Millinery : Red felt top hat

In the 7th Millinery class (the original, not the advanced…) the first hat I started working on was a red felt top hat.

Steaming the red felt on the block

Part 1: blocking the crown

I started by padding a 23″ top hat puzzle block with felt, and then steaming my felt hood.  I began stretching the crown of  a ‘short’ capeline over the top hat puzzle block but I needed additional help from one of my classmates to accomplish this because it was very difficult!  From there I started pinning down the band of the hat, stretching the felt down bit by bit, working from North to South, East to West, (or 12pm/6pm, 3pm, 9pm depending on how you like) then doing the sections in between also from opposite side to opposite side.  I pinned down about an inch and a half to start, then kept going down further bit by bit – stretching the length to shrink the diameter of the hood to the block.

Once I was down as far as I figured I could go but still leaving enough for a brim, I let the whole thing cool, pins and all.

When I removed the hat from the block, I did so carefully, because the puzzle block wouldn’t release!  (The center section should come out easily when upside-down, so that all the pieces can be removed without stretching the felt any more, but it didn’t!)  I let it cool a little bit more, and then began work on the brim.

I started by trying to shape the brim over an existing brim block, but found it tedious and not very functional, so instead I steamed the brim and hand-shaped it to start.

At that point the class was over, so the rest I needed to do at home…

Part 2: shaping the brim

Once at home I tried hand-shaping the brim a bit more, comparing it to two other top hats I have (one small, the other full-size) but really thought there was just too much fabric in the brim to get it to do what I wanted it to do.

So…I decided to iron my brim with lots of steam to shrink in that excess felt.  But – I didn’t want the steam to affect the nice straight crown as well…. sooo… I got a crock pot, tipped it upside down over the hat, exposing just the brim.  Basically the crock pot acted like a barrier against the steam.  This worked really well to straighten/flatten out the brim.  There was a bit of an impression of the pot on the hat brim, but I thought I could still steam/brush that out, or perhaps that would be the place where some decoration could rest.

Part 3: wiring the brim

So from here I wired the brim.  I used the same techniques I have used before, so I won’t go into them here….

Part 4: trying it on and a decision to make…

Wired edges on the red top hat – looking a lot more like a western hat

From here, I tried on the hat – for some reason, I’m not keen on it. I’m not sure exactly what is wrong, but I suspect the brim is too wide. All that work I did getting lots of felt for the brim… and I think I will need to trim it down. It just looks too “Western” to me – which, living in Calgary (aka ‘the heart of the new west’) is exactly what I DON’T want.  Cowboy and western hats are a dime a dozen around here (ok, not really, and certainly not custom/hand made ones, but you get my jist..) and not something I want to add to my collection.

So, here’s a question out there to other milliners, costumers, and fabulously stylish people – what are your thoughts? Am I right to think it’s the brim that is messing me up here? Should I make the brim narrower? Help! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.. I have a beautiful red top hat just waiting for me – I just need to make it!

Blocking flat felt

Flat felt blocked on a head block

A little bit ago I tried out blocking flat felt from the fabric/craft store (as a more easily accessible alternative to purchasing felt capelines and hoods).  This is 100% wool felt (not the acrylic mess) and although it shaped wonderfully with the steam (you can see my little kettle in the corner) the result is far too soft to hold it’s shape.  I had read somewhere about at this point painting the inside of the felt with glue to ‘size’ it, and add the stiffness needed, but instead I blocked buckram on the same headform, and will end up simply covering the buckram with the felt.  (Since I don’t have access to the headform anymore; it’s gone back home to my millinery instructor!)  Maybe in a future post I’ll have a finished hat to share!

Millinery Class #7

November 28 was our 7th (and next-to-last) millinery class.  It was odd, because only about half the class showed up – I am wondering if so many days off has messed up the schedules for some of my classmates?  We were supposed to work on straws and felts, but with the power issues we had last week (ahem… apparently we blew a fuse using irons and steamers and blow dryers all at the same time…) not yet resolved (as in, not fixed) and the missing students, we had a late start.

