Summer Straws and Winter Furs

As the time until baby number two arrives get fewer and fewer, my work time has been more and more devoted to making, rather than blogging, so today is just going to be a bit of show and tell.

I've just done a complete stock changeover at The Blackheath Hub, the local shop where my hats are on sale. A full winter collection has gone in, just in time for the cooler weather, and a lot of summer hats are back in my hands.

I'll be listing these ones, for which I happily have these lovely images on my friend Ruanne, on Etsy in the next few days.

Honestly, if this floral one doesn't sell by the time it's summer here again, I'm keeping it!

Straw hats with decently large brims are a must for summer, and very flattering too.

Among the other hats I'll be listing are these versions of the 1954 Butterfly cap I reviewed for the Trove Pattern Project. I couldn't decide between red velvet and leopard print, and my Instagram friends were similarly divided, so I made both! It really is a cute pattern.

I do like bows on things. As you'll see a bit in the winter hats too!

Sadly I don't have beautifully modelled photos of these ones. The weather here has almost literally been stinking hot or raining for a month now!

There's a lot of 1960s inspiration and a lot of faux fur in this collection, with a little bit of 1940s (still fluffy though) thrown in for good measure.

I think I prefer the basic hoods in the really fluffy white fur, but the rich red has a lot going for it too. And as you can see, I'm enjoying adding pom poms to things!

My love of pixie hats continues, in furry 60s hood form this time. I've played with the shape a couple of times, and I think in future I will make some further revisions, but overall it's looking cute!

From the forties I'm exploring fur-trimmed tilt hats, with big silk bows. I swoon over these whenever I see vintage examples or illustrations, and I'm happy that I finally made one. Ok, two.

And finally, some seriously lush ear muffs. I got the idea for ear muffs on a more substantial base than just a thin band from a 1940s millinery book, but I've taken their instructions as a base and done it my own way. I'm getting really happy with them now (they are SO comfortable it is ridiculous) and once I've worked on another variation I have in mind, these are set to be one of my first sewing patterns! Look out for them in my post-maternity world. (Right now I can't think too far beyond the next five weeks, to be honest, and life is dividing into "urgent" and "later, whatever, I don't care".)

I hope that whatever season you are in, and preparing for, I've shared something to inspire you in your hat wearing! Keep an eye on the Etsy shop for the new listings (and use the discount code "uptheduff" to get 30% off from now until the shop closes for maternity leave in about two weeks), and if you happen to be a Sydney/Blue Mountains local, pop in to the Blackheath Hub to try something on!

Felt, faux fur, and more felt

Over the years I have made quite a few hats for my family and friends, and my mother has the biggest collection. So I didn't take many with me on my recent holiday, but instead planned to borrow some of those! My favourite was a small black felt hat with felt feathers and a snow leopard fur trim. I enjoyed wearing it so much, I decided to try some similar styles again.

I would be wearing this hat right now if I hadn't accidentally made it a bit too small for me! Instead it has gone, along with the rest of the hats in this post, into the Blackheath Hub with the berets for my first restock of winter.

I tried again with red and black, but I don't love the black faux fur on me. I guess I'll just have to make another one for myself!

Something that is so lovely about vintage hats is how different they look from different angles. This is particularly noticeable in those that sit on the back of the head, as these do, and create a frame around the face, with hidden details at the back. In this case, none of the red is visible, and it creates a nice bright surprise as you turn.

This next one I have mixed feelings about. I was going for a sort of heart-shaped halo effect, but I think I've arrived at fluffy tricorne instead. What do you think?

While those experiments had their ups and downs, it is hard to go wrong with a classic cloche. There is so much inspiration to draw on, but a swept back brim and velvet ribbon is hard to beat. And the dove grey vintage wool felt was lovely to work with and is such a subtle and classy colour.

This next was a design challenge, since the orange felt hood already had a bit cut out of the bottom (to make the visor on Nicole's 1960's rainbow helmet hat) and I don't work with orange very much either. So it had to make a small hat, leaning towards the 1930s in inspiration, with bow details I saw in a late 20s illustration. This type of hat often doesn't look like much on a mannequin, but is really flattering when worn. It might be the hair that makes all the difference.

