The hat, day 3.

Well, I've learned a fair few things from this project so far. :) The most important one being that satin, due to that beautiful sheen we covet it for, will "reflect" anything and everything that's underneath it, including the stitches of your frame wiring efforts. Ah well, guess that's why we have trimmings, yes?

So on to the photos.

Here's the frame completely wired and stitched together. Now here's where I kinda messed up. See, I failed to check the diameter of the opening at the top of the crown when I pinned the back seam, so when I went to stitch the top piece in, there was a gap. Not a huge gap, but a gap nonetheless. So, we fall back on the "they won't see it when it's done" doctrine and sew it in with slightly looser stitches, so it holds, but it's tied down like a trampoline. 

Important note here: neither buckram nor wire will stretch, but you can use them as bracing for taut, but open, stitches. :) In the end, it looked like the picture to the right (that's a quarter for scale). Ah well, not perfect, but it will do. The second important note: hats don't usually require the rugged construction of clothing - they just don't get that much stress, so you can get away with things that you can't with clothes.

Remember that, and it will save you much sanity. :)

Next up, start covering with fabric:

Here's the top piece of the satin pinned loosely over the top of the hat. I decided I would just tack it in a few places and then smooth the fabric out as I stitched around the edge.

And here's the top all stitched down. I went around the edge right up close to the top first, figuring that's all that was really needed. But satin is pretty stiff, and it stood away from the frame a bit when I'd finished, so I opted to take some extra time and do a second row of stitching right above the bottom edge of the fabric with the idea that that would keep it from bunching up under the fabric on the crown (it kinda did).

Then I pinned the crown fabric all the way around. You can see just below the top what I meant about satin "reflecting" what lies beneath it - the bumps are from the stitched-down top piece. *sigh* If I were to do this again, I'd probably a) not use satin, and b) line the frame first with something like light flannel to cut down on the framework showing through to the outside (you're really suppose to do that - I'm totally lazy).

And finally, the covered crown (yay!!!). Here's my admission for the day: for all that I love making hats, hand sewing is my personal well of fail. So anything that requires "small, neat stitches" as this does tends to make me giggle nervously and go looking for the nearest bottle of cider (random side note: if there's anything I've learned from hours of dungeon-healing on WoW, it's that cider is the best calming agent ever invented. True story). You're seeing the pretty side of the sewing here. The other side is .... not.

So, the growing list of rules for hatmaking:

1) Patience, grasshopper.

2) The "they won't see it when it's done" doctrine: if it won't show when the hat is done and you need to do it, do it, even if it's ugly. :)

Up next, finishing the bottom edge of the crown, covering and adding the brim. Then ... trimming! :)

(I wonder if there's a cold cider in the fridge.)