Tag Archives: Hat

Millinery Homestyle

Posted by on January 28, 2012 2 comments

My first non-felt hat, DIY style! A fabric covered buckram frame cocktail/fascinator hat.
First buckram hat!

As my hat and millinery obsession continues I’ve been studying professional hat making techniques. Unfortunately the main tool of a professional milliner is a wooden hat block and these typically run at least $100 and up. So in the DIY spirit I started looking around my house and thrift stores for ordinary items that would create interesting hat shapes. And what did I block the buckram fabric frame on for this cocktail hat?

Alternative Hat Blocks

The glass piece in the above photo – it’s actually the lid to a large glass candle! The black plastic plate/candle holder is a recent thrifting score. A perfect brim block for $1! (as opposed to $95 like these near identical ones)

Buckram blocking on glass candle lid

Here is the form blocking, held in place by a rubber band at the base. I used buckram fabric which is coated in a starch that when wet makes it malleable and then hardens again once dry. This isn’t true millinery grade buckram but just some I found a local fabric store. For my homemade attempts it suited me just fine.

Buckram hat frame wired and covering fabric pinned in place

Once the buckram was dry I lifted it off the block and trimmed away the excess. I also attached wire to the base using a blanket stitch (forgot to get a photo, oops). Next I covered it in my chosen fabric (post-Halloween clearance stretch fabric, love this stuff) and pinned it in place. Using small stitches I then sewed it to the base.

Lining sewn in place, trimmed and felt lining added

Once the fabric was sewn down I cut away the excess and then just traced a circle onto some black felt for the lining. And again because this is just for me, not something I’m selling professionally I cheated a little and just fabric glued this to the inside. For the hair attachment I sewed in this hair clip, a little comb would work nicely too but I was out. An elastic headband works as well.

Finished Hat

Sine the fabric is busier I kept the embellishments simple. A little mesh netting strip gathered into a flower/pouf and few stripped and beaded hackle feathers.

Handmade cocktail hat- ready for a night out

Additinal Reading:
From the Neck Up: An Illustraed Guide to Hatmaking
Hats! Make Classic Hats and Headpieces in Fabric, Felt, and Straw
www.how2hats.com

Sideways

Posted by on January 23, 2012 3 comments

Yep, another hat. But I needed a nice travel project (Mr. Pieknits and I were lucky enough to go to Hawaii for a week!) and I’ve never worked a sideways  hat pattern before. See valid excuses to add to my overflowing hat bin correct?
Sideways Hat, aptly named
The pattern, Marina, is by the Hat Master Woolly Wormhead. This the the Slouchy Beanie version, size Medium. A great travel knit that was nice and straight forward yet still interesting. Just what I needed for two 8 hour flights. The Seafoam Stitch creates a cool open lace like effect using dropped Yarn Overs (always entertaining to do).
stitch
The yarn is a skein of Araucania Nature Wool I picked up at our LYS years ago, unable to resist my favorite greens. I had hoped the color segments were longer to produce a more striped effect but this pattern would work great with about any type of variegated yarn.

I actually had no mods to this pattern, a bit of a rarity for me. Really a very nice pattern and clear grafting instructions included as well.
North Short, Oahu, Hawaii 12/11
And just for fun, a shot of us at the North Shore on Oahu (also in the photo, my Adorn Cropped Jacket (still love) and my tropical tie-purse from the 1950s swap).

Craftster Best of 2011 Winner
Also, in other news my 1940s style title hat is a Craftster Best of 2011 Winner! Follow the badge link to check out all the winners, great stuff this year!

Doubled

Posted by on January 16, 2012 2 comments

Men's double layer hat(s)
After a somewhat disgraceful delay, I finally finished the second part of a hat project for my friend. I first posted about it here with the completion of the pictured grey hat. So the request was for two hats that could be worn together for extra warmth- like an outer hat and liner, or individually. The first hat is the Fortnight pattern in Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage with Cascade 220 Superwash in Really Red as the accent color.
Great pattern for a simple hat on it's own, or as an inside liner
For the inside hat, I used the same Cascade 220 to match the other hat. I liked the Superwash option for the next-to-skin hat as I figure it’s more likely to need a washing. This pattern is Rib-A-Roni by Knit Jane Knit. I made the largest size (in the Ravelry PDF version) and modified the pattern to include short rows to match the shaping that comes down over the ears in the Fortnight hat, so when worn together the bottoms line up. With this size it creates a pretty large rib; I ended picking up a row along the cast-on edge and crocheting a bound off chain to help keep the edge from curling.

He seems to like them and commented that it’s “the warmest hat I’ve ever had”. I’ll count that as a success!

