Tag: cloche

Thinking about hats

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One of the things I’ve been thinking about recently is my hats, and where they’re going.

Before Christmas, they were really well-received at a local craft fair. Even the feedback from people who made sure to tell us that they were definitely not going to buy a hat was overwhelmingly positive! Buoyed by this result, after Christmas I signed myself up to go to a wedding fair, and made some more “weddingy” hats to display.

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I was really pleased with the designs I’d come up with, but it quickly transpired that they weren’t going to be anywhere near as well received as the cloches. Time to think again.

I think what I’d overlooked, in the mad rush to make plenty of stock for Christmas and the wedding fair, was that these hats were always supposed to be a means to an end – a stepping stone to learn the skills, so I could then move on to a different kind of hat. I became so bogged down in what I thought I could sell, that I forgot all about what I had originally been trying to create.

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I’ve learnt a lot from the hats I’ve made so far, and I’ve really enjoyed working with organic cotton lace and beautiful wool felt. These headbands, for example, will definitely be staying around. I’ve also realised that the reason I’ve been so quiet on the blog for so long is that I simply don’t feel comfortable writing a post whose sole purpose is to try and sell you something. Which, to be honest, is all I’ve been trying to do for the past year. I mean, yes, of course I need to sell the hats once I’ve made them, otherwise I’m just filling my work room with stuff! But I’d much rather share a thought or explain a process than just try to sell a hat.

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What I’d originally intended to make was a series of freeform hats like this, from handmade felt. I also wanted to use handmade felt to make traditionally-formed hats, such as my favourite cloche shape shown above. Unfortunately, the fibromyalgia’s been so bad this year that I haven’t had the strength required to make the quality and thickness of felt necessary for this type of hat.  However, at the Christmas craft fair I did have quite a long chat with a local felting expert who was quite critical of my pieces (at my request), and gave me quite a few tips for techniques and tools that I might find helpful.

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I have to admit that I have absolutely loved almost every single hat that I’ve made so far. The learning curve has been an enjoyable one, and the materials are extremely satisfying to work with. Just for now though, it’s time to take a little break, have a little think, and work out what to do next.

All hats, all the time…

Felt cloche hat

Okay, that’s not strictly true, and I don’t even really know what I’ve been doing with myself over the last fortnight apart from working a lot and feeling a bit ill, but I have just finished a little flurry of hats, so here they are.

The one above is the colour of a perfect cup of builder’s tea, trimmed with gold lace that took weeks and weeks to arrive from China. I won’t be ordering that lace again, but I’m making good use of it while I’ve got it. This one in particular is very pretty, and I have enough left over for at least one more hat.

Felt cloche hat

This one’s more the colour of coffee, or really good dark chocolate. This is also lace-from-China, which I’ve altered slightly from its original form. It had a segmented piece at the top which is designed to have ribbon woven through it, but in this case I preferred it without. The loopy bits are all couched down securely to the crown of the hat, but the teardrop shapes are left loose to allow a bit of movement.

I’m hesitant to describe these two hats as “Steampunk” just because they happen to be brown and gold, but perhaps they’ll be the perfect addition to somebody’s outfit.

Felt cloche hat

I wasn’t at all sure what I was going to do with this lavender coloured felt, and then I spotted this gorgeous organic cotton lace from Lancaster & Cornish. Okay, so it’s a lot more expensive than the Chinese lace (in this particular instance, fifteen times more expensive!!), but now I’ve worked with it I’m in no doubt that it’s absolutely worth it. The quality is amazing, it’s organically produced, and to be honest it’s just plain gorgeous.

The flower embellishment is also organic – a cotton and bamboo blend from the Organic Textile Company. I have quite a lot of little scraps of this fabric left over from a dress, so I can feel a few more of these flowers coming on – perhaps as brooches.

Felt cloche hat

And this… this is what came off my new cloche block from Guy Morse-Brown. Isn’t it just gorgeous? I realise I seem to be singing my own praises here, but really it’s the hat block that does all the hard work, and Owen Morse-Brown (who makes the wooden blocks) has carved an absolute work of art. I’m in love with the asymmetrical shape, the way the crown hugs the head, and the cutaway at the back of the neck which makes it incredibly easy to wear. I’m keeping this one, and I’ll definitely be making more!