Hopefully I'll manage to borrow them back from the shop and do a photoshoot so you can see them looking their best. Actually, I hope they sell out before I get that chance, but the photoshoot would be a nice option too. Although these hats are in the Hub now, non-locals feel free to contact me to ask about prices or about having something similar made.

I know many of you are in the sweltering heat of summer and may not enjoy even looking at wool, but try to imagine yourself in the misty cool of a mountains morning. Here, this should help:

Now, which one would you choose?

Black Cats and Bats and Spiders: Vintage-Inspired Halloween Style

Halloween is almost upon us, and it is time for some elegantly seasonal vintage style, with the photos from my collaboration project. I'm so excited!

My co-designer in this Halloween collaboration was Casey, who blogs at Noir Girl and you may also know from her delightful vintage outfits on instagram.

When Casey and I teamed up, we decided our goal was to make some elegant and stylish vintage-inspired outfits with subtle Halloween themes. After getting some basics in place, we went away to independently sketch outfit ideas drawing inspiration from the 1920s to the 1950s. I already shared on instagam and the email newsletter some of the designs that didn't make it, but we ended up deciding on one each from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s to make.

This first is 1950s inspired and a spider web theme. Ever since I saw the photos of Nora in the hat I made for her, where the decoration showed up in silhouette through the hat brim, I had been wanting to make another hat that made use of that idea. My aim with this hat was for the spider web detail and the spiders to be barely visible from above, then appear when the light shone behind.

By making the shapes from white felt, and covering the top with organza, they stay nicely hidden at first.

With the sun behind, they appear! I won't lie, I'm feeling pretty smug about how that turned out!

Casey's fitted black wiggle dress has just the most divine details on the bodice, and a sheer over-skirt representing the spider web.

Next up, a 1930s-inspired cat outfit. We went with a black-white-and-grey rather than a more traditional black cat, but it gave us more shades to play with in the outfit, and I'm happy that we did.

This has got to be the chic-est cat costume I've ever seen! If I do say so myself, since I sketched the original idea, but really it was Casey's amazing work that brought it to this fantastic conclusion. That little jacket is to die for!

The hat is inspired by a few different little round tilt hats that I've seen photos of, and I've been aching to make one for a while. Velvet cat ears on top add a little twist to the look, and a plaited fabric bandeau holds it in place comfortably.

I have saved my favourite until last. This design of Casey's caught my imagination from the very beginning, and although the outfit evolved through the design and making process, it remains my favourite. By a mile. And I really do like the other ones.

Our 1940s number takes a bat as it's theme, in a quite abstract way that is elegant but distinctly spooky. Maybe even villainous.

The forties halo hat is the basic style beginning for this hat, with the halo frame around the face developed with sculpted felt shapes reminiscent of the folds of the bat's wings.

Casey's super-elegant black suit pairs so perfectly with the hat, with it's stylish back buttons, perfect kick to the skirt, and subtle bat-wing sleeve detail.

Let's also take a moment to enjoy the photography and stunning autumnal backdrop, and how beautiful Casey looks modelling her own and my creations.

Thank you Casey for your amazing sewing, the fun and inspiration collaborative design process, and helping me make my Halloween hat dreams come true in a way I couldn't have achieved on my own.

Don't forget to hop on over to Casey's blog to see more photos and hear her side of the story.

I'd love to hear what you think! Would you wear a subtle vintage look as a Halloween costume alternative or even just out and about in October?

P.S. For the record, Teacup makes an adorable Evil Bat Queen, but I didn't get any photos of that, sadly.

1950s pompoms, faux fur, and a bit of cheating

Continuing on with the recent photo shoot images, today I want to show you two of my own 1950s-inspired designs that my friend Ruanne modelled for me that day. (I'll be getting back to my genuine vintage collection later.) These are a couple of very wintery models, appropriate as we say goodbye to winter (although there is still time for more - that snow in October will not quickly be forgotten) and in the other hemisphere Autumn is beginning and maybe some are looking forward to cool-weather fashions.

You may remember a couple of fashion illustrations in my 1952-1954 hat fashion trends post that featured pompoms. Very shortly after posting that, I had a go at a hat inspired by these shapes.

After the fun I had starting to re-use my old favourite red coat, I decided it was time to retire my white/cream coat as well. Some bits were not so white anymore, even after cleaning.