I ended up taking back the green/white/purple straw hood – I just couldn’t think of anything modern and interesting to do with it, and I wasn’t too interested in trying to do something with more of a vintage feel with those particular colours.

I had worked on the remaining straws at home (using my kettle for steam instead of a steamer, which worked fine for the reasonably easy-to-shape straws) so I didn’t even bother bringing a straw hood to class (or the big-brimmed straw for that matter either) and instead knew that I wanted to focus on felts.

Red Felt Top Hat

Steaming the red felt on the block

So I took a look at my millinery wish list, and decided that I wanted to try a top hat, so started to think of how it would come together – then the instructor brought out her puzzle block and offered it up, so I jumped at the chance.  It’s a 23″ puzzle block, so I had to pad it up with my felt for my big ol’ 24″ head, and began working my red felt hood with the steam.

Oh MY it took a LOT more work to shape than the felts!  I was having a very hard time smoothing down the crown, until one of my classmates came over to help.  Between the two of us and a lot of work, we finally got it down and over.  It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty darn good.  At that point I had perhaps an inch and a half down the band, and the instructor came over to let me know that the “short” (crowned) capeline was the wrong one to use with this block, and that I would “never get it worked down much further” and that instead of trying to make a top hat, I should “just work with what the fabric wants to do”.  I was irritated at that, since I was sure she had seen my choice of block when I raised my hand to have my chance at the puzzle block, when I had padded up the block with my felt, and when I had talked about using the red capeline for the hat…  I said that I had no idea it wasn’t appropriate and she responded with “well you never asked”.  And here I thought when I said “so… what do I do here? Is it basically just like the straws?” It should have been close enough to asking, since there was absolutely no direction on how to work with the felts.

The fact that throughout the class she was saying the same thing to the one classmate who is very far behind might have influenced my frustration as well.  My classmate didn’t cover her brim block properly before blocking – and was chastised for it.  She used too much water, and was chastised for it.  All things that with a little more supervision or direction could have been avoided, instead turned into her just wasting her time and materials.

Don’t get me wrong… I’m enjoying the class  – and I am sure that the instructor is a fabulous milliner; she just could use more experience as an instructor.

Ok.. back to the hat!

So I knew that I didn’t want to have this tiny little flat crown and a big huge brim with this red felt – I wanted a nice, tall top hat!  So… I worked.. and worked… and worked… and worked.  I asked the instructor if pins would show in the finished hat – and she said that in felts they wouldn’t.  (Another frustration, once I was done and was taking the pins out, and saw the gaping holes, she said that they sometimes did… and I needed to pin along with the design with the thought of covering them.  ARG… this is why I asked!) I pinned down an inch at a time, pulling and steaming the felt to get it to pull down and shrink in along the padded block.  Eventually I got it down, much to the instructor’s surprise!

From there I didn’t have much material left for the brim, so we started looking at brim blocks.  All of the ones that would fit my large crown were entirely the wrong shape, and the one that was the right shape was too small for my crown.  Frustrating!  I can imagine millinery being an expensive business to start up – since you’d need a variety of head size blocks (in a variety of styles: domed, flat, shaped, etc), and a variety of brims, in a variety of sizes and shapes. I started out using one of the blocks kind of backwards, but it was becoming very tedious and ineffective, so instead I started steaming and hand-shaping the brim instead.  I had a feeling that I’d need further work on it and the chance to wire the brim before I could do much more, so I paused at that point to let the hat cool, and started on my second felt hood.

Green felt hat

Green Felt on the block with the tipper on top

This hood is much shorter – just a hood, not a capeline, which means there’s a lot less fabric to work with.  But, it’s the softest, smoothest, high pile felt, and it’s just gorgeous to touch.   The colour isn’t anything I would normally wear, but when my hair is red, it will be super pretty I think. I started thinking about playing with the one-piece cloche block, but after my less-than-satisfying experience with the straw cloche, I changed my mind before getting too far along.  From there I asked the instructor for ideas, and she suggested… cloche.

