March in a minute! Revamping a vintage hat.
Those freezing temps turned into shorts and flip-flop days in 48-hours. I am basking in my backyard, and waiting for the rest of the landscape to be overhauled before I begin gardening again. It means I will miss some but not all Spring planting this year. Have you ever heard of bitter melon? This is our favorite melon to grow and eat in the Summer. It has medicinal qualities and once you acquire