My first 1st Place

Posted by on October 14, 2011 4 comments

I’ve been waiting to share this, my Rogue sweater got 1st place at the State Fair of Texas for the knitted pullover category! This is such a large category and all the entries this year were so great; I feel really honored to get a blue ribbon. It was nice that they had it displayed on a manikin too, just not the same pinned flat to a wall. So here it is complete with my cheesy self posing with it.

1st place at the State Fair of Texas in the Knitted Pullover category!

I’ve been really busy of late too. October is always a crazy month (the length of my “to-do” list is dawning on me) and you can see the WIP bar over on the side has exploded. More on that later. For now I did finish a hat, well part of a hat really. A friend of mine requested a two layer interchangeable hat, so it could be worn in warmer or colder weather.

Fortnight

I really liked the idea and after some discussion this is what we choose for the “outer” hat. Fortnight by Jared Flood/BrooklynTweed in Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage and Cascade 220 Superwash in red. My plan is to pick up and knit button “tabs” on the inside in the Cascade. Then for the liner hat (also worked in the red Cascade) it will have corresponding buttons to attach the two together. This might have to wait for Halloween costume stuffs to be completed though, sorry Lee!

Also I’ve updated my blog software and decided to convert over to WordPress, so please be patient with any bugs and design changes, thanks!

Vintage finds and A Little Mohair

Posted by on September 19, 2011 2 comments

Fuzzy flower!

I’ve had a ball of some pretty mohair in the stash for awhile, waiting for the right pattern, when I found this one for a Mohair Corsage.

Mohair flower corsage

I made two lyers for this. First layer followed the pattern, for the second layer I cast on only 74 sts. Added some beads and sewed on the pin back and viola, super fast easy accessory.

Vintage flea market finds, my first vintage hat!

I also recently went to a vintage market and came home with some goodies, including my first ever actual vintage hat. I love it! It’s rather a tall tilt hat, with a 30s/40s look but also would, I think, work for victorian. Other finds include an animal print scarf and a sterling silver feather pin.

New Pattern: Evelyn Tilt Hat

Posted by on July 25, 2011 5 comments

Evelyn Vintage Tilt Hat Knitting Pattern

Inspired by all the fantastic hats of the 1930s-1940s, this tilt hat uses short row shaping and blocking to get its distinct vintage lines.
The short rows flare out the front while the back brim is flipped up.

This design managed to felt up just right on the first go (after several ripping and recalculating during the knitting process). My felt hat obsession is starting to pay off, ha!

The real key in any fulled hat is in the blocking. I really recommend getting an inexpensive Styrofoam “wig form” head at a beauty supply store to block and pin the hat on it. You want to work with the hat still damp from the felting process, shaping it onto the form, and pinning the brim how you would like. For this hat the back is folded up and pinned through both layers. And in the front I put pins into the foam head under the brim to lift it up so it flares out from the body of the hat. Once it dries it will hold this shape (or with a little extra spray starch or fabric stiffener for more extreme angles/curves).

UPDATE: I’ve posted a more detailed tutorial on my blocking process for this hat here.

Back view

Any felt-able worsted weight yarn held doubled can be used for this, or equivalent one strand of super bulky yarn. Two strands of Patons Classic Wool was used here. I also like to give it a little shave post-felting, as I have previously posted about.

1930s inspired felt hat

This is finished with a grosgrain ribbon twisted around to conform to the hat shape and a vintage clear button.

Side view and ribbon detail

The instant download rundown -after payment via Paypal you will be given a link to download the pattern. This link will also be emailed to you and will expire 30 minutes after the first time it is used. For any questions about the pattern or whole download process please shoot me an email me at- jen@pieknits.com!

Pattern previewPattern: Evelyn – Vintage Tilt Hat (Ravelry link)
Gauge: 12 sts and 16 rows = 4″ in St st on smaller needles before felting but gauge not important. Any worsted weight yarn held doubled will work.
Needle sizes: US Size 13 (9mm): 16″ circular. US Size 11 (8mm): 16″ circular and double pointed needles
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool (100% Wool; 210yds/192m per 100g/3.5 oz. skein) Color: #00226 Black; 1 skein (Yarn held doubled)
Skill level: Advanced Beginner (working in the round, short rows, felting)
Price: $3.75
Format: PDF instant download pattern

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Swap

Posted by on July 19, 2011 6 comments

I received my swap package from my partner for the 1950s Inspired Swap I participated in on craftster.org! This was actually my first craft swap (an irresistible theme) and a great experience. I think it really helps to get some creative ideas going and to try a few different things too.

Fair warning, lots of photos to follow.

First up some beautiful cloth napkins, adorable crocheted flower (I’m so rocking
this hair accessory) and the most amazing tie purse in a tiki-esque
print. I love it! (This picture does not do it justice either.)

Vintage style romper, how cute is this?! Just in time for our seemingly never ending 100+ degree heat wave.