Instead I settled with a fedora-like crown with a tipper to get a really interesting shape in the top.  I steamed and set the tip, but that is as far as I got in class, and the hat is still very much a work-in-progress.  Since we only have one more class, I will have a lot to work on in order to get things done when I no longer have access to the blocks!

Book Review: Big little felt universe

Image from Chapters.ca - click for the original

After crafting so many cute little felt flowers recently, I was on a roll, so ordered a book called “Big little felt universe” by Jeanette Lim.  I guess that I didn’t read the description as well as I should have, because although the book is super cute – it really wasn’t what I was looking for.

The projects inside this book are nicely photographed, with full-size patterns which makes it much quicker and easier to make up the projects.  There are adorable little fruits, veggies, cakes, treats, plants plus other play things like a medical set, camping set (with a felt campfire) a tool set and a few other things.

If I had kids, and wanted to give them cute toys for make-believe, this would be a cute resource.  However, I don’t – and the one cute thing that I was looking for in this book (felt flowers) isn’t included.

So it’s back to the bookshelf, and I’ll keep my eye out for more interesting felt flower ideas elsewhere!

The one really good tidbit I got out of this book relates to felt itself though.  The author talks a bit about sources, and the materials to use.  She does not recommend the synthetic felt (acrylic) like is most commonly found at craft and fabric stores, nor the 100% wool felt that I’ve been able to find sporadically through specialty quilt shops.   She claims that the acrylic felt pulls at it’s stitches when stuffed, and thus can rip when stuffed or played with.  For these projects she also suggests that the 100% wool is too thick, so she instead uses a 1mm thick wool blend felt.  She does recommend a source, however it’s from Japan – so not really especially useable. Luckily -my flowers are not toys – and the tearing won’t really be and issue for me to worry about.

The only project I did try from this book was for the “whipped cream” topping – which I definitely saw as a potential flower.  The pattern was simple and straightforward, and it went together with reasonable ease – but ultimately it’s not a great flower as-is. Perhaps the center of a more complex flower?

Even more felt flowers

So, after my last two posts about felt flowers, I wanted to share a less-than-successful project.

I picked up a card at Michaels in the scrapbooking section with two really cute felt flowers on it – they are adorable, and I thought how cool it would be to have one in a larger size or something….

not nearly as successful

Obviously the originals are the grey ones, while my attempt is the red – this was a lot more time consuming to cut than the other flowers I made and posted about earlier – and because I wasn’t nearly so careful with my petal shape – it also doesn’t look nearly as nice.  I really do like the concept, but my execution wasn’t great.  Boo.

Faux felt flowers

While blog-surfing, I came across textile designer Ruth Singer, and I absolutely loved her Amelia broaches, and after the previous faux felt floral facinator, I wanted to try my hand at another way of using felt for flowers.  Unlike Ruth Singer though, I didn’t necessarily want to make a broach – nor did I have access to the gorgeous lambswool/angora/cashmere knitwear for felting to start off with – so I stuck with the old Eco-felt from Fabricland instead – though I like the result enough that I might have a thrift-store shopping trip in my future!  (Unless any of my dear friends have a lovely sweater they’ve accidentally shrunk beyond recognition in the wash?)

The base for this flower is about three and a half inches in diameter

So, I made my first one in red, with a base of about 3.5″ (about 9cm) in diameter. I tried a few variations in the petal shape as well, and actually was quite happy with all of them.  I did some with more petals and some with less – again, using nothing but the Eco-felt.  I think this will give me a good idea of what I want to do when I work with different felts.  I also did one in a heather -grey (not just the red) which I really love.

