Fake Hatpin DIY

I have a couple of hats that need something to secure them so they'll stay on my head. I don't have any hatpins, and the vintage ones I've seen are really expensive. After seeing this tutorial, I decided to make one.  

You need a long doll needle to use as the pin. I had to buy a whole pack because you can't buy them individually. I also got some black faceted beads and some crimps.

I ended up hot gluing the bead over the eye of the needle because the crimps didn't feel that secure.

After making the first one, I made another shorter one with a bead from a broken necklace I had. 

I put an earring back on the end to stop any hatpin-related injuries. I really should get a silver one but, since I don't wear earrings, the gold was all I could find.

This was a quick project and so much cheaper than buying hatpin. I'll post a picture when I actually wear one of them with a hat. 

Pansies bloomed all night

I bought this hat pattern in one of Vogue's online sales. It's a reproduction of a pattern from around 1950. The pattern envelope is styled  hideously. I don't know why they do this. It's like there's some sort of conspiracy to make people not want to buy their patterns. I mean, the hats don't even look remotely 50s. They look more 1980s. Anyway, I thought Hat A and B had potential if you looked past the pattern envelope.

The frame is made with bias covered wire and piping cord. This took me quite a while because I couldn't understand the instructions. I just ended up making it up as I went along.

 I then covered the frame in fabric. At this point I was pretty sure it was going to turn out horrible.

I didn't want to make flowers from ribbon or organza like the pattern instructed so I bought these fake flowers. After pinning them to the frame I decided they were too big.

Because I'm some kind of masochist, I pulled apart the flowers and made new ones out of the petals. This took me many episodes of BSG to complete.

Side view

I then hand sewed all the flowers to the hat frame. Pretty much the whole hat is hand sewn except for the bias that covers the wire which was sewn by machine.

I tried to take photos with my tripod but you couldn't really see the hat so mirror shots it is.

You can wear it either way around. Hat A and B on the pattern envelope are the same foundation but Hat B is worn the other way around and has different flowers. I think I like it the way around it is in the first photo.

Even though it took me ages to do and was kind of frustrating, I really love this hat. I'm proud of all the hand sewing too. It's not that neat but this is probably the most hand sewing I've ever done on a project.

Also, thanks for your comments about my hair in the last post. I've decided I like it now. I think it just takes a while to get used to a haircut.