Project: Blue foam hatblocks for Fosshape millinery

[labricoleuse]

We're in full swing with production on The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, the largest show our theatre has ever produced. If you've been reading labricoleuse for a while, you know that it's a huge deal around here--we've gotten a big NEA grant for all the work we're doing above and beyond the show itself under the auspices of the Dickens Initiative

Comments

[ladycelia]

So, with a blocked hat like this one, where it's been done in pieces, will you completely mull and cover it, treating like you would buckram or wire?

[labricoleuse]

In the fitting, i plan to decide on the upper and lower circumference shapes (so, we could cut it down or reshape it from both ends). Then i will wire the tip edge and brim edge and drop in a solid crown tip. And then, yes, depending on the fabric chosen i'll mull it and cover it in the requested fabric.

This show has so many hats that i'm assuming they all will need to be ultra-durable to stand up to handling by multiple performers and/or wardrobe or run crew members, hence the Fosshape structural choice. Though i hope the hats will get careful treatment, i want them sturdy enough they can withstand being chucked around by undergrads backstage through quick-changes and stay lovely!

Mulling and fabric and trimming will get detailed in a forthcoming Part Two!

[basingstoke]

I LOVE those insane bonnets.

I wish we still wore bonnets. My hair is useless, fashion should let me wear a giant and firmly anchored hat!

[labricoleuse]

They say hats are on the way back in. I wear them fairly often myself (not to work, but in non-work life). I vote, do it! Maybe you'll be the fashionista to bring bonnets back! :D

[morrigoon]

Did you attach the pieces to each other prior to heating, or did they bond together in the heating process?

[labricoleuse]

A little of both, actually!

I stitched the pieces in overlapped seams with a wide zigzag. The Fosshape will bond to itself but i like to stabilize seams with stitching in addition to that. The stitching gets fairly fused into the Fosshape then and it's super sturdy, whereas IME sometimes a join that is just bonded from heat and pressure will pop under strain.

[nonwoven]

La Bricoleuse- A very nice and most informative project....with great pictures. If anyone wants a copy of that CD you mentioned "FOSSHAPE MILLINERY".....just let me know or if anyone wants a couple swatches of FOSSHAPE to experiment with.....can do that as well.
Just need a regular mailing address.
The Thermoman of Dazian

[anonymous]

Nice succession of pix. Anxious to see the final product. I've had great success in using a Mud Tool for fine-tuning the foam. Not used a curry tool. The Mud Bug is from a NC company too. Found the little device while teaching at Arrowmont a few years ago. I've only had limited success with Fosshape and Wonderflex. Gonna see about that DVD!

[ext_75988]

Thank you so, so much. This is my kind of post and I love that you share so much with the world. I look forward to seeing how the bonnet turns out, I'm sure it's going to be lovely!
I had read about fosshape and was tempted to buy some, but was not sure about its uses in millinery. I will try to get some samples and that video although being in Spain I don't know if they will want to ship out.
In any case, thanks a lot. You're the best!
Cristina

Genius.

[ext_2040081]

Thank you for this tutorial. Wonderful Job.