Lotsa Hats

Hats are one of those things that are slightly annoying to travel with. They take up quite a bit space and you have to be careful they don't get crushed. This did not stop me coming back from England with four new (old) hats. 

I should really have taken the plastic wrap  and tape off my hat block before I took photos

I bought this cocktail hat in a charity shop in Ilkley, (I think). I have no idea of its age but I think it's the 'youngest' of the ones I bought.

This juliet cap-type hat was from a vintage shop in Saltaire. It doesn't look like much here but I really love the way it looks on.

Front view

I got this one at the same vintage fair in Saltaire (yes, I bought lots of stuff in Saltaire), that I got the two dresses in my last post.

Side view

I love the bows at the sides.

My favourite is this black pillbox with the red top. My aunty got it for me for Christmas. It's from Circa Vintage in Harrogate which is a lovely shop.

Lavender Menace

I had grand plans about posting more often while I was on holidays but an unexpected family thing came up, so I've been without the internet for the past week and a bit, and haven't posted in ages.

Two weeks ago I went to 'A Life in Frocks', a vintage fashion show which had clothes from the 1950s, '60s and '70s. The ticket said "dress-up optional" (as if I needed any encouragement), so I decided to make a hat to wear.

I made a pillbox base from buckram and covered it in purple cotton fabric. I pulled apart a couple of bunches of fake flowers, and glued the leaves, and then the flowers on. The bits in the middle of the flowers are purple beads. It took me ages to do all the gluing. I know that gluing is a huge millinery no-no, but I'm not a milliner so I don't care.   

The veiling (from Hat Shadows on etsy), is gathered by hand and then stitched onto the flowers at the front, back and sides. I added elastic to hold it on my head and used some bobby pins to make it extra secure when I wore it. 

To the fashion show I wore:
Dress: Dashfield Vintage
Coat: op shopped
Shoes: Golden Ponies
Tights: Columbine
Amethyst ring (which you cant really see): Evie Kemp
Hat: Self-made

The show was really good and there were some fabulous clothes that I wouldn't have minded taking home.

Well, you must tell me, baby, how your head feels under somethin' like that?*

I love leopard print. I'm sure it started when I was about seven and my Mum made me a little black jacket with a faux fur leopard print collar. I wore that thing until it fell apart. I have been seeking the perfect leopard print jacket ever since. I do have a faux fur leopard coat, that was given to me by a friend, which I love. The only problem is that I can only wear it in the depths of winter because it's so warm. I wanted something that could be worn in spring, summer and autumn so I could have leopard print for all seasons.

I bought McCall's 5525 on sale. If I hadn't seen a few versions of it on the internet I never would have got it because I think the fabric/styling on the pattern envelope is hideous. This is why I don't like modern patterns. I can't look past the ugly pattern envelopes. Vintage ones are so much prettier. I also found the perfect leopard print cotton sateen at Fabric Vision (which is now gone). I think the fabric cost me $45 for 3 metres. I almost didn't get it because I am so miserly and that seemed like way too much money. Then the pattern and the fabric sat in my stash for about a year. I'm not really sure why I didn't have the motivation to sew it up but I'm glad that I waited. My sewing skills have improved exponentially in that time.

I started this the other week and even though it has a lot (over 100 I think) of steps it went together pretty fast. I followed almost all of the instructions and only changed a couple of things. I raised the pockets because, I don't know about you, but I don't find inseam pockets starting at my thighs to be very comfortable. I also made them bigger because they were teensy. It's like they don't actually want you to use the pockets or something.
I also used the sleeves from view D because I like wearing bangles and full length sleeves are not very conducive to this.

I made the tie belt (I'm wearing it in the above photo) but I probably won't use it because I quite like the A-line shape you get without it (top photo). I used a red lining fabric and I like the way you can catch a peek of it when I lift my arms or put my hands in the pockets.

Argh! I'm losing my hat

I had some fabric left over so I thought a matching pillbox hat was in order. I made a pattern from one of my vintage hats and used a combination of the instructions here and guesswork.



I made a frame out of buckram which is a stiff fabric used for hatmaking. I then covered it with the leopard fabric and lined it with the same red as the jacket is lined with. I haven't quite finished. I need to attach some elastic so that it actually stays on my head.

I'm so happy with the way they turned out. I love them. I think they look really 60s. I've already worn the jacket twice and will be wearing the hat once I buy some elastic.


*Under my brand new leopard-skin pillbox hat? Pretty good, Bob Dylan, pretty good.