Felt cloche hat

The flowers are made from the offcuts of felt that I trimmed away from the brim, and they’re cut out with Sizzix paper punches. It’s quite hard work to hammer the punches through the thick felt – they’re not really designed for that kind of punishment – but the flowers have come out with nice clean edges. The centres are Swarovski crystals. (I’m trying not to think about how much it looks like one of those flowery swimming caps.)

The hats are all on Etsy, should you fancy a closer look.

I’m now at that awkward stage once again where I need somebody to buy a hat (or a bunch of smaller stuff from the Emporium) before I can afford to buy any more felt hoods to make new hats with. It seems unlikely that wool felt hats are going to fly off the shelves in the middle of summer, but at least it’s not as though I have a shortage of other materials to make things from in the meantime. I have some carded wool batts on order to make some felt which will hopefully be heavy-duty enough for slippers or hats, I have lots of organic cotton to turn into tunic tops, and I have plans to make a few things for myself. Summer dresses, perhaps. I certainly won’t be short of things to do!

New mannequin, new photos

First glimpse of my new ghostly mannequin. Isn't she lovely?

Please excuse the grainy Instagram snapshot and the incredibly messy sewing room, but this is the first glimpse of my new mannequin. Isn’t she lovely? Much more sophisticated than my polystyrene heads.

Organic bow tie

The arrival of the mannequin has led to a day of product photography, which (as it turns out) is rather difficult. Especially when your “studio” is two pieces of wallpaper propped up on the bed, and a reflector that’s quite difficult to wrangle at the same time as the camera! Still, these photos are a definite improvement on the previous ones, even though they do still need improvement themselves. Work In Progress, and all that.

I wanted to showcase the last few bow ties, as I’ve added a coupon code to the Inexplicable Emporium. Simply enter “FATHERSDAY” when you check out, and you’ll receive 20% off your order. This is valid until June 15th – but don’t forget to allow enough time for your parcel to arrive in the post!

Purple cloche hat

I’ve also re-photographed all the cloche hats (some with greater success than others), to try and make them look a bit more tempting. I’ll finally be able to work on some new hats soon, as the lace I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived! Although I had a slight incident with a vegetable slicer at the weekend, which means I can’t do any hand sewing until the hole in my thumb has healed a bit more. Oops.

(By the way – the code “FATHERSDAY” works throughout my Etsy store, not just on the items that your Dad might like. So if you’ve been coveting a hat, you can take advantage of the offer to buy it at a bit of a discount.)

I do love this pink and purple one. If somebody doesn’t snap it up very soon, I think I might just have to keep it.

Latest Hat Update…

Blue Hat

I haven’t shown you a picture of a hat for a while, so I need to rectify that straight away!

This gorgeous blue one is already sold. I showed a picture of it on Facebook, and a friend popped up and yelled “MINE!!” almost immediately! I still need to work out the best way of adding a custom order listing to Etsy, so that people can choose the colours and flowers that they like.

Lettice's Sophisticated Hat

This one’s also sold – a lovely dark grey (anthracite) hat with guipure lace trim and a velvet button. The brief for this one was “sophisticated”, so I hope I’ve managed to achieve that. This was also the first hat which necessitated making a slightly different size from my blocks, so I hope it fits!

Ivory Hat

This one is for sale, it’s listed over on Etsy. The lace trim is one that came to me in a bundle with all of the vintage haberdashery, and it’s embellished with some little flower-shaped beads. I’m on the lookout for more lace motifs like this (not necessarily in ivory), as I’m really pleased with the way it’s turned out.

Fuchsia Hat

And one more, again listed on Etsy. Fuchsia pink this time, which is turning out to be my best selling colour so far! This one has a wider lace trim, gathered underneath another velvet button.

I had a conversation at the market on Sunday which worried me a little bit – it seems that people might not entirely understand that I’m actually making these hats, rather than just buying them in from somewhere and then trimming them. I suppose I should take that as a compliment, as it means they don’t look “hand made”. But then it also means that customers might not understand the inherent value in the time I’ve taken to choose the colours, choose the block styles, work the felt, and then add every single stitch by hand rather than machine. Believe me, doing all of the sewing by hand takes hours for even the simplest of these styles.

That’s not a complaint, of course – it was a conscious decision I took right at the beginning, to do everything by hand. It just means I need to make sure that people are aware of all that work, and that the hats are reaching the eyes of people who actually value it. How I achieve that is another matter, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

More flower than hat…

Nicola's ORANGE hat!

