Parade Float hat

Finished the last custom order in this batch!

Taupe/beige perchy hat with "parade float" style feathers.
I'm pretty tickled with it, though these feathers took some effort to get them to behave. They ended up pretty glorious.


Not much content in this post either - just pretty pictures :)

Next Project: A bejewelled girdle that has been waiting patiently for me to finish this batch of orders. After the girdle, the next batch will begin. :)

Black and grey perchy hat

She's lovely, no?

Those are some IN-credible grey feathers. I wish every feather I ordered came looking like these.

That's it - just pretty pictures :)

One more order in this batch!

New orders finished!

Here are three custom orders that I just finished last night and today, and thought I'd show some photos.

Flamboyantly feathery Navy and rust: (my camera made this look much oranger than it is) Also, I have only one more hat's worth of this rust trim. MUST find more, cause I love it. I also discovered that I can make filigree cones out of some of my filigree findings. They are a great size for feather ends.

 A Lovely Khaki green-brown bowler. This one used a sueded fur-felt blank that feels quite wonderful and was a pleasure to work with.

Fabulous bright red bowler, with a leather sweatband and satin lining. it's really a smart thing with red hats, or you end up with a bright red forehead. Only color that really does that.

Sparkly flatcap

I begin to think that perhaps I like these sparklies on everything.  

Beaver hat - with kettle curl, jewelled band, and extrafloof!

It's been a while since I've posted, and these so much to tell you - but you'll have to settle for just some pretty pictures.

Here's a new custom order, that came out really spiff!

Super-duper closeup of the yummy beaver fur blank and jeweled hatband:

 You can kinda see the kettle curled brim on the image below - I'm learning how to do that, and really enjoying the results!

 You can see the curl here too. It takes SO much longer, but I really thing it's worth it.

 And just a nice angly shot of it, all done. With a hat this tall, I just really had to have extra floofy feathers.

Christmas orders!

As I wait for the sizing on the fourth Musketeer to dry (I cannot WAIT to do that blog post!! Thinking about hiring my awesome photographer neighbor to come get shots of them, cause DANG they are gorgeous)

I am finishing up the Christmas orders.

Here's a first, so I thought I'd share it.

I've had requests over the years (Elizabeth Crouchet) to put my feathers on a pin so that they could be removed or changed out. I've resisted doing so, cause I just couldn't figure out a good way to do it. I like being able to really control what my feathers do, since I don't fancy the "stuck a feather in his cap" look.
I finally broke down and ordered a bunch of pin-backed boutonniere vases, and have just put the first one into use, at the customer's request.

Here's a general non-feather side look:

And then BAM! feathers!

It's actually surprisingly classy looking

I had to fiddle with it a lot more than normal to get them to lie "right" but I have to say that this is a definite do-again.


That's all for now...have to go wrestle with Aramis, who needs to be finished today. All the rest of the musketeers have been so cooperative.

:)

Pretty new baby beaver

This post could have been titled: "How do I photograph a black fuzzy hat with black velvet trim and not have it all look totally just...black."

Well, And gold and white.

Here's the No- flash version

 

That looks pretty good,  but really very ...flat.

Here's the flash version, where you can see the hat's hairdo: but it looks sortof...over-flashed. Feathers aren't actually that shiny. Plus, the shadows in the hairdo, makes it look like the brim is bumpy, when it's actually perfectly smooth.

So I went back to no-flash, and here's an angle: 

And a side view:

 The white feather in that side view is acting funny - cause I have it all leaned over to get the dark floorish background.  The feather doesn't doesn't stick up like that - it flops over all bouncy-like, as seen in this totally un-professional shot that we will call "in-context." Cause it's always good to have a cat tree, a bag of ouches, some printer ink cartridges,  and a bobble-headed manatee. You know, for scale.

Final closeup - trying to show the black velvet in the trim, AND the beaver blank's "hairdo." I managed to do it by taking this with no flash and then lightening up the image afterward - which worked great, but washes out the gold, which is really quite vibrant.

All in all - a pretty thing, all ready to go to her new home.

Yay!

Pleated hat, the first

Sometimes it's easier to just blog about the questions rather than email them.

My customer, (let's call him Joe)  Has a really gorgeous suit, for which he wanted a new hat. After looking for more of the trim he used on the suite, and finding nothing, he sent me the hatband from off the old hat.

This is some gorgeous trim, folks.

However, the piece is a teensy bit too short, and had a stain on it that I couldn't get out. :(

He also sent me some in-CREDible looking gold braid, which matches the golds in the trim really beautifully. I had a piece of chenill-y braid that had the exact base color in it that was needed, but had a navy blue stripe running through it. (Which did NOT work.)

I seamed the trim down the middle,and put the gold braid over the seam, eliminating the navy from the playing field. Here's a closeup of the result:

here's a non-close up of the result, adjacent to the old hatband for color comparison.

We'll see if our Joe likes it or not.

Now. Feathers.

I also have a single, bluish feather, which is only a little bit more "live" than the trim, especially at the tip, which is all I plan to show of it.

Here's a funky sideways shot of the hat, with the suggested trim pinned on, with the feathers propped on, to show how much of the bluish feather shows.

Similarly funky angled shot of feathers without the suggested bluish one.

This is a fun project with some really pretty options.
(It's also the first pleated hat for a customer, and I'm LOVING it, and it won't be the last. So far - no changes needed to the process or materials!)

I also want Joe to take me to where he shops....since it clearly has some fan-tabulous options.
If the chenille band is a no-go - I have other suggestions. :)

Field hat

A particularly awesome customer (The Hat Pimp himself) sent me this image:

wanting a "field hat" that would offer him some actual shade while marshalling fencing tournaments.

It's finished, and I like the way it came out very much:

And I've really learned a thing or two about installing the leather sweatbands.

Yay!!

Can't wait to see what he says :)

Couple of orders

Getting work done on a couple of the orders I pulled the other day. They are coming out very nicely. I'm LOVING all the new tricks I learned from my last two mentors!! The difference is so obvious to me.

This one will get a leather sweatband and lining (I've really gotta add that option to the website - it always feels like I'm trying to upsell people when I call to ask at the last minute.)

I have some trim ideas sortof pinned on. Here it is mostly naked:

And here it is from the side with feathers propped on.

The white stem of the large feather  pulls my eye too much
(thank you Lesley Wilson - I am STILL using those awesome feathers you gave me a decade ago!)

So I'm thinking about adding in this little yellow guy to purposefully pull the eye. (plus the outfit has some yellow/gold in it too.

I've been waiting to use this awesome jewelled button forever - and I think it looks great on here.

The feathers are quite lush, and curled cooperatively for me. 

And here is the lovely little Brown and Salmon hat:. (Really classy color combo, by the way.) I love getting to use my natural, undyed ostrich feathers, which are a lovely grey-brown color.

And her closeup:

I hope they send me photos of the finished outfits with the hats!!

The finished order!

What a relief! Not only is the finished custom order NOT too small, as I had feared, but it was a teensy bit roomy!!

Very pleased about that.

Incidentally, my round topped "Lant roll" block is padded up to 24.5" right now. It would be a great time to order an extended size custom hat, if you were to need one in that shape. Just sayin, is all.

This is my first try posting from the mobile app, so well see if the photos show up. It came out so nicely!

Fun with Rust and Green

Hello Hat friends :)

I'm in a color combination mode: Rust and green.

Working on an extended size order for a rust hat with green trimmings, and I discovered that I'm pretty much rolling in options. I LOVE that!

 THIS is why, when I see awesome trims, I should get them right then. So that I have this much choice for when someone wants something specific.

This is only a teeny taste of the options.

And just a few feather choices

This is just some of the dark green blanks:

I'm really low on rust blanks now, like, pretty much out. Maybe need to do something about that.

Here's the custom order, in progress:

Still waiting for the edge ribbon to dry.

And some feather and trimming "thoughts":

A couple of hats in these colors are on the shelf, ready to ship!

This one is 22.75".

And this one (made for this order, but I fear it will be a tinch too snug.)

is 24.25"