener to the other side of the visor in the same manner except with the loops facing down.

15. OPTIONAL: Button addition. Stitch 1 large decorative button to either side of the visor just in front of where your ears are while wearing your visor. I quickly and easily stitched these buttons on using the zig zag stitch on my sewing machine. I very carefully lined up the needle with the button holes to find the right width of the zig zag stitch, then just let her rip! Make sure you drop your feed dogs before attempting this approach so your machine doesn't try to move your button and visor out of position.

16. Wear your PPE mask in style!

YAY! I hope you love your kraft-tex visor and wear it with pride to show off your crafty skills! I would love to see your handiwork so please don’t forget to tag us on Instagram, @ctpublishing, and use the hashtags, #krafttexvisor, #krafttex, and #ctpublishing. Have a fun and cool rest of your summer!

DOWNLOAD VISOR PATTERN 1

DOWNLOAD VISOR PATTERN 2

kraft-tex Ambassadors

Read on for even more marsala kraft-tex inspiration, patterns, and tutorials from our talented group of kraft-tex ambassadors: