Edwardian hat - and new camera Luvin'

Did I Mention that I Love my new camera? I think I may have mentioned this at some point. Please allow the picture below to illustrate the degree to which I Love my new camera:

What is it a picture of, you ask? It is a yes-you-can-actually-count-the-threads-if-you-wanted-to closeup of the detail on my new Edwardian hat - which I made to go with a vintage dress that I wanted to wear to the fundraiser gala for the Seattle Children's Theatre.

Here is a more "Oh - NOW I get it" photo of said hat:

My excuse for wanting to make said hat for said fundraiser was that the theatre had done "go, dog, Go" this season, complete with the scenes where the pink dog asks "Do you like my hat?" and I wanted to be able to go up to the dog characters and ask that. That's my excuse - had nothing to do with just wanting to wear a white linen dress actually from 1909, which fit me pretty well.

The hat came out pretty spiffily, (despite the mad rush I was in to get it made) and it wore well too. My solution to how to keep it on my head was entirely due to an error I made, which I shall entitle "how teensy should the headsize be when I have my hair done up all big like." Let's just say - I originally made it my headsize (21.5") and it should have been about 19" in order to not squish the hairdo.

So - I had to make a new little...headsize reducer thingy. Which I'll try to photograph and "hexplain" later  but which totally allowed me to NAIL this sucker to my very backcombed and hairsprayed hairdo, and then pin the outer edges of the "headsize fixit reducer" to the underside of the hat - keeping the whole thing on come wind or weather.

Right,- so I can't seem to get the photos of me in the dress AND the hat to upload, so I'll just go with what we have so far, and update later as I can.

Ok - it's later: Here we are at the event. I think we look like Tim is running for some political office in 1909 :)

Oh - and that thing I'm holding is a bacon wrapped pretzel.

Bacon. Wrapped. Pretzel.

They asked me if I wanted Nutella on it. I declined. It was already perfect.

Another shot - this one is "tryin it all out - hey Zach, take a picture of Mom"

The dress looked better pressed, and I did end up wearing a corset under it all, which slimmed up the line a lot, even though it was not the right corset. I ain't gonna even SAY how wrong it was, just that it was better With it than without it.

Also of note is that some of the head postures that I think of as "feminine" (chin raised, or head cocked to the side a little) seem to me to be derived entirely from the wearing of large brimmed hats. It's really funny to realize that when wearing large brimmed hats, in order not to slice someone in the face with your hat brim when greeting them with a friendly hug, one MUST tilt one's chin WAY up, and cock the head to the side to tilt the brim out of the way. One must also not stand close to walls. Or Columns. Or tall men. Very interesting and entertaining. I think such a hat changes a lady's grace, posture, and movement as much as do high heels, or a high stiff collar, or a corset. All of them together would produce a very specific set of movements which are totally indicative of an era.

Just pontificatin'

So

Do You like my hat?