My newest mini hat- and oh how I love it so!

My last mini top hat I had modified the Miniature Top Hat pattern to be about 3/4 scale but for this one I wanted it even smaller and less tall. I heavily modified the pattern for this and would say its closer to 1/2 the size of the original. And I wanted one in black, because well, black is awesome.

When felting pretty much all yarns produce some surface fuzz on the finished felt, some more than others. A simple trick I use to tidy them up is shaving the fabric. Yep, with just a regular old razor (I keep a cheapie one on hand for this).

You can see the difference it makes! It looks much more like commercial felt now. You can use a sweater shaver as well if you have one. I’ve also been studying millinery and picking up some “hat tricks” from this as well. It’s common to sand the felt down (with sandpaper, same as you do wood). I plan to try this next.

For the feathers this time I tried out something I picked up in
reading. I wrapped the feather cluster base in wire (millinery tie wire
is what’s professionally used, you could also use thread) to hold them
together. Then I sewed a small metal jump ring behind the lace band and
inserted the feather base through this to help it stay in place better.
The burn flower I made following this nice tutorial.
I had some lining I had cut out of a thrifted skirt I’m converting into an apron bustle that worked perfect for the petal material.

I sew hair clips into the underside of my hats to keep them on. It’s also common to use an elastic band to be worn under the head. Unfortunately for me I have a rather shallow occipital ridge and bands like that always just slide right off, hence the hair clip route.

I adore the look of birdcage veils but couldn’t decide if I’d want one all the time. I then came up with the idea for a detachable veil, perfect! I used hook & eye closures, the hook being sewn to the gathers in the veil and the eye portion being attached under the lace band. I love both looks!

Shush you, I know it’s another hat (I can hear youuuu) but as it’s only the first of er, four *cough* felted hats I’ve more or less finished (including a new design!) we’ll just move right along, shall we?

As I mentioned when I made my mini tricorn hat, I still wanted a full size one. It had been started and lounging around for several months when I finally got the itch to finish it. Can I say LOVE! This is such a ridiculously fun hat, and I had finished it just in time for International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Arrrr! I’m hoping to wear it with the pirate ensemble for a themed Renaissance Festival weekend too.  Also, I’ve taken to wearing it around the house with frightful attempts at pirate speak.

Followed the pattern as written this time. I made my own cockade using this lovely tutorial and finished it with an awesome pewter skull button. I then stitched on some silver trim, attached the cockade and added a couple ostrich feathers. I’ve found the ostrich feathers located in the floral section at craft stores work great as the base has floral tape wrapped wire which helps in securing it to the hat.

And obligatory pre-felting monstrous size shot. (My dog wandered in while taking this and it totally freaked him out, heh.)