I did a separate backing for it (to hide the pin or support and cushion the clip) and stitched or glued them on to make hair pins.  I also did another red one a bit smaller (about 6cm in diameter) and put a broach back on that one.  My favorite though, I reserved for this facinator.

The finished facinator

This has two panels of red French/Russian veiling (the vendor said that the two terms are interchangeable, however I’m not totally sure on that, so I’m using both!) creating a full circle of veiling around the flower.  It’s attached to a hair clip, for an adorable little floral facinator!  This was a bit time-consuming to make (just due to the hands-sewing) but really cute, and fairly simple too.  Hopefully I’ll get a snapshot of it being worn sometime soon!  Perhaps I’ll need to make a new one for every day of the millinery class that I’m taking.  It starts at the end of the month, and I’m very excited!

Faux floral pompom fascinator

During my regular internet wanderings, I found a tutorial for a faux floral (using felt) pompom fascinator, and wanted to give it a try myself.

I’ve had a hard time finding wool felt at my regular fabric and craft stores – so for this project I started off with fake felt from Fabricland.  I did find wool felt at a few places subsequently, but figured that the result was ok with the fake stuff (it’s called EcoFelt and is actually made from recycled pop bottles!) so I didn’t need to cut into my (much more expensive!) real wool felt.

The Grosgrain Fabulous blog has really good directions along with clear photos, so I’m not going to replicate them here – but instead just share my own project!

A whole bunch of felt flowers

I started off making a bunch of different flowers using the basic instructions.  Some used more felt than others, some had different widths cut, and some were made from angled felt rather than straight-cut felt.  Ultimately I liked one of these better than the rest (the one on the top left) so decided to use it for the first project.

Underside of the flower - the pinked edges are from the side that met with the other flower.

The base of the flower is really flat, which makes it easy to glue or sew to other things.

With the clip and veil attached.

In the tutorial, the author made  a headband facinator based on a plastic headband.  I always find that these pinch me, mess up my hair, or are just plain uncomfortable – so I decided to do mine using a clip instead, and make it a bit smaller – more like a hair piece than a facinator.  I added some French/Russian veiling,  in a bird-cage style, and added the hair clip. I also made a second with one of the smaller flowers and just put a clip on it (no veiling).

It’s super cute, and I think I’d like to repeat it with a different colour – possibly trying to do something larger and more facinator/hat-like!

From Loom

Purchased at Loom on Vancouver Island

A while back I posted about a cute shop near Duncan, BC on Vancouver Island called Loom, and promised to share photos with you of some of the delicious things I picked up.

Purchased at Loom on Vancouver Island

This one is a super heavy wool that blends from soft pink to bright pink to soft purple – I have in mind wool dreadfalls with it honestly, though I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do it at this rate!

Purchased at Loom on Vancouver Island

These ones are sock wools – though I suppose learning to knit would be a good first step!

8 legs in wool

I’ve recently become more and more interested in felting – nuno felting and needle felting in particular.  While I was on Vancouver Island, I did a fair amount of shopping in yarn/knitting  and fabric stores, and wanted to continue while I was in Tofino.

Unfortunately, Tofino has a number of galleries and artisans, but there weren’t a number of supply shops – which isn’t surprising, it’s a very small town on Vancouver Island that although isn’t ‘touristy’ (in the way that Banff has become, for instance), obviously has discovered the tourist dollar and there seem to be more restaurants and hotels then people.  (I’m exaggerating, but there were a lot of restaurants!)  I first saw a fabric store (which happened to be around the corner from a place where we took a whale watching tour) and wanted to head in, but was disappointed.  They had a very, very small selection of quilting fabric, and even less fashion fabric.  It’s obviously a VERY new store, because half of the shop itself was devoted to classroom space, and I can’t find them online at all.  In the location where I would expect to find them on Google Maps, there’s a bake shop listed instead.  (Approximately 421 Main Street).  We were in and out within 10 minutes, though I can see it will be a charming space once it has the opportunity to establish itself.

