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labricoleuseIn April, i spoke to the Durham-Orange Quilters Guild about costume craft artisanship, and part of my presentation involved providing them with a PDF of Ruby Carnahan's 1952 pattern, Hat for Ship and Shore. That pattern is one of my favorites, in that it illustrates so well how the most simple shapes can create the most versatile and sophisticated hats, and the hats made from it can be formal or casual, packable, easily reworkable by changing out a garniture, just SO full of potential for a milliner of any sewing skill level.
(Recall if you will that this pattern originally came to my attention from Barcelona milliner Cristina de Prada, in this blog post of hers. You can see Cristina's versions of this pattern as well as that of her colleague Nina Pawlowsky here.)
In doing that presentation, i was reminded of how much i love the hats i've made from that pattern, that i wear them perhaps more than any other hats, and i thought i might make a couple as birthday gifts and for my upcoming trip abroad. (I'm spending July in the UK again so there will be perhaps some posts on UK milliners and museums coming soon.)
The Carnahan hat is a one-piece pattern cut once in fashion fabric and once in lining, or twice in fashion fabrics for a reversible version. The first step in a successful iteration of this hat is fabric choice--too lightweight and it looks like a child's party hat. Which is fine if you are making a child a party hat, but most of the time that's not the goal. I have made this hat in several upholstery-weight fabrics and once in a sturdy herringbone denim (which i LOVE for an upscale casual look). In this post i'm going to show a couple of tips on using home-dec fabrics for this hat, and another unusual fabric that worked great.
Maybe a month or two ago, my coworker and I took a reconnaissance mission/field trip to Loomcraft Textiles, a large home-dec fabric outlet on I-40 near Burlington, NC, which Piedmont residents may recognize from a HUGE sign on the front that says "FREE FABRICS!" They do indeed have a large bin of free remnants of about a yard or two in length, and also an enormous warehouse of mill ends and short bolts and deep discounts. My coworker grabbed a couple pieces from the bin to use to make a dog bed, but my mind was on hats! I chose a couple lengths of heavy chenilled fabric of the sort used to upholster a couch.
Fabrics of this sort should be treated in a manner mindful of the pile.
Here i am about to press a blue chenille using a velvet board, which is made
of hundreds of tiny pins so that the pile does not crush when pressed.
These fabrics also typically have a stabilizer layer on the back, which may have
been attached to the chenille with a heat-set adhesive. Test a bit first to make
sure your iron isn't set so high it melts the backing or otherwise damages it.
Some examples of possible ornaments for this hat: vintage buttons and buckles, a shell, a brooch, and a funny little straw garniture. For scale reference, the wood button at left is 4" wide (!)--i thought about using fat chenille yarn to do a tassel or pompon at the center of it.
As i told the quilt guild, you can ornament these hats however you like. I mostly use brooches because they are for me primarily travel hats and that gives me more versatility and reversibility, but you can stitch down the flap, add ribbons, feathers, whatever you like. I like the idea of this hat in a nubby masculine tweed with a grosgrain bow and tiny feather gamsbart, like a fedora or a Tyrolean hat!
Some time ago, I purchased an unusually-structured felted wool at
Mood Fabrics in New York. Here is a close-up of the front.
...and this is what the back looks like! Basically the ground fabric is a length of
stockinette knitted from wool yarn. Then the swirly yarns are couched onto it, then
the whole piece is felted to result in the patterns seen in the previous photo!
Here's the hat lined in a greenish-black cotton velvet.
Side view, showing the medalluin brooch used to pin the top flap down.
This back view best captures the look of the fabric as a hat.
Do you want to make your own version?
Grab the PDF here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/c0ivtt
Bear in mind if you make this hat, make a mockup first. I added about an inch along the bottom of the cone to make it a good size for me. You might need to add more or shave some off, depending on your headsize.
(Recall if you will that this pattern originally came to my attention from Barcelona milliner Cristina de Prada, in this blog post of hers. You can see Cristina's versions of this pattern as well as that of her colleague Nina Pawlowsky here.)
In doing that presentation, i was reminded of how much i love the hats i've made from that pattern, that i wear them perhaps more than any other hats, and i thought i might make a couple as birthday gifts and for my upcoming trip abroad. (I'm spending July in the UK again so there will be perhaps some posts on UK milliners and museums coming soon.)
The Carnahan hat is a one-piece pattern cut once in fashion fabric and once in lining, or twice in fashion fabrics for a reversible version. The first step in a successful iteration of this hat is fabric choice--too lightweight and it looks like a child's party hat. Which is fine if you are making a child a party hat, but most of the time that's not the goal. I have made this hat in several upholstery-weight fabrics and once in a sturdy herringbone denim (which i LOVE for an upscale casual look). In this post i'm going to show a couple of tips on using home-dec fabrics for this hat, and another unusual fabric that worked great.
Maybe a month or two ago, my coworker and I took a reconnaissance mission/field trip to Loomcraft Textiles, a large home-dec fabric outlet on I-40 near Burlington, NC, which Piedmont residents may recognize from a HUGE sign on the front that says "FREE FABRICS!" They do indeed have a large bin of free remnants of about a yard or two in length, and also an enormous warehouse of mill ends and short bolts and deep discounts. My coworker grabbed a couple pieces from the bin to use to make a dog bed, but my mind was on hats! I chose a couple lengths of heavy chenilled fabric of the sort used to upholster a couch.
Fabrics of this sort should be treated in a manner mindful of the pile.
Here i am about to press a blue chenille using a velvet board, which is made
of hundreds of tiny pins so that the pile does not crush when pressed.
These fabrics also typically have a stabilizer layer on the back, which may have
been attached to the chenille with a heat-set adhesive. Test a bit first to make
sure your iron isn't set so high it melts the backing or otherwise damages it.
Some examples of possible ornaments for this hat: vintage buttons and buckles, a shell, a brooch, and a funny little straw garniture. For scale reference, the wood button at left is 4" wide (!)--i thought about using fat chenille yarn to do a tassel or pompon at the center of it.
As i told the quilt guild, you can ornament these hats however you like. I mostly use brooches because they are for me primarily travel hats and that gives me more versatility and reversibility, but you can stitch down the flap, add ribbons, feathers, whatever you like. I like the idea of this hat in a nubby masculine tweed with a grosgrain bow and tiny feather gamsbart, like a fedora or a Tyrolean hat!
Some time ago, I purchased an unusually-structured felted wool at
Mood Fabrics in New York. Here is a close-up of the front.
...and this is what the back looks like! Basically the ground fabric is a length of
stockinette knitted from wool yarn. Then the swirly yarns are couched onto it, then
the whole piece is felted to result in the patterns seen in the previous photo!
Here's the hat lined in a greenish-black cotton velvet.
Side view, showing the medalluin brooch used to pin the top flap down.
This back view best captures the look of the fabric as a hat.
Do you want to make your own version?
Grab the PDF here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/c0ivtt
Bear in mind if you make this hat, make a mockup first. I added about an inch along the bottom of the cone to make it a good size for me. You might need to add more or shave some off, depending on your headsize.
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no subject
Date: 2012-06-16 03:47 pm (UTC)ETA: And my birds are shedding baby feathers right now, so it's perfect for making little Tyrol-style trim!
no subject
Date: 2012-06-16 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-16 11:56 pm (UTC)These hats are addictive!
Date: 2012-07-20 11:57 am (UTC)Best regards from Barcelona,
Cristina de Prada
Re: These hats are addictive!
Date: 2012-07-20 04:34 pm (UTC)