The obligatory before photo:



( Then after...Collapse )

I recently got back in to Millinery after a break of some years (life interfered), but since I have trouble finding a tutor locally and not much time to actually play around (a 2 yr old, an almost 8 month old and a husband who works stupidly long hours are not conducive to "me time"), I've been studying at millinery by reading books at my local library. Since I want to remember what I read and where I've been doing reviews/short summaries. Thought you guys might be interested. I'd love to know your thoughts on these or any other books.

:)
Book review - Classic Millinery Techniques by Ann Albrizio and Oznat Lustig

Review - Fabulous Fascinators by Kerry Aston

Double the book review - Hat Tricks by Terence Terry and Decorating Hats by Melissa Davies

I haven't done much millinery lately, but I did make this for my sister to wear to a wedding with a science fiction theme. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of her from the event yet, but I have blogged some info about the design and making of that has some more information and some in-progress photos here.

( Also a mini top hat...Collapse )

I have mentioned that this hat was designed from the start to be assembled and disassembled for the suitcase. This hat uses a lot of Velcro.

( lots of text and a picCollapse )Now let's jump ahead to Tuesday before con when I assemble the hat. Here is sort of how it went.

All the parts needed arrived fine. The envelopes hold the feathers so they don’t break in transport.

 

( massive images and hat assembly....dialups bewareCollapse )See the hat start to finish here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/droxy/sets/72157624062378806/

This hat is for a Augusta Longbottom costume for a Harry Potter convention.  The hat for the character is huge, but we have luggage limitations.  This hat can be completely pulled apart and reassembed, except for the base "pilgrim" style hat.

Obviviously I finished the core hat, that was a major hurdle.  Somewhere I screwed up doing witch topper over crown, so I split it it open and did an extension (like adding a panel to a corset but not as complicated.  The flap is a must, otherwise I could not velcro the over cone on top of the main hat.  Why do the second crown?  So it will fit into the luggage!   The hat turned out very tall due to the angle of the crown and the secondary has to hug the main or the stucture will fail.   That top cone is structurally wired, and interfaced.   This hat has been sort of a strange project.  My first buckram hat. 



( hat pics- the secondary coneCollapse )

The last time you saw the newbie with buckram hat was here:

http://mad-hattery.livejournal.com/23980.html#comments


I've finished this a while back,  so here is some more of it!


Here is another set of progress pics.

( Progress pics here- lots of pics and image heavyCollapse )


It is impossible to traditionally pin this like a garment. It's so thick with layers and buckram. Here you see the muggle torture device, but this straight pinning will secure it.



Now I am forced to hand sew the crown to the brim. It is slow, and I need grips to pull the needle through. But it is almost assembled.

I've been a busy wee person making these tricorne hats in various colours and patterns and selling them. Here are a few examples...

Royal Oriental Brocade Tricorne:

Black & White Striped Tricorne:

Extra small Black Tricorne with Gothic Lolita theme, 20cm instead of 25cm:

Hope you've enjoyed them! If you have facebook, help out my new page by liking it <3

Hey, guys. New hatter, first attempt, first blog. I'd been wanting to get my hands into the craft for a while now, but couldn't quite find anything to help get me started, but recently struck gold! Fortune smiled upon me, and I was blessed with a sale (I have an Etsy, which is starting to turn a bit of revenue) and bought some buckram, milliner's wire, and a nice fabric glue from Judith M (as was suggested on another post in this community). After a long day of sore fingers, wire and hand sewing, I have this buckram frame, based on the concept design for a flared Mad Hatter's hat by Lynn McMasters. As it is, I figured I'd start small with a mini-hat, so that I wouldn't have to worry about sizing and it being properly measured and what because it quite obviously isn't meant to go around someone's temples. That lets off a little pressure that, as a newbie, I ought to do without.


As it is, I wanted to ask you lot, how did I do? Yes, the stitching is a bit messy in places (I have frightful bad luck with hand stitching, but it's worse with machines) but I live by the idea of erring on the side of caution - it's just embarassing when something falls apart from want of a stitch in time, and since it'll be covered up, so long as it's not too much of a mess, it won't have much problem. I have a simple holiday (Halloween) themed ribbon and a black cloth (quilting-type cloth, since I read that we want to avoid stretchy fabrics, lest they warp the frame?) that I intend to use as the basic... is 'wrap' the term? I recall someone saying a trick of layering will help keep things neat, but I'm still a bit wary of moving on to the next stage? Should I stitch the pieces together, and then cover with fabric, or should I cover the pieces and then assemble them? What's your preferred method of adding fabric, glue or stitch, and in what order? What heartaches should I know of ahead of time, what shortcuts, tips can you suggest? I do best learning as I go, but any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I've been gone for a very long time. Please accept my apologies for essentially disappearing for a few years. A special Thank You to maintainer bubbles for clearing out the trash and instituting new member moderation.

I've done some community info housekeeping and will continue further to update information. Please comment or mail me if you have questions, suggestions, or complaints.

Oh, yeah... ( post needs moar hats!Collapse )

edit on site review:

Apparently there are some that did not read the profile page or grasp the spirit of the guidelines. One image above the cut does NOT mean one image file. I'm not about to get nit-picky over 2-5 pictures in one image file or 2-3 images above the cut (tho preference is lined up horizontally, not vertically) but when I have to scroll just to look at one image file, it's got too many pictures in it. Most flagrant violators, please clean up your posts.

Hi,

I have been checking this community and found so much interesting information:)
Wouldnt want to be quite any more and show you some of my recent collections:)
Here is my bridal collection "Unconventional Veil"




photographers www.hamishscottbrown.co.uk
www.elenaphotography.co.uk

You can see the rest of my collections here: ТУТ
info@beretkah.co.uk

I made a hat to match a dress a friend made for me to wear to a Steampunk Ball last month, of black and white plaid with an abundance of trimmings:



More pictures and some of the details of construction are outlined in my blog.

Hai!

I love lolita and other fashions but my round face is hard to find decent hats for.  I am looking for a hatter that can help me out.

I like feminine hats, but nothing OTT.  My coloring has a yellow undertone  and I tend to dress in respect to this with muted/deep colors (deep purple, mauve, dark-sping green, black, etc).  I like many styles of hats so long as they realy fit and frame my face.

Please show me what you have.

little red hat?with three handmade flowers that pin on. has a comb for placing in your hair.can't figure out how to cut,more pic avalible on my etsy mideva.enjoy misty

Thank you to all of you who let me know about the spam.  I apologize for any issues it may have caused you.

As softpaw  suggests, we will be changing to moderated membeship, at least for a short while, to help keep the charming adult content spam off of the community. 

New small and mid-sized hats for sale! Top Hats and Fedoras~



More in my Etsy shop!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Wandlung

For my steampunk-gown for this year's Castlefest I decided to make my first buckram hat. I used the Truly Victorian pattern (TV550)and made the one with the large crown. Here's the result:



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Two new handpainted mini tophats in our Etsy Shop

 

I've been busy and wanted to share some recent work with you guys :D




( More this wayCollapse )




Lastly, for anyone who's just getting into hat making I did a Millinery 101 type of thing over on my blog since I had some people over in another community interested.

Thanks for looking everyone!