Two in One - Leather Sun Visor With Detachable Hat

A sun visor is great for keeping the glare of the sun out of your eyes, but when it inevitably turns to rain or your head gets too hot - what then? I had an idea to add a detachable cap, so you can wear this in all weathers. And of course you don't want it to look ordinary, so lets bling it up and make it gold.

For the Visor

• Piece of 3mm thick veg tanned leather - approx 8" square for visor
• 1 strip of 3mm thick veg tanned leather 16" long x 1" wide - head band
• 2 strips of 1.5mm (approx) thick veg tanned leather - 6" long x 1/2" wide - buckle straps - If you have a particularly large head, then you should make these 2 strips longer.
• Gold Angelus leather paint
• Gold 1/2" Buckle
• Rivets (gold)
• Paracord for lacing - I'm using rust (10") and sage green (6 ft)
• Craft Knife
• Leather Scissors
• Hole Punch (3mm)
• Leather edge beveler
• Leather edge slicker
• Fid
• Rivet setting tool
• Sunvisorhatpattern.pdf - print on A4 paper

For the Cap

• Piece of soft leather 1mm - I'm using gold sheep leather
• Sewing machine - Its an ordinary sewing machine with a roller foot and leather needle and thread
• 3mm double sided sticky tape
• Velcro 14"
• Impact Adhesive

Cut out the pattern pieces from the Sunvisorhatpattern.pdf.

Mark the pattern on the back of the leather and cut out your pieces. I'm using leather scissors for cutting the curves and a craft knife and ruler for the straight lines.

The cap needs 6 pieces cut out of the gold sheep leather. There should be 4 wedge shapes and 2 wedges with cutouts. For the pieces with the cutout - you need one piece with the cutout facing left and one with the cutout facing right - reverse the pattern to get one of each.

Cut the visor brim out of 3mm thick veg tan leather. Also cut a 16" x 1" strip for the head band from the same thick leather.

Cut two 6" x 1/2" strips for the buckle straps from thinner leather 1.5mm thick.

Using a coin of the right size draw a curve at each end of the headband strip. Cut the curves using leather scissors.

Do the same for the buckle straps. Add curves at both ends.

Mark holes along the inside edge of the visor 1/2" apart - this should give you 18 marks. Punch holes using a 3mm punch.

Find the centre of the headband strip of leather. Make a mark 1/4" to each side of the middle. Now mark out where your holes need to be - 9 marks to each side of the centre (18 in total). Punch holes using a 3mm punch.

Using a beveling tool - bevel the edges of the visor and headband.

Wet the edges of the leather and using either a plastic or wooden slicking tool, rub the edges of the leather to get a shiny edge.

Thin the Angelus gold paint with a little water.

Paint the visor, the headband and the two buckle straps - front , back and sides.

Wait to dry then apply another coat on the fronts.

Lay the rust piece of paracord along the holes on the headband. Cut to length and melt the ends to stop it from fraying.

Cut a 6 foot length of sage green paracord. Remove the centre core . Melt one end to stop it fraying and tie a knot. Cut the other end on a diagonal and heat slightly. Attach to a 3mm fid or lacing needle.

Using the sage green paracord. Start from the 1st hole inside at one end of the headband, lace over the rust paracord into the 2nd hole on the visor brim. Now go vertically up on the inside to the 2nd hole on the headband, and then over the rust paracord into the 3rd hole on the visor brim.

Continue to the end of the visor, then reverse direction and come back the opposite way. Finish with a knot on the inside and cut off any excess paracord.

Melt the paracord end to stop fraying.

You will find the the brim now curves as a result of lacing the two parts together.

Fold one of the buckle straps about 1" from the end. Using a craft knife or leather scissors cut a narrow slot for the buckle.

Check the buckle fit and adjust the length of the slot accordingly.

With the buckle in place (make sure it's the right way round) punch a hole through the double thickness folded leather.

Using a rivet setting tool, rivet through the folded leather to attach the buckle.

Punch a hole in each of the ends of the headband, and also in one end of each of the buckle straps.

Line up the hole on the headband with the hole on one of the buckle straps. Using a rivet setting tool, join the leather pieces together with a rivet.

Do the same for the other buckle strap.

Punch holes in the non buckle strap 1/2" apart and now you can fasten the buckle to the correct size.

And now the sun visor part of this Instructable is ready to Use.

Take 2 pieces of the cap. Using double sided sticky tape join right side to right side - this keeps the leather in place since you can't tack or use pins.

Sew the seam. I have an ordinary sewing machine, but I'm using a roller foot and a leather needle and strong leather thread. It sews just fine with this thickness leather.

Sew all the seams making sure you get the two cut out pieces facing each other and the right way round.

You will now have a six sided cap. Try it on for size.

Glue the soft piece of velcro centrally on the inside of the headband of your sun visor using impact adhesive.

Apply a thin layer of impact adhesive to both surfaces. Wait a few minutes - then press together.

Now glue three 4" pieces of velcro to the outside of your cap. The first piece should be placed centrally across a seam - directly opposite to the cutout.

Now place the other two pieces across the adjacent seams.

Once the velcro has been glued - leave to dry and strengthen overnight.

Tie a button knot or small monkeys fist knot (2 loops) with your leftover cored sage green paracord. Thread through the top of the cap, then tie so it can't be pulled out. Cut the excess and singe the ends to stop fraying

Now just velcro the cap to the sunvisor and you are ready to go.