Well perhaps not madness, but I'm certainly having fun with these little hats! In anticipation of June's mini group meeting, I started figuring out the top two fabric hat choices from Millinery Magic by Barbara Hillier Smith: the Gibson Girl and a flat brimmed hat.
I decided to make two of each hat; one in cotton and the other in silk. That way there's more than one example of each hat and everyone can see the effects of both fabrics. Then I decided I wanted to make the pillbox hat design for myself... just because.
So Monday and Tuesday were spent constructing mini hats. The Gibson girl hats are the black and white floral and the blue silk. I only made the flat brimmed hat in cotton on Monday. I needed to unearth my other silk colors.
Other silk was reclaimed and used for the other flat brimmed hat and a pillbox on Tuesday. The grey pillbox is cotton.
There were nasty storms on Wednesday, so I didn't stream. The PC needed to stay off and unplugged.
Thursday I decorated three of the hats. The rose silk pillbox's details were inspired by many of the pillbox hat images I found online. I used the same fabric to create the fan shape. The grey pillbox got a hefty bow out of mini rick rack, three silk roses, and a dark feather.
The blue silk hat got the royal treatment. Lace roselets, silk roses encrusted with silver no hole beads, silk leaves, feathers, a silk band, and some pearls. Here's another view of the blue silk hat's decor. I used some of the 2 mm glass pearls I had stashed away for a rainy day.
This flat brimmed hat got a cotton band. I need to make some daisies to attach to the back on top of the bow.
I'm still figuring out the bits and bobs for the other two hats.
Friday was a day for research. I combed through my entire stash of books and magazines looking for tutorials on parasols, purses, other hat designs, gloves, shoes, and anything else that might go into a hat shop.I came away with quite a stack and have chosen a few to test out and show to the mini club members. They can decide which ones they want to learn.
I also took the time and ordered several spools of 4 mm silk ribbon. My stash had never been large and I've already wiped out one shade of purple. So in a week I shall have a silken rainbow to work with.
Saturday I prowled through thrift shops looking for deals on silk blouses. I found a couple in colors that I don't already have. One is a silk-cotton blend in a delicate shade of purple and drapes ever so well. I'm already seeing at least one gown made from it in the future. For now though, I believe there will be a parasol and some gathered flowers on a hat of some sort. There was also a thin leather vest in a mulberry color. I decided to grab it up too.
That's all for now. I'm going to go tidy up the studio, do some housework, and perhaps play with that leather vest and some purse patterns. See you next week!
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