Shop Update: Another 7 Hats

My hat-a-day rate has slowed, but I have added 7 more hats to my online shop, so I thought I'd show them off again.

First up, two more hats from my exploration of 1960s faux fur hats. I love the look of the fun cheetah spots, and this grey faux fur is so soft and such a rich colour.

My first exploration into sinamay is finally in the shop now too. This one makes me think of eucalyptus leaves, despite the flower, because of the rich dark green and a pale silvery green together.

Nothing subtle about this one mini top hat. I was obsessed with carousel animals at the time, and this is my "Carousel Rooster". I love it, but it is quite a bold statement!

After mini top hats, one of the other fabric-covered hat shapes I had fun exploring was miniature tricornes. I only finished these two off late last year. This one in red, black and silver, is called "Lady Maria."

And this one is "Countess Charlotte." Mostly black and cream, with highlights of gold and dark green. She has a gathered facing, which is one of my favourite finishes for underneath brims.

To finish, we have a simple and understated 1920s cloche. No trims, just hand-shaped folds in the felt. I do love this one!

Shop updates will be thin for a while as I work on a custom project and getting some hats ready to put into a local shop in just a couple of weeks. It's going to be a busy time!

Another Op-Shop Hat Makeover in Pink Sinamay

Today the sister hat to the blue straw and sinamay that I re-fashioned earlier gets its own time to shine. It began life as a pale pink sinamay hat blank in a Spotlight store somewhere. After being put on sale, it somehow made its way to an op-shop in Penrith, then came home with me to get a new look. Perhaps something less boxy? I think so.

First, I pulled the crown and brim apart and re-blocked the crown. I had an idea of how I wanted to use the brim but I didn't know what else to trim it with, and what other colour(s) to introduce. So I rummaged through my bits and pieces until I found the answer.

Now I had some colours to work with. I found some pale bluey-green sinamay left over from my first sinamay hat, made some bias strips and played around.

In front of my dirt patch. I'm very proud of it. Actually there are some tomatoes there, looking quite promising.

The dragonfly brooch came from a charity shop in Chester and cost me one pound. To keep the refashioning options open into the future, I kept it as a brooch and it can be removed (or just moved around) in the future.

Time to hit the op-shops for more!

A Straw and Sinamay Op-shop Hat Refashion

Some hats are just in serious need of a makeover.

I picked this up at an op-shop, hoping to rescue it from its current, rather sad, state. It turns out this is a hat base from Spotlight (so NOT intended to be worn like this, without any trim or anything) which makes me feel better!

The original price tag: $34.95
Sale price at Spotlight: $5
Price at the op-shop: $3

I was looking forward to having some straw and sinamay to play with, and I ended up using some of each in the new hat. I blocked the straw over one of my lovely new handmade hat blocks, then used the band of sinamay and some (also second hand) flowers and buttons to finish it off.

And I still have the brim and a strip of straw to play with! I love hat refashions!

Straw and Sinamay

I'm going to talk more soon about what I learned about making hats using blocked straw hoods and sinamay, but for now here are the results.

I must have tried out a dozen trims on this grey straw before I was even moderately satisfied. How good are pheasant feathers? I'm so tempted to get a pheasant.

Also, I need some more blocks! Seeing another milliner's collection gave me some serious block envy.

This block too! I love these two colours together, and had such fun learning to roll the edges for the leaf and flower trims. Anything that can be rolled rather than sewn is a dream come true.

It's amazing how the wearer transforms the hat, and vice versa. I really wasn't excited about this hat until I saw it on Sarah. Now look at it! What an awesome hat.