Mad Hatter: Part 1

I have decided to try my hand at hat-making. I know, I know, I do NOT need another project! But I do so love hats, and I also love being creative, so why not combine the two and attempt a new chapter of millinery madness?! If nothing else, it will be a way to make vintage-inspired hats when I can't afford to buy them!

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Step 1: Buy how-to book.

My choice was the much-approved "From the Neck Up: An Illustrated Guide to Hatmaking" by Denise Dreher (available from Amazon). Basically, the millinery bible, and an excellent resource for a beginning mad hatter! The book breaks everything down into easy-to-follow lessons with thoughtful illustrations.

Step 2: Practice making paper mock-ups.

While I eventually want to turn almost exclusively to felt work, I feel that it is important to know how to do all aspects of hatmaking. So, for my first project, I will be making a buckram hat frame that will be covered in cloth and decorated with a fake bird.

Since I love the beautiful hats of the late 1930s and 1940s, I decided my first hat would be a tilt topper. I made the hat with a pointed front and a curved-up back, and it will rest at a jaunty tilt upon my pretty little head! I constructed a flat crown with which to place my mock "bird" (constructed of styrofoam and feathers).

In order not to waste valuable (and expensive) materials, you figure out the pattern for your hat using cheap-ish paper models. That way, if you make a mistake, it's not as expensive! You start with your first paper pattern, which you cut and shape and tape to figure out curvature of the brim (if you do in fact want curvature - which I did!). My initial pattern is shown below the "Step 2" title. Once you have your pattern figured out, you cut out the "real" paper pattern. Then, you use that final paper pattern to cut out the buckram, sew it together with some millinery wire for support, cover it with fabric, and decorate!

Step 3: Don't be Idle - Play with Glue!

While waiting to order the buckram, I decided to work on my mock bird. My inspiration came from this hat displayed in the November 1944 issue of McCall Magazine. My bird will look very similar, except that the tail feathers will be shorter, and will extend upward a bit more (as they will be resting/attached to the upturned back brim of the hat.

To make the bird body, I purchased a medium styrofoam "egg" and cut it in half.

Using the wonderfully brain-cell-killing glue known as Fabri-Tac (DEFINITELY only to be used in a well-ventilated area and while wearing gloves!!), I glued on a layer of colorful feathers, working from the back and making my way forward (so that they would lay and look more natural).

The bottom I left as plain styrofoam for the moment, but will eventually be covered with a light fabric and glued and/or tacked onto the finished hat to hold it in place.

For the bird head/neck, I purchased a styrofoam "ring" that I will cut a piece out of and carve one end to look like a head. I haven't figured out what to use for a beak yet...?

Anywho, I finished gluing feathers to the bird body today, and hopefully tomorrow will start constructing the head and neck.

Here is the bird body resting on the paper mock-up. Imagine the spray of tail feathers coming out the back too (like the McCall hat)...



More millinery adventures to follow!...

What's for Breakfast?

Peach "Boats" with our own homegrown raspberries & blueberries, drizzled in blueberry-lavender-lemon verbena jam, and garnished with lemon balm, borage, and evening primrose flowers.

Wear That Funky Pheasant, White Girl!

So I won my first (and most likely only) Ebay auction last week!

It was for the craziest vintage hat I'd ever seen: a sort of modified feathered pillbox with a fake feathered pheasant (complete with gold glue eyes and fun pompadour feathery poof) on top.

It even had trailing feathers in back (let's face it, I'm a total sucker for long, trailing feather accents), and the sides of the hat are covered in brown netting with random accent spots of gold glue.

Like I said, totally WILD vintage hat! According to the seller, it came out of a famous costume shop in Cincinnati, Ohio, that has been around since ~1840. This shop even supplies the annual bunny costumes to the White House each Easter! You can tell that the hat has seen better days - a few of the long tail feathers are broken off and missing, and there are bare spots on the sides of the hat where feathers are missing.

To me, it just adds character, and shows that the hat was well-used and hopefully well-loved. Given the crazy style and dark brown color, the hat was difficult to photograph, but we tried our best!

And in other hat-related news, my wonderfully crafty woodworking husband carved me out my first hat block this morning!

Let the millinery experimentation begin!!

Authentic Flapper Girl!

I promised "better" pictures of that beautiful authentic 1920s flapper dress, and here they are! I am wearing a plain beige silk dress underneath, as the flapper dress is sheer lace. But I think that the lighter beige dress really brings out the beauty and detailing of the lace! I am also wearing my antique rosary-turned flapper necklace...just trying to set the mood...*grin*

I believe I will be trying my hand at mending some of the repair work needed on the lace dress. It's SO delicate in both construction and condition, but I think that a loving hand can, with careful work, restore it to its former glory. Not a dress I plan to be wearing out much (if ever), but so beautiful to look at. If nothing else, an amazing study and inspirational piece!

Many thanks again to the wonderful and generous Jeanna!

Another Project Down...

I finally had a chance to mend the $5 "Milton Lippman Original" 1950s sheath dress that I purchased at the thrift store last week.

With so many B&B guests, it's a bit difficult to find a work space around here. So I had to wait for a brief calm spell in between bookings! The dress has definitely seen better days, and needed many, many patches. I did the best I could, as I believe this dress is absolutely worth saving and wearing! It has loads of personality!

