Literature to Life
  • Home
  • About me
  • Attend a Presentation
  • Literary Studies
  • Victorian Era Lectures
  • You should have been there!
  • Real to Reel
  • Bulletin Boards
  • Home School Help and Teacher Resources
  • FAQ

21st Century Victorian

a phoenix hat with peacock feathers

8/22/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
One of these days I'm going to take an official millinery class. I think I do ok up-cycling old hats but I can't always get a good base hat to turn into exactly what I want. That was the case with the hat for Phoenix. I knew exactly what I wanted; I just couldn't get there. But this hat looks nice and I'm ok with it... for now. ;-)
Picture
At this point I had already doused the original straw hat with boiling hot water to reshape it. I then cut it into 3 parts: the crown, the outer ring, and the inner ring that I did not use at all.
Picture
I folded the outer ring until I got a bow shape then used clear thread / monofilament / fishing line to sew it together.
Picture
The clear thread was a PITA to use!! >:-( It kept getting hung up in all the raw exposed straw edges. I did what I could then lost my patience and hot glued it.
Picture
Next, I flipped the front edge down and put the crown on the inside. I needed to make the crown smaller to I slit the back side and squeezed it until it fit.
Picture
In this picture you can sort of see the slit along the back of the crown. Knowing I was going to add feathers, I wasn't worried about it showing. I hot glued the crown to the outer ring/brim.
Picture
The new hat shape was all together and secure but I had a lot of exposed raw edges of the straw that was catching everything. I gently trimmed it all down and then used good old Elmer's Glue as a sealer. It dries clear so no worries! Once the glue was dry, I added the ribbon and feathers. That's it! Scroll back up to the top to see the finished hat in all her glory. ;-)
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I adore the Victorian era but I live in the 21st century. I strive for authenticity but not to the point of obsession (usually). Unless the TARDIS shows up, I'm only ever going to have to 'look' the part. Sometimes close enough really is good enough.

    Archives

    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • About me
  • Attend a Presentation
  • Literary Studies
  • Victorian Era Lectures
  • You should have been there!
  • Real to Reel
  • Bulletin Boards
  • Home School Help and Teacher Resources
  • FAQ