I started sketching out ideas, thinking of how to build in an automatic deployment and retraction system, how to custom manufacture the cap to keep the panels inside of the bill of the cap, how to spec out the graphics so as to be printed by a dye-sublimation vendor, that sort of stuff. Thankfully the K.I.S.S. principal kicked in and I pared down the design to approximately what became the cap in the plans. 3 panels with applied graphics that was dead simple to make and to hide.

And with that, I got started.

The first order of business was to figure out how to get the graphic prints to work. The Cap needed to be able to be seen through when in use, which precluded making the hanging panels out of anything opaque. The graphics applied to the the hanging panels should be something that could be done at home at fairly high resolution, which ruled out drawing the panels with sharpie or using screen printing to print on mesh. I thought my only option would be to work with a textiles printing service to get a custom run of sublimated mesh produced given those limitations. Thankfully a friend mentioned T-Shirt transfers as an option.

These sorts of transfers work by using common consumer printers to apply ink onto a sheet of heat-activated vinyl. These sorts of transfers are made to work with inkjet and laser printers, and come in varieties that work on light, dark, elastic, and stiffer mediums. They typically come in the form of a US Letter form factor (8.5” x 11”) and are sold at craft stores in the US for cheap ($12 for 5 transfers). These would work well for the graphics. The actual panels they were printed on were a different matter.

I knew I wanted to use a mesh, but as to what type I had no idea. With that in mind I started poking around online fabric stores to get a sense of what was available. What I quickly found was that there were two typical categories for mesh - decorative and functional. While an embroidered paisley would be fun to work with, it would play hell with visibility (Although a FR blocking wedding veil would be an interesting art piece…). I started looking into functional, and ordered a yard each of 4 mesh styles in white to test with.