So three weeks ago, before I came out to Iowa, I decided to tackle this little number:
It's been in my collection since my freshman year in college, when I bought it at a Costume Shop sale the Theatre department would hold every year around Halloween. I bought four hats that year, all of which I still have, and most of which needed some TLC. I think I wore this one once, but its floppy brim and lackluster trim really did nothing for me.
Flop. |
Floppity. |
Then I washed it with some gentle detergent, attempting to remove some of the staining from around the base of the crown. This was largely unsuccessful, so I resigned myself to simply covering the discolored portions with trim. I rinsed it thoroughly and draped it over my Multi-Way Bell Hat Shaper:
I couldn't get the brim to lay completely smooth, though. The original brim shape had clearly been more flared than this form allowed. I solved this problem by flipping up the brim at what I had decided would be the front of the hat, and smoothing down the back portion:
After letting it dry thoroughly overnight, I tried it on.
I was not thrilled. |
Clearly my brim was too wide. I put the hat on my foam head (with a wig it happened to be wearing) to get an idea of proportions.
When I knew how much I wanted to trim away, I measured and made a small pencil mark just inside the crease made by the folded-back portion.
Then I cut in the crease up to this small mark:
And continued cutting away the edge of the brim all the way around, following the braid of the straw to maintain an even distance:
This gave me an overall shape that I liked much better!
Not being one to waste anything, I did not throw away the excess brim, but instead cut it in two at the crease on the other side:
I sewed in a new sweatband to replace the old one. I just used some 1" wide grosgrain ribbon I had on hand.
For comparison, here is the old sweat band:
The above two photos were taken under different lighting conditions, which is why the top one looks darker in color than the bottom one. I swear I did not darken the straw when I washed it!
In order to keep the edge of the brim from unraveling, I bound it with ivory petersham ribbon.
First I pressed a crease down the length of the ribbon, curving it slightly as I ironed it:
This made it curve around the brim very easily! I held the ribbon in place with clips while I was sewing it:
I had to repair one spot where the stitching from the original hatband had torn through the straw:
First I darned it:
Then I glued it from the inside, and covered it with ribbon!
I only had enough 1 1/2" wide ivory satin ribbon to cover 3/4 of the hat, which is fine because the turned-up brim covers the rest:
Remember those pieces of the brim that I had trimmed away? I made them into flowers!
I stitched them on one at a time:
And tacked the brim edge to the front one to cover the raw edges at the base of the flower:
And there you have it! New, cute hat:
So difficult to get decent mirror selfies. :p
It looks slightly better on my styrofoam head, but I think that's because it's easier to photograph:
I wore it recently for a quick photoshoot with a dress that I made several months ago that I also need to blog about, so look for more photos soon!
Wow, I am totally in awe of your hat-rescuing skills!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I like to look for the potential in any garment or accessory. :)
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