Have just finished making this Head Cage -
Well, that is the beginning of a wire frame hat, tedious work that breaks fingernails - but now the REALLY tedious work begins because I have to wrap all those wires with tulle - then cover the hat with frothy fabric and stuff. Should be fabulous when it is finished - a modern version of the big "Titanic" hat - from the 19teens.
Have to make 2 wire frame hats for this exercise, No: 2 will be very similar - not as wide in the brim and I'm going to cover it in knitting :-)
The other millinery exercises have not been very happy - still haven't even started one [Oops!] and mixed results for the other.
I posted about my plans for glamourous 1930s style hats ... hmmm Marlene Dietrich would not wear this -
and the pattern-making took me ages. Very Big Sighs!There are 10 pattern pieces - asymmetrical crown, asym brim, that godet with the pleats ... I had head spins! had to work with seam allowances - so confusing for someone so completely mathematically challenged as myself!! (in costume-making you usually do patterns without seam allowance and I'm really out of practice) .
Well, the pattern isn't too bad really - but I made this prototype using far too soft an interfacing in the brim - it really is floppy. One day I'll make another with stronger stiffening and I think it just might be an OK hat. The contrast pleats over the eye are quite glam.
The other part of that pattern-making exercise only had to be made as a toile. I didn't think I'd like this hat - based on a photo of a real hat from the early 1930s - but it turned out better than I expected. (this is only a calico toile, it'll look better in a nice wool fabric ...)
The top is reather silly and over -complex (trying to comply with course requirements) there is an inverted pleat down the middle and ... ears - yes the 1930s had had the ears too .... really, truely it did
But I'm really pleased with the brim - it has a nice turn up and disappears into a bow at the back. Quite neat!
Think I'll be making this one again - as a cloche with a less complex tip - though the ears are rather cute in a way - perhaps I'll make one for Easter! :-)
That head cage hat sounds like it is going to be gorgeous! I was just thinking about how I would cover that with tatting, LOL! That sounds like such a fascinating thing to learn!!! :)
ReplyDeleteAck! covering a hat like that with tatting would definitely take me forever. Nice thought though it would look lovely.
ReplyDeleteNo: 2 hat will be covered in knitting - I'm going to hand-spin the yarn :-) waiting for the roving (sliver) have it on mail-order. Bright Red :-)