Chemo Cap {Nancy's Notions}

I have found that as I age, the more I am coming face-to-face with people battling cancer.  Other than being supportive, and saying all the awful clichés at all the wrong times, there is very little I feel I can do.  Case in point when a friend was showing a cataloge of  head covers for chemotheropy patients, I commented certain ones were not that flattering especially for a grown adult.  Feeling sort of bad about my very vocal opinion, I search the internet to see if there were any other options.

I was lucky to find a great pattern posted on Nancy's Notion, as in Sewing with Nancy from PBS.  This post passes on the pattern to creating a beret out of semi-stretchy fabric.  It is so simple:  three circles and one rectangle cut from fleece.

The most complicated part of sewing this hat is making the circles for the pattern.  The recommended width is 13 inches.  I followed the tip on the website to create a ruler compass.  After I had completed the pattern, I cut the pieces from light gray fleece; it feels wonderfully soft.  Sewing the pieces together is easy.  I used a number of straight pins to ease the 23 inch band around the inner circle (the six inch one), followed by stitching the beret top to the upper band piece.  It took all of 15 minutes to sew everything together.  To tidy-up, I trimmed all the seam allowances, which was a mere quarter inch, very close to the seam line since fraying is impossible with fleece. 

I embellish the cap with a flower created from the six inch circle.  My favorite way to make a fabric flower is to hand-stitch a spiral into flower form, like I did for this wreath.



I almost kept this very soft and warm hat for myself, but I resisted and gifted it to my friend.  I have to say though, this cap is suitable for everyone--not just for chemo patients.  There is even directions for making it in kid size.