So, this is what happens when you order a hat in BRIGHT ORANGE, and then give me free reign to decorate it however I like. I blame Nicola, for agreeing that a massive “alien flower” would be a good thing to wander around wearing on her head.

Nicola's ORANGE hat!

I have to say that I have absolutely LOVED making this. The opportunity to use a nice bright base colour, and the freedom to make something that I thought Nicola would like, has been really enjoyable. As has the process of making the felt itself. I’m learning something new every time I work with wool in this way, and I’m so excited about the possibilities. It’s good for me too – it keeps away my perfectionist streak, as there’s no such thing as “perfect felt”, and it changes all the time as you’re working with it.

Nicola's ORANGE hat!

The centre of the flower is circled with bright orange bullion knots, to draw the colour back into the hat. The process of stitching through handmade felt is incredibly satisfying – almost therapeutic, somehow.

I had to take a bit of a break from felting today, as my shoulders and neck were complaining about all the rubbing and rolling, but I can’t wait to get back to it. My next day not-at-work is Tuesday, and that’s most definitely going to be another felting day!

At long last – another new hat!

Pale grey cloche hat with blue beaded felt flower

It wasn’t until I came to upload this hat to the Etsy shop that I realised it’s a whole month since I added the previous one. How on earth did that happen?

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the hats (too much thinking and not enough doing, clearly!), and I think in April (when I formally register Eternal Magpie as a business again) I’m going to move these hats out of the Inexplicable Emporium and over to an Eternal Magpie branded Etsy store. I think that will allow me to have a bit more creativity without having to shoehorn them into the faux-Victorian theme… and if I make anything properly crazy or very obviously Steampunk-inspired, then it can go into the Emporium if that’s where it fits best.

Felted leaves and tendrils

I’ve been having a bit of a play with felt again, with a view to the hats having a lot more handmade embellishments, rather than only ribbons and buttons. I think that lends them a certain uniqueness – anyone can go to a shop and choose a pretty ribbon and a striking button, but only I can make these exact flowers. Sure, there are a million and one felted flower tutorials out there, so I can’t claim any uniqueness in that. But these flowers will have come out of my hands and my imagination, and that will hopefully make these hats stand out a little from the many other cloches out there. Typing “felt cloche hat” into Etsy currently returns 1,869 results, so I need to make mind stand out somehow! They’re currently on pages 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 (out of 47) of that search, so not bad, but anything I can do to make them that little bit more interesting will definitely help.

I also want to make a few smaller things, such as hair clips, to offset the fact that yes, these hats are going to be expensive when the prices go up in April, and yes, they’re going to be outside of many people’s budgets. I’m hoping that people might start by buying a hair clip with some pretty felted flowers on it, and like it so much that they save up to buy a hat. Well, a woman can dream!

 

Another fuchsia pink hat!

Helen's Custom Cloche

This is the latest hat (almost) off the blocks – another fuchsia pink cloche with black guipure lace trim. I was asked to amend the shape of the back, so that it wouldn’t catch on the back of Helen’s coat collar.

Helen's Custom Cloche

As you can see, the cutaway flattened out a little bit once I’d added the brim wire, but I think it’s still a nice shape. Hopefully it will be shaped enough to accommodate Helen’s coat!

Helen's Custom Cloche

All I need now is a really nice button to finish it off, and to cover the join in the lace. (Where the pins are, although I was careful to make the join as discreet as possible.)

I’m looking forward to having a little more time on my hands when next month comes around, all this hand sewing is very slow. I lost the best part of a week to being ill, and I’m on a course with work this week, which is more sewing time gone, and I’ve got a backlog of hats waiting to be trimmed!

Don’t forget that all of the felt hats in the Etsy store will be going up in price at the end of the month, when the introductory offer comes to an end! I’ll try and get a few more finished before the deadline, so you’ve got plenty to choose from.

New hat, new options for a mannequin

Hand blocked wool felt baby pink cloche hat featuring a floral design with hand embroidery, felt flowers and vintage buttons

Here is today’s felt hat offering – now in the Etsy shop. I’m really pleased with how the flowers came out, although I learnt an important lesson about doing all the work in the right order. (Note to self: Yes, putting the flowers on first allowed you to check their placement. But it made for incredibly fiddly stitching of the stems!)

I had been vaguely planning to work on felt hats during my full days off work, and then do other kinds of sewing during my half days. Given how sore my fingers are from doing all of this hand sewing through machine-made felt, I think I might revise that plan. Ouch.