Vintage style romper

Embellishment detail

Embellishment detail

And an altered polka dot (my fav!) tee with bow sleeves.

Altered polka dot tee

And now the parade of items I made for the Swap.

Needle book from some thrifted vintage fabric I had. I’m getting more and more confident in my beginner sewing abilities. Now I need to make one of these for myself, handy!

Needle Book

Another pillbox version of my Dose design, this time in teal (my swap partner’s favorite color). It’s easy to play with the demisions of this pattern. This one is probably in between the original and the shorter, wider version I made before. It has loops sewn inside for bobby pins and little teal polka dot bows for trim.

Teal pill box hat with polka dot bows

Dose pillbox pattern in teal

A pair of lace and “pearl” earrings. The lace is needle tatted from fine crochet cotton.
I acutally just free formed this simple design.

"Pearl" and tatted lace earrings

Retro makeup bag in Classic Elite’s Sundance with a vintage glass button closure. This was a nice interesting knit that went relatively fast. It was great for traveling.

Retro makeup bag

Another piece I may have to recreate for myself, it was hard to part with, haa. This little fascinator/cocktail hat was actually salvaged from a failed felting project that I had saved for that purpose. Cut the base out from it, attached the furry leopard print ribbon and made a little bow from ribbon and netting.

Little cocktail hat

Cocktail leopard print hat

Aaaand the whole kit n’ caboodle with some small gifties for her little boy and a teal flower broach.

1950s Inspired Swap package

Trimming

Posted by on June 10, 2011 1 comment

A new little hat to make me happy.

Title hat vintage style

When I found this doll hat blank on clearance for $0.75 I snatched it up to try making a vintage style tilt hat out of it.
I used a pressing cloth and a steam iron to shape it the way I wanted, mostly fixing the brim.

embellishment details

I doubled some black tulle for a base hat band and added a mesh ribbon to
that. Then I hand sewed the black flower out of some fabric remnants
and more mesh, embellishing it with a few pearl beads. Added some feathers and some hair pins in the inside and viola, all done.

New hat with newly thrifted dress <3

I recently got this dress thrifting and I love it’s little details; I’m planning on wearing it to a show. Apparently I now need to create a hat to go with every dress, but they’re so addictive!

FO: Monophonic Hat

Posted by on May 17, 2011 2 comments

When I found out a friend was visiting from Utah and so near his B-day I knew I wanted to make him a hat. Men’s hat selections are always a bit tricky. I like to make something interesting (both as an FO and the actual knitting process) but guys seem to typically lean towards the simple/plain side. But this pattern was a perfect find.

Monophonic Hat

It’s the Monophonic Hat pattern by Erica Jackofsky of Fiddle Knits and part of the Musical Minds Collection. All the hats in this set are great actually.
Even more perfect as the recipient is currently working on his PHD in music composition. (Check out his music page on Facebook!)

This is the Purl version in M/L. A fun, interesting and honestly pretty quick knit too. It uses short rows to shape the hat so the gathered crown decreases sit at the back of the head instead of the top. This hat was passed around and tried on by many and I have to say there wasn’t anyone (guy or girl) who didn’t look great in it. A perfect amount of slouch to this.

And most importantly the b-day boy seemed to like it. :) I may yet actually get a photo of him in it. Hopefully it’ll keep him nice and warm while biking to school next semester.

Tilt Topper

Posted by on May 6, 2011 13 comments

I could wear this hat everyday <3

Project Path for this hat:

  • While thrifting, find and fall in love with fantastic 40′s era reproduction dress
  • Decide it needs a hat to go with it (this should surprise no one)
  • Troll through Etsy’s vintage hats
  • Find inspiration photo
  • Find knitting pattern (Deb’s Derby) for jumping off point
  • Raid stash for wool yarn (Lion Brand Fishermen’s Wool)
  • Form a rough plan (slightly smaller around, shorter crown, short rows for asymmetrical brim) and just start knitting
  • Felt and shape on styrofoam head block
  • Embellish with black grosgrain ribbon and felt swallow cutout
  • Put it on and never want to take it off

Swallow detail

Detail shot of the felt swallow bird cutout, I really love how it turned out. I wanted a less formal, more day wear look for this and thus no extravagant flowers or feathers. I really like the simplicity.

Vintage inspired 30s/40s tilt topper hat

For my first run at it, I am so stoked with how close to the original inspiration photo this turned out. This is my first time working with Fisherman’s Wool and I have to say it felts beautifully. I may even prefer it to my usual Patons Classic Wool Merino, sadly it has limited colors.

New hat to go with my "new" thrifted dress

This was a fun, very organic process- although really I probably should have written down my notes/changes to try other variations. You never remember as much as you think you will. But where’s the fun with no experimentation?

Pattern mods added after the jump >>

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