"Resign yourself, Catherine! Shops must be visited! Money must be spent! Do you think you could bear it?" - Northanger Abbey

Thursday, August 22, 2013

1950's hat for Twinwood - Trials and tribulations

Ok so I made my dress (photo's/blog post coming soon) and I needed a hat...well I couldn't go to Twinwood and not have the full 50s ensemble.
Now the problem is, I didn't have the money to buy one or have one made...I couldn't find anything in local vintage shop. Hiring one was too much fuss plus I'd be scared it would get ruined. so I had to make one myself. Unfortunately I decided this even more last minute than I decided to make the dress. So it would have to be cobbled together with what I had to hand.
Firstly I needed to decide on a style. Initially I wanted a close 'cap' or headband style.
But this really didn't look right on me. It sat oddly and wanted to slide off...

So Next I thought with 3 days to go...I'll try the saucer shape hats.


It was simple to make I used a plate, covered the flat base with felt disk padded out with old tights to make my 'mold'. I then made a framework of masking tape. then came the messy bit I used the left over gummed paper tape from my dress form to create the hat.
Note: If you try this over the plate with something like felt or fabric or something or else the gummed paper sticks to the plate and you can't get it off without ripping some of the brim and leaving the plate with paper stuck to it. ooops!
I soon *ahem* rectified the error covering the rips and using some paper covered wire to reenforce the brim. Covering it in another layer of gummed paper.
I then added my decorations, and superglued the comb onto the underside.

I hope noone coments on how its paper. A bit make do and mend I know. But with a few modifications I can see how I could use this technique to make a stiff layer without having to use buckram.

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