hat confection
My bit of 18th century frosting!
*sigh* I love hats. They offer a chance to have fun and bring a bit of fantesy to a costume. I was inspried by Polonaiseville, my uber-foofy Pimpernel revamp plans and a darling hat seen at Vaux a few years ago. I love this over-the top tilted hat. It's a style I've seen frequently in engravings in the 1770s, becoming more tilted and feathered as the hair gets higher. Yes I will need "pouf" hair with this. Darn. :P
The Frosting began it's journey as a plain straw hat, bought at a market fair at Mount Vernon. I zig-zagged millery wire along the edge of and a couple of inches inside the underside brim. (I later covered the wire with coral velvet ribbon).
I pulled out my favorite wide lace (thank you LA garment district) and after starching it I pleated it onto the brim. I pleated, pressed and pinned right onto the straw. A little steam never hurt a straw brim in my experiance.
Once the lace was stitched down, I started pleating a length of baby pink silk taffeta. I just eyeballed the pleats, pressing each one to set it. I marked a line about 1.25" from the bottom and eased the fabric onto the hat, lining up my marked line with the base of the crown.
Once that was basted on the hat, I ran a gathering stitch along the top of the silk and gathered it to from a pouf. I stuffed the pouf with a bit of netting (so it wouldn't collapse on itslf over time) and covered the hole with a self fabric covered button.
How to keep the darn thing on! I don't know if this will be the best solution once I have big "pouf" hair but it works for now. I orginally tried just one tie but it needed a second top one for more security. I think some high hair and a hat pin will also be required if it's at all windy but we'll see.
The real frosting: feathers, cockades and ribbons - oh my! It needs more feathers (I'll wait and see what I can find at Fort Fred this year) and ribbons (nice of MJ Trim to have a sale this week!) but so far I'm pleased.
Is it too much? *wicked grin*
And since I am having way too much fun with my millenary wire and have too way many ideas in my head to stop at just one hat this week, I started work on another. This time to go with a blue print dress I'm making for that Fort Fred outing. Only a sneak peak for now - I need the silk organza just I ordered to come in before I can do more with it...