Excitingly, my previous hat (the bright pink one with the black guipure lace) sold out almost immediately, and was swiftly followed by an order for another one the same! So I’ve ordered some new felt hoods from Parkin Fabrics, and I’ll make a start on some more hats once they arrive. Perhaps without embroidery this time though.

Interestingly, after my earlier post contemplating the purchase of a new mannequin, I received a very helpful email from Equipashop.com, directing my attention to the existence of the lovely lady above. She’s perfect!

Okay, so she’s still out of my budget right now, but she’s much more affordable than the one I was looking at before, and she’ll be able to display hats, cowls, gloves and jackets. Brilliant! I’m now following Equipashop.com on Facebook, I’ve signed up to their mailing list, and I’ll be making a purchase as soon as funds allow. (And she’s SPARKLY. I mean really, how can I resist?)

Looking around the rest of the site (which turns out to be FULL of bargains!) I was also pleased to see that they offer a plus size mannequin, although she’s not in stock right now. Granted, at roughly a UK size 14/16 she’s at the smaller end of plus size, but that’s still several sizes bigger than most garment display options. Conveniently her measurements are almost exactly the same as mine (though she’s quite a bit taller), so she’d actually be perfect as a dressmaker’s dummy for my own sewing.

Hmmm.

Maybe it’s time to get on with having that pattern de-stash sale that I keep thinking about, to raise money for the newly instated Mannequin Fund…

More Making

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At long last, a new cloche hat for the shop! I’ve been waiting for the lovely guipure lace to arrive, and also for a full day off work when I didn’t feel too ill to to anything. (Back to the dentist today for a face full of iodine. Yuck.) This one’s now up in the Etsy shop, at a bargain price because it’s not quite as perfect as I’d like. It was the first hat that I blocked, and my trimming of the edges wasn’t perfectly straight, which has resulted in a slightly uneven hem on the inside of the brim. It’s not at all noticeable when you’re wearing the hat, so this is a great opportunity to grab it for a silly price. The custom listing is also available, if you fancy a different colour.

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This cowl was a bit of an experiment, and it’s one that I’m quite pleased with! You can wear it with the buttons at the front or the back, to keep any stray draughts away from either your neck or your throat. (This one’s in the Etsy shop too.) I’m pleased with the lovely yellow vintage buttons, but rather than snap fasteners I think I might work hand-stitched buttonholes in the future.

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Unfortunately, it’s proved rather difficult to take photos of a large draped neckerchief on a mannequin that doesn’t have any shoulders! I don’t think the pictures do it justice, so I’m going to need to find another way. I’d love a torso mannequin, like this slightly abstract one from Morplan, but that’s definitely out of my budget until I’ve sold a lot more hats! (Any hats. Selling any hats would be nice.)

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and get an early night. It’s half term this week, which means I’ve got an extremely busy day ahead of me at work tomorrow!

Two more hats…

Anthracite grey wool felt hat with black velvet ribbon band and button trim

Today’s been a pleasantly busy one – a good old rummage through my haberdashery boxes this morning, followed by two more completed hats!

I particularly like the understated style of this smart dark grey one. I don’t think it would look out of place on a film noir femme fatale, topping off a great big coat with a fluffy collar, and a slinky dress worn with beaded shoes.

Equally, I think it would look fabulous with jeans and a jumper – effortless weekend style in that “I look awesome in my jeans and fancy hat” kind of way.

Purple felt cloche hat with pink felt band and lime green button

This one’s a different sort of a creature – very eye-catching, and in all my favourite colours at once! It’s designed to be worn tall – with space between the crown of the hat and the top of your head. But if you want to, you can pull it right down and hide inside it, with the back of the brim flipped up for a different look.

I have three blocked hats still left to work on – a pale grey, pale pink, and the same bright fuchsia as the band of the hat above. I have some lovely black guipure lace that looks very striking against the fuchsia, I just need to buy another piece that’s actually long enough to go all the way around the hat! I’m not sure yet about the pale grey and pale pink. I have half a mind to embroider flowers all the way around the pink one and top them off with lovely buttons, but I don’t want it to come out “whimsical” in a bad way!

Anyhow, the two hats above are now in the Etsy shop, along with made-to-order versions of each style. I’m off to let my poor old fingers recover from all of this hand sewing. I might make a few more hoods on my next day off, to give the machine a bit more of the hard work!