Between some of the whiter parts of the coat fabric, a couple of its buttons, and a bit of lovely white faux fur I had left over from cossack-hat-making, and the crown from an old synthetic straw hat (that's one lazy and quick way to get a crown to start draping on), I put together this homage to the pompom hats of the 1950s.

Despite being a very wintery hat, it managed to pair well with some very colourful dresses on an unusually sunny and warm winter day.

I wore it myself the other day to the Norman Lindsay gallery with my grandmother for an exhibition of World War I photographs. It was fun and cute hat to wear out and about. You can't help but feel cute with a pompom, I think.

This second hat is where the cheating comes in.

I'll start at the beginning. I love the big flat or slightly rounded fifties hats trimmed with fur or feathers that hang like a fringe over the wearer's face. One example, although from the sixties, is the fabulous hat from the first scene with Deborah Kerr in Marriage on the Rocks, which I talked about here.

I found a lovely big round wooden bowl for a few dollars at an op-shop, and I knew it would be a great shape to block this type of hat on. I also found the fabrics I needed by op-shopping - a long-pile fur from a vest (oh yes indeed, it was really something!) and a long velvet skirt.

I had one thing I wasn't sure of though. I didn't know how best to shape this hat, on the underside. How would it actually be worn? I debated a variety of ideas, and in the end just made the thing and hoped for the best.

This turned out to be not such a great idea. Being flat on top, it is almost impossible to wear!

So why did I continue and take it to the photoshoot?

I guess it is a test-of-concept. I wanted to know if it would be worth altering or re-making this hat, and how best to do so, by seeing it in action, with the right outfit, model, makeup etc. I could see how it looked at different angles.

A hat often doesn't show its true strength and beauty without being worn. As tricky as it was to play around with this awkward hat on the day, it was worth it.

Although it is always going to be a statement piece, I love some of these photos so much, that I believe I can make the hat work after all. And if I can't, I got some beautiful images from it anyway!

What do you think? Do you think the fur hat is worth an attempt at redemption? Would you ever actually wear it?

And how desperately do you want a hat with a pompom? It's ok, you can admit it.

Faux-Fur Cossack Hats

I have a number of fabric weaknesses. Fabrics that I just love, and find it hard to resist. Faux fur is one of them.

Many (many) years ago I went on a fabric-buying binge and I still have a lot of fake furs in my stash from that time. At one point, Lincraft had a massive sale and I bought 3 metres of that fake snow leopard fur! Let me tell you that 3 metres is going to make a lot of hats.

I do love cossack style hats, as you may have noticed before in my 1960s faux fur hat post, and with winter getting serious, they were the perfect project.

I mixed things up with other fabrics for the tip and faux fur for the sideband. This snow leopard one has a purply-blue velvet top, and I matched a black fur fabric with a grey wool plaid.

The snow leopard is my favourite of these fabrics. As well as being so visually striking, it is super soft and nice to work with (for a fur fabric!). I'm in the process of making myself one of these to wear for the remainder of this winter.

As I mentioned in my last post about the 1950s hat, I have some hats in a bricks-and-mortar shop now, and that includes these cossack styles. The blue mountains winters lend themselves perfectly to some seriously warm hats! The grey one shown in the pictures above has already sold. Here is my little display. I'm pretty pleased with it, and they provided the cute little mirror.

I've also got a few more currently in-progress on my sewing table. They are mostly at the sewing-in-the-lining and neatening-up stages.

I treated myself to some new faux furs recently, including this mottled red and black.

This fur-trimmed beanie style is made from a second-hand scarf in a tartan print (Black Watch, I think?) and a fur trim I bought a massive roll of second hand at a market.

I couldn't resist going all out on a seriously winter-princess fluffy long-pile white faux fur. Who could resist, right?

At the moment I'm stuck deciding on bling for it. It is impressive plain, but I think that when you go all out, you should go ALL OUT. And that means sparklies. But I have to decide which one.

(Also, having wrestled this monster throught my sewing machine, I don't want to hold back!)

I fear that my favourite bling is the one I can't use unless I keep the hat for myself, because it was my grandmother's! But I could try to find something similar.

I'd love to hear your opinions on the white hat. Bling or no bling? Which bling is best?