Since I didn’t see anything there, I headed to a little shop on the next block called Knits by the sea – which also is a very small shop but seemed to be better established.  (They boast on their website about being voted a favorite new business for 2010, so they’re pretty new themselves!)  They carried mostly commercial wool, with a small selection of hand-dyed and spun skeins from local artisans.  They didn’t have much in the way of roving (which was what I was more interested in for felting), but they did have a number of little needle-felted animals (ones that would be local to the region).  I ended up picking up a kit for a North Pacific Giant Octopus.  The kits come with the roving you’ll need, two felting needles, some thread and a sewing needle along with some beads for the eyes.   Photo illustrated step-by-step instructions are also included.  I’m certain that the label said that the kit was supposed to include a piece of foam to work into (to avoid pricking your fingers) but mine didn’t.  Guess what I was doing while sitting in our hotel, watching the ocean the next evening?  Yep.. pricking my fingers!

(Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I did try to email the shop to let them know – but the ‘info at  knitsbythesea.com’ email from their website bounced back.. maybe they’ll find this post at some point?)

So… I’d like to introduce you to my new little 8 legged friend, along with his friend, a little starfish  (which I made blending the orange and the white wool together with my fingers).

Slightly out of his aquatic element, sitting by the window.

Cute little face...

Close up of his little friend

"I"m bigger than you! ... as long as you have a macro lens..."

If you happen to know the name of (or even better, a website for) the little sewing shop around the corner from Crab Apple flowers – please let me know in the comments below!

Or, if you’re in Tofino, you can visit Knits by the sea (or if you’re not, they have online shopping too…)

Knits by the sea
366 Campbell
Tofino, BC V0R 2Z0, Canada
(250) 725-3700

Knotty By Nature

Inside Knotty By Nature

Sorry for the terrible photo – this was a quick iPhone snap before I totally forgot to take a photo at all…
While in Victoria, I was in Gala Fabrics and happened to mention to the owner who was assisting me that I was interested in nuno felting and needle felting, and she suggested I head to Knotty By Nature.  I hadn’t even really thought about looking for wool batting, and hadn’t added this shop to my “want to visit” list, but since it was very close, we headed over a few blocks and checked it out.

I’ll admit, as a novice, I was a bit intimidated by all of the selection of various fibers (along with a selection of yarn and spinning supplies) but the gentleman working in the shop was understanding and helpful, and told me a bit about how the shop operates.  There were pre-bundled batts (I picked up one in shades of blue, another in blues, greens, purple, and black) and then there were braids of solid coloured wool batting as well – each is 2 ounces for 6$, and you can take as much or as little as you like!  There is also a bucket under the rack, with the leftovers, so if you only want 1 ounce of something, you can look there first.  In there I found a gorgeous blend of wool and angelina fibers (which bond to one another but nothing else with heat, and sparkle!).  I was tempted to get a grey as well, but I still have some grey left over from the nuno felting project – I think it will look great with the blues…

The shop also offers a community carder, as well as a range of really affordable classes.  Of course, since I’m not local to Victoria, I’m out of luck, but if you’re in the area (or are heading there) it might be worth checking out.  It reminded me of a smaller, more intimate version of our local Shuttleworks (or near-local… since it’s not actually in Calgary..)  If you ARE in Victoria though, check out BitchyBees - a knitting group in the area with a LiveJournal presence.

Now, just to make something up with all of this gorgeous wool!

Knotty By Nature

1816 Government Street
Victoria, BC V8T 4N5
(250) 412-7980

P.s. Yarn bombers – check out the photo of the bike that sits in front of the shop!

For the blogroll – Knotty by Nature has their own blog that looks interesting (I’m heading off in a minute, and will have to remember to head back there to read more later!) The Straight Male Knitter was blown away by the shop too, (and by the sounds of it, like me, a little intimidated by everything there), and the Fiber Sauvage comments on a class at Knotty By Nature.