New hat!

New hat - finished!

For Christmas, skycarrots gave me a 1960s book on millinery. I keep leafing through it, but it’s taken me all these months to get around to actually making anything. There are several chapters on “dressmaker” hats. Rather than using felt hoods and a block to mould your hat into shape, you make a pattern and sew it up in the same way that you’d make any other item of clothing.

This is a sort of a cloche style, with a four piece crown and an asymmetric brim. The fabric is “Kyoto Hollyhock” by Alexander Henry – yet another quilting cotton. The brim is made from the same fabric on both sides, and the crown is lined with plain black polycotton.

As recommended by various online tutorials, I stiffened the main fabric with fusible interfacing. It works well for speed and convenience, as you don’t have to worry about a third separate layer, but next time I think I’ll try horsehair canvas or coutil instead. The fusible interfacing prevented the fabric from steaming into a nice rounded shape at the crown, and I think horsehair or coutil will be better for that.

I finished the main body of the hat last night and left it plain. I knew it needed a bit of livening up though, so this morning I added the band around the crown, and the flower trim.

The flower is a variation on my flower brooch tutorial. I’d been reading about kanzashi (traditional japanese hair ornaments) and was inspired by some of the multi-layered flowers that I saw. Once I’d made my basic flower, I added the second layer by folding strips of bias tape into place. I used a fabric covered button to finish off the centre of the flower, and here it is – my finished hat!

New hat - finished!

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