1863 Dress Project: Hat Construction

I have been really fighting a cold....well, I have actually caught it and am now attempting to try and keep it from descending into my lungs.  I had pneumonia a couple of years ago and DO NOT EVER wish to have it again.  So, yesterday while relaxing, I decided to work on my 1863 hat.  Really, it was very relaxing.  I just sat in a chair and calmly worked on my hat and today, I feel so improved!  Huh....does this mean that whenever I get sick I should work on a hat?  I think so!!

Anyway, I didn't want to make this hat from scratch as I just didn't feel it.  And I didn't have a pattern to work from and was to tired to make one up.  So, I went to my costume/supply hall closet and rummaged around until I found this beauty!

A cheap costume shop top hat that a friend gave me a while back.  Perfect!  The brim was just the shape I wanted for the hat and the crown, when cut down to size was perfect as well!  Yeah!

Lovely side view!

The first thing I did was wire the brim.  I had to hand sew it as it wouldn't fit my sewing machine.

 Next step was to figure out where I wanted to cut it apart.  For no apparent reason, I chose to make my cut line 1" above the "hat band" line that was creased into the hat.  I used tailor's chalk to make hash marks all the way around the crown.

Using an xacto knife to start and then surgical scissors to finish, I removed the top of the hat from the bottom.

Now I had to figure how how short I wanted the crown.  Again for no apparent reason, I chose to make connecting marks 1" down from the crown tip.  This line was where the top of the bottom part of the hat would meet the bottom part of the top of the hat! hahahaha!

Top and bottom matched up and pinned together...

Top and bottom sewn together!  Yeah!!!

Now it is time to re-cover and decorate!!!

Starting on a Huge 1912 Hat for Mom's Croquet Dress!

Since Mom's dress is almost complete for the Museum Comes To Life event next Saturday, I thought I would begin working on her hat.  I adore hats as those of you who read this blog know.  The hat is my favorite part of the whole outfit!!  I was actually pretty proud of myself on this ensemble as I didn't do the hat first!!  I had a most fabulous inspiration plate in my collection of fashion plates that I caught my eye for a hat for mom and have started the process of making a hat worthy of the hugeness of the Titanic era!

Inspiration plate.  I LOVE the utter hugeness of both of these hats.  The large bow and turned up back of the hat on the left and the colossal wings on the right one...

I found this hat at the Salvation Army about 4 months and it has been waiting to be turned into a colossal hat.  It measures a whopping 20" across all the way around!!  Laaaaaaaaaa!!!!!  

I did not like however, the small crown.  I had purchased another hat from The Assistance League of Boise about 5 months ago and loved the crown for both its potential size and what it was made of.

After separating the crown from the brim, I steamed and shaped the crown to the size I wanted it to be.

After wiring and binding the outer brim of the hat, I had to get creative with the crown.  To make up for the open air space between the old crown and new crown, I used some scrap linen fabric and just wound it around the old crown, securing it by tacking down.

The new crown sitting atop the old crown.

I tacked the new crown down to prevent slippage!

Just playing around with the feathers!  I adore the HUGE white wings and plan on just pinning those in place with straight pins so they can be used on other hats in the future.

Here you see the cool new crown.  I tomorrow I'll make a blue silk bow to hide the ugly binding back.

Looks so much different from what it started out as!!

Can't wait to try this on my Mama!!!

The Destruction of Yet Another Hat!!!

If it means the construction of another hat from the 20s?  Heck ya!!!!

Since I had wonderful "luck" with my Ruth's Butter Yellow Tea Dress hat, I thought I'd give the 20s a go...

I simply adore the look and lines of this 20s era cloche!  I have previously made two other cloches, but their brim is much smaller.  This sweet one...I don't know why, but it just makes my heart happy!!  So, I searched and searched for yet another open weave straw hat to cannibalize.  Ebay came to my rescue.  

This beauty is what I found!  And score!!!  Look at those gorgeous poppies in obnoxious red/orange!!!  Yes, they did get added to the Ruth's Butter Yellow Tea Dress hat!  TaDa!!!

This is the result of taking flowers off of the hat.  The ribbon was glued on and I had some issues with removing it that resulted in some damage to the straw...but that was ok.

After about half an hour of picking, cutting and seam ripping, this is what I ended up with!  Yards and yards of lovely open weave millinery straw!!!

Up next....molding and forming a new hat!