It has two large front pockets, and buttons down to the waist in front, and then there is a matching button (with a major area of patchwork repair to the right - visible even in the picture!) in the back of the skirt where the "kick pleat" is.

There is also a side zipper.

The material is very thin and shear, which I believe is due to both age and the type of fabric. Definitely a dress you'd need to wear a slip with!

The Adso Bean

Many heirloom beans have more than one name attached to them, and sometimes the older the bean, the more names it has! Sorting through them all, and figuring out which name goes with what bean, can be quite a challenge. For example, one of my favorite rare heirloom pole beans is a beautiful black and white speckled dry bean. It is known alternatively as Flagg, Chester, and Skunk (for obvious coloring reasons) in texts and seed-saving circles. Here on the farm, it has developed one more name:

The Adso Bean.

I leave it to you to discern the reasoning.

Figs, Potatoes, & Beans, Oh My!

The first figs of the season are ripe and ready for devouring! We have three fig trees on the property (and hopefully soon many more - as in, an ORCHARD!) - two young ones in the Herb Garden, and one mature-ish tree next to the house. The mature tree is LOADED with fruit this year, and the first few pints-worth were ripe this week. There are basketfuls of unripe ones still on this tree, which I am sure will be ready in another month or two, meaning a delicious and sustained fig harvest this year (yay!). Our trees are the variety known as "Desert King," which is ironic because they are one of the best varieties for the higher, cooler elevations here in the Applegate Valley. B&B guests this week were treated to quartered and decorated figs as an accompaniment to their breakfasts!

Also ready for the first time this season: the heirloom potatoes! Yesterday, we harvested ~half of one of our potato beds - roughly 10 lbs of potatoes, mainly comprised of Blue Shetland, Kennebec, and a few of the rare & delicious Negresse (aka "Truffle" potato!) shown below.

I noticed an interesting mutation of my Blue Shetland potatoes (at least out of this bed): instead of the traditional ring of blue/purple spots, there is a solid band of color...weird...I rather like it!

And of course we are still harvesting many pounds each week of my favorite heirloom bush bean variety: Dragon's Tongue.

Further Bean News: the rare Lenape Cutshort/Indian Hannah pole beans have mature pods now, and should be ready for harvesting in a few weeks (when the pods dry on the plants). Also, the equally rare Flagg pole beans in the Herb Garden were dry and ready for harvesting yesterday, so I spent much of the afternoon working on that!

Harvest Season is in full swing now, so stay tuned!...

Follow-Up: My Eye Is On the Sparrow (Hat!)

Just wanted to update with some better pictures of this wonderful hat (now sans veil), as well as a little bit of background on it. First of all, everyone take a deep breath: the veil was removed without any harm to it or the hat, and remains intact and lovingly stored in my armoire for some future vintage-related project.

Background: the hat was purchased at a Tacoma, Washington estate sale, and had been previously owned and worn by a talented 90+ year-old seamstress/fashionista. The woman lived in Tacoma nearly all of her life, so the hat was probably purchased locally as well. Wish I knew more, but that's it! I always try to find out whatever details I can about my vintage hats. I love knowing backgrounds and previous lives, which help endear them to me and make them even more unique: these aren't just old hats, they are hats with a history!

Breakfast: SUCCESS!

Today's breakfast consisted of freshly-baked sourdough rolls (hot out of the oven!) with a choice of strawberry-tarragon or blackberry-basil jams! This was followed by Healthy Blueberry Breakfast "Cake" topped with apricot jam (the "cake" is made without milk, eggs, or sugar, and instead sweetened with orange juice & lemon verbena), & this was also accompanied by a side of freshly made heirloom applesauce. Course #2 was individual melon cups with our own chocolate mint, raspberries, blueberries, and boysenberries (and of course borage)!

A hard morning's work made for some VERY happy B&B guests...

An Original! (Just Like ME)

A myriad of jam sales finally meant that I was able to afford the vintage hat I've been eying for some time now...it's an adorable late 1930s/1940s tilt hat w/veil by Frank Palma. What makes this hat truly unique are the fabulous (and detailed!) felt sparrows that cascade down from the top and follow along the back headband.

They look EXACTLY like the ones in the hat worn by Rosalind Russell on the cover of "The Women" DVD (1939). Which of course begs the question: what came first: the movie, or my hat?

In the pictures I have the veil tucked up and under the hat because veils tend to drive me crazy. However, it's a GORGEOUS, intact, and beautifully detailed & delicate veil. I think I am going to remove it and save it for use on some future hat project or restoration. Plus, that will make the felt sparrows far more visible!

Apple Harvest!

We are in the midst of our first apple harvest of the season! Our standard-sized Lodi tree is bearing very well this year, and everyone is scrambling to harvest as many apples as time, energy, and B&B guests allow!

The poultry are getting a bit sick of pecking at apples, though the donkeys and goats love them! The humans are getting more than a bit tired of gallons and gallons of apple butter themselves...sigh. Since we use it for several B&B breakfast items, we make an enormous amount of apple butter every year (we also offer it for sale to guests after it's been safely pressure-canned).

That being said, if I see one more apple...