[mod.] adding bug net to my hat

[Adrian]

I have a Kavu Chillba, the super wide brimmed cone.

Was thinking about sewing in a small zipper all the way around.

Being able to make a bug net that I can take off if not needed. Ideas? suggestion for how to sew it and not go all the way through to the outer fabric? #firstpost

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Just do this: https://imgur.com/wHca3Dx

Not shown is I sewed a small hair tie to the top of my hat with needle and thread and I just push the cord lock toggle through it to keep the net centered on the hat.

[William N]

I made a couple of bug nets for my wide brim hat. Considerations: size of holes. All the commercially sold bug nets I could find in 2018 (US, UK) either had holes that were too large or they were too small and laid against my skin so the mosquito can zap you right through them.

I decided on making them so they completely ‘bag’ my hat, brim, head and shoulders, held in place with the under arm bungee loops. They work great. Not hard to figure out. The best approach is make it bigger than you think you need and then sew  tighter seams to scale it down. (If you’re a sewing machine noob as I seem to remain, when you think to add 1″ for a 1/2″ seam, add two inches) Sewing the noseeum mesh is a bit of a pain, looks ratty – but works. You get better with practice.

The mesh I used was the lightest weight smallest hole stuff sold on RipStopBytheRoll.  (The way I measured holes/square inch was to make a 1″ 10 x10 grid in Illustrator print it out on a laser printer, lay the fabric over it and count the holes in one 0.10″ square. I think I got >60;  so >600holes/sq inch.   Hope this helps.

[Matt]

If you want to hide stitches, that means hand-stitching – ugh!  Just pair your thread color with the outside hat color, and I bet you’ll forget all about the revealed stitches.

What about sewing a band all around the underside of your hat band that can fold down.  Attach several small pieces of velcro on the inside of the band that will pair with velcro on the mesh (so mesh is removeable).  Also put velcro tabs on the underside of the brim so that when the mesh is removed, the flap can be tucked up and out of the way!

Food for thought.

[Author]

Posts