hats & more hats

Today I replaced the lining in my muff in the afternoon. Then fortified with the pink champagne we had with dinner to celebrate Bridget's birthday and Dad's triathlon (he did an AquaBike this morning crazy man!), I finished sewing foxes and things on my hat so my outfit is now completely done, except for hooks & eyes on the jacket which Bridget is going to do while I work on her outfit. Ummm, I think that sentence is too long... :>

In Bridget's corner her hat is now finished too. Yay us! I can say "us" because I helped with the covering plus the usual, "no that isn't right" "yes that is it!" comments. I adore how both hats came out although they are completely different. Mine is the result of watching Jefferson in Paris too often I think while Bridget's is very Marie Antoinette. Perhaps I'm so tickled with them because they are different, life is always more interesting with variety. Re-enacting events in particular IMHO. :>

Yes, yes I do have pics, which I will post tomorrow. Now I'm off to bed...

fun with hats

Since my headache won't go away I thought I would post some pics for your viewing pleasure. Stupid headache.


My muff. The little bit of what looks like dirty rags is the original lining. Not in good shape to say the least. The bulky bit that looks like dirty rags is the stuffing. It looks like it's layers of an interfacing type material wrapped around pockets of horsehair. Interesting.

Well disgusting actually as it was filthy dirty. I thought about replacing the stuffing too but in the end decided that I didn't want to take the time and I really liked the original shape and slight "crunchiness" the horsehair gives it. So I took the stuffing outside and beat it against the deck railing a bit then brushed it vigorously with my feather duster inside and out. I brushed the fur part with a comb, working out most of the matted spots, wiped the inside with a damp wash cloth. I could work with it after all that. :P


I took the measurements from the original lining and cut a new lining out of some lightly slubbed ivory silk dupioni. It was too small. Or rather it was too long while being not wide enough. Ah huh. So I added and subtracted what I thought would work and cut a new one. Perfection! I stitched the lining to the stuffing then folded over the ends of the fur and tacked them to the silk. I had to use ivory thread as I didn't have any brown that matched so the stitches kinda show but I'm not too bugged by it. At least it's silk thread. :>


My hat. It came out about the same as my test last weekend. I moved the blue feather and made the lace puff neater. I'll take lots of pics next weekend. :>


Bridget's hat. How cute is this?! This is a hat blank from Truly Victorian covered first in flannel (to smooth out the bumpy straw a bit) then in silk taffeta. I guess this means I decided to keep that green-pistachio silk girls! :> Well it's worth it as it will look lovely in her dark hair. I even let her use the last of my Libertys of London lace. Umm.. it's time to go back to London now!

I'm really pleased with this, the pleated fabric along the brim was my idea and B faithfully pined and sewed it once I got her started. I finished off by covering on the crown too but she really did a fabulous job on this hat, even if she did make a mess trimming the feathers on my bed!