Looking for a good cat/dog cap pattern

[u/JazBoom]

Hey there! I’m looking for some pattern-making advice, especially if you guys have experience with hats or pet accessories

I’m trying to make a small baseball cap for dogs and cats that looks as close as possible to a real human baseball cap :) especially the relatively high front shape

I started from an existing pet-cap (the yellow cap I bought, image 2) and modified it to get a pattern (image 3)… but the problem is that every version I make still looks very flat compared with a normal baseball cap

the animal’s head obviously has a very different shape from a human head, so I know I probably can’t reproduce a human cap pattern exactly, but I’m tryin to can get very close to it

So far, I’ve tried:

• shortening the back pieces to leave more volume toward the front
• changing the shape of the front and side pattern pieces
• adding darts to create more volume
• experimenting with a homemade internal “shoulder”/support piece to hold the front up
• making several mock-ups with different proportions (see image 4)

The main problem is always the same: once the cap is worn/tightened around the animal’s head, the crown tends to collapse or flatten instead of keeping that higher, boxier baseball-cap silhouette.

I’m gonna test Decovil/interfacing on the front panels to see how much of the problem is simply a lack of structure in the fabric

would you approach this by changing the pattern itself, adding internal structure, changing the panel construction, or a combination of those?

I’d especially love advice on what you would change in the front/side pattern pieces to create more height and prevent the crown from collapsing

I’m be super happy to redraw the pattern completely if my current construction is working against me lol

Please help meee <3