Shop Update - 7 hats in 7 days (and counting)

With my productivity decreased lately, due to my being "in the family way", I seem to have compensated by having plenty of energy for planning and for buying. It is easier to consume than create.

In all my constant browsing of Lovely Things That I Might Like To Buy, I was very tempted by a large lot of vintage hats in need of repair.

While I didn't originally have any intention of selling actual vintage hats, as I immerse myself in research, I've come to admire and covet them more than ever, and my work on rescuing and restoring the sad unloved hats of the world has come to mean more to me. Expanding that mission appeals to me.

But I was strict with myself. It's one thing to say you are too tired to create, but it is another to excuse the fact that I have DOZENS of hats that are made but not listed in my shop. So I set myself a target. To list one hat in my online shop each day for the next week. And I am rather pleased with myself, because I have achieved it!

Let me introduce you to some of the new and not-so-new hats I've listed this week. (Because I was making as an aimless hobby for a while without having the shop, some of these are from last year or even earlier.)

Both of these featured on the blog last year. The purple twirls was one of two hats I made while re-exploring jinsin, and the straw hat I began making in England when I did a day of tutoring with Bobbi Heath.

These two I showed earlier this year, for my weekend of 1920s fun., but I only just got around to taking some more photos and putting them into the shop.

Photography by Carys Arnold

Miniature top hats were the very first type of hat I made properly. I was pretty happy with how they turned out, and all the fun different looks you could achieve with different fabrics and trims, so I made a lot of them! This one is called "Winterwood" (after a Don McLean song) and I couldn't resist editing one of the photos a lot to suit the theme of the hat.

Another of my mini top hats. This one went in a vampiresque direction, possibly on purpose, possibly just because I wanted to use red veiling.

And this one I only did a few months ago. It actually started with the intention of a sixties direction with that little "visor" at the front, but when worn, it was looking much closer to the 1920s, so I changed path and added the diamond shapes at the sides.

Having achieved my goal, I'm still cautious about whether to claim my "prize" of allowing myself to indulge in the vintage hat purchase. I realised, however, that I have at least 20 more hats made and waiting to be photographed and listed, so I'll keep working away at it, and see how I feel! I'm thinking of celebrating the completion of this task with a giveaway, which will be my first. I'm quite excited by the idea.

What do you think about adding restored vintage hats to my shop, alongside my own creations?