Millinery Tip: Scavenging straw braid
Spiral-sewn straw braid hats can be really beautiful, but nice strip straw is so hard to come by, isn't it?
...not if you know where to look!
Nothing personal, but like, these hats suck, dude.
Spiral-sewn hats in plain sun-hat styles are easy to find in thrift shops and discount stores for cheap! And who's to say they have to stay spiraled in plain-jane shapes?
When hats are manufactured with this technique, they usually use a chain-stitch machine, so to unspiral one all you have to do is get it started by popping a stitch and then pull the thread! We had several spiral straws like those pictured above donated over the summer, and they are all made of excellent braids--i spent part of today pulling them out so we might use the braid in millinery class. Once you have it all unraveled, you press and/or steam it out straight and wind it up into a hank.
The hat on the left yielded about 27 yards of lovely antique millinery horsehair, and the one on the right was a fancy onion straw, around 18 yards (less because it's wider than the former).
Check it out:
Now, we can either use the spiral construction concept to create a new shape (something more specific to a period style, perhaps), or use the braid as a trimming itself to create bows, sprays, and so forth. If you want to experiment with this kind of thing but are hesitant to take one totally apart, try unspiraling it down to the base of the crown, then reassembling it to create a new brim shape--maybe it tilts up sharply, or gets elongated and elliptical, or has slits in it you weave ribbon through later when you trim it!
In the past, i've posted a visual on this with craft-store hats as well, but they're all made out of the same thick country straw and sometimes, you want something more delicate. Like a cannibalized bridesmaid hat.
You can tell by the yardages i list above that if you intend to buy braid to do a hat of this sort, you're going to need a large quantity for a good-sized hatbody--if you can find something for a good price or are willing to shell out the cash, by all means, buy yardage! However, if you are limited by cost or availability, this is a good way to get the material you need for minimal cash and effort.
While we're on the subject of straw hats, want to see a really cool one i found in stock today?
exterior
interior
I promise i have more book reviews coming, and some macropuppetry action, and of course more millineria.
...not if you know where to look!
Nothing personal, but like, these hats suck, dude.
Spiral-sewn hats in plain sun-hat styles are easy to find in thrift shops and discount stores for cheap! And who's to say they have to stay spiraled in plain-jane shapes?
When hats are manufactured with this technique, they usually use a chain-stitch machine, so to unspiral one all you have to do is get it started by popping a stitch and then pull the thread! We had several spiral straws like those pictured above donated over the summer, and they are all made of excellent braids--i spent part of today pulling them out so we might use the braid in millinery class. Once you have it all unraveled, you press and/or steam it out straight and wind it up into a hank.
The hat on the left yielded about 27 yards of lovely antique millinery horsehair, and the one on the right was a fancy onion straw, around 18 yards (less because it's wider than the former).
Check it out:
Now, we can either use the spiral construction concept to create a new shape (something more specific to a period style, perhaps), or use the braid as a trimming itself to create bows, sprays, and so forth. If you want to experiment with this kind of thing but are hesitant to take one totally apart, try unspiraling it down to the base of the crown, then reassembling it to create a new brim shape--maybe it tilts up sharply, or gets elongated and elliptical, or has slits in it you weave ribbon through later when you trim it!
In the past, i've posted a visual on this with craft-store hats as well, but they're all made out of the same thick country straw and sometimes, you want something more delicate. Like a cannibalized bridesmaid hat.
You can tell by the yardages i list above that if you intend to buy braid to do a hat of this sort, you're going to need a large quantity for a good-sized hatbody--if you can find something for a good price or are willing to shell out the cash, by all means, buy yardage! However, if you are limited by cost or availability, this is a good way to get the material you need for minimal cash and effort.
While we're on the subject of straw hats, want to see a really cool one i found in stock today?
exterior
interior
I promise i have more book reviews coming, and some macropuppetry action, and of course more millineria.