It's HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!!!!!!!!!

After nearly a month of back-and-forth emails trying to get PayPal set up for them, figuring out shipping, actually shipping the package and then having it be delayed by that horrendous train wreck in Wolf Point, Montana, my long-awaited hat is finally HERE!  This hat was my reward for working a 21-day stretch of B&B bookings this July (with only 2 real days of "rest").  This July 2012 has been our best month ever at the inn, and I felt it deserved an appropriate hat!

This breathtaking, museum-quality "Art Bern Hats by Frank Palma" piece consists of a brown felt base with upturned brim and a double-faux-bird decoration on the right side.  It is just amazing!  I am so insanely excited to be able to add it to my growing collection of vintage Frank Palma faux bird hats!  I'm a little unsure as to the time period for the hat, however.  My best guess would be late 1940s - early 1950s, but I could be wrong...?  The hat, while definitely having seen some abuse, is still in surprisingly good shape.  The felt and netting are intact, as are the feathers.  The biggest problem is that age has made the glue used to attach the feathers begin to disintegrate.  The seller warned me about this in advance, and when I received the hat I spent some time carefully re-gluing the loose feathers.  I'll probably still have to glue a few more as general wear makes them come loose, but that's not a problem.  This is a common occurrence with feathered hats of this age, and I have become rather adept at repair work.

My husband insisted that I buy the 1940s brown one-piece dress suit with attached peplum train - which we found at a local antique store last weekend - to go with the hat.  I think the combined effect of the hat and the dress is killer!

Welcome home, Frankie!

Artie

So, like the true hat addict that I am (why deny it?), I bought myself 3 different chapeaus for my birthday!  Ebay is a bit like the devil for my pocket book, but I have allowed it to steal my soul - putting up only a minimal amount of fighting.  Sometimes, it's easier being bad.  In any event, I purchased two AMAZING Frank Palma hats off of Ebay (one is a "Frank Palma Original" label, the other "Art Bern Hats by Frank Palma"), as well as another 1940s faux birdie tilt hat (this I won by default - since no one else bid against me - for the $26 starting bid!  Some of my favorite vintage hats have been won this way off of Ebay).  My birthday was Saturday, and my family is famous for only giving practical gifts, so I figured that if I wanted some ridiculous hats for my birthday, I needed to purchase them myself (I even bought an adorable vintage polka dot "birthday hat box" to keep them in)!  Frank Palma is "my main man" when it comes to vintage milliners, and to be able to purchase not only one but TWO of his hats was a real birthday wish come true!  I of course decided that I needed multiple birthday outfits to compliment my hats...

This is the first of my birthday ensembles:

 

I have dubbed this hat "Artie."

 

The dress is a gold brocade that my grandmother and I worked on.  It is made using a vintage 1960s pattern.  The dress actually has a removable overskirt, but I didn't have time to complete it before my birthday.  I actually almost like the dress better without the overskirt...

The "Art Bern Hats by Frank Palma" is breathtaking!  This hat is a near replica - with the exception of the color - to one that sold on AntiqueDress.com for over $800!  You can see why I squealed with happiness when I purchased it on Ebay for $99+shipping.  This will always be one of my most treasured hats, I can tell you right now.  It is both incredibly beautiful, and incredibly unique in its design!

 For my birthday, I went to my favorite hairstylist in Ashland for a vintage 1930s cut & style (if you need your hair cut, I HIGHLY recommend Salon Selah V in Ashland, Oregon!).  Then, my darling husband took me out to a lovely Indian restaurant for a buffet-style lunch (yum!).  We went to a couple of antique stores, and then headed home to get ready for the lovely outdoor soiree he was throwing for me on our new deck.  We set up tables, chairs, and tea lights, and had a lovely BBQ (and wine!) with friends.  I could not have asked for a better birthday, and say many, MANY thank you's to all who showed up!  You certainly know how to make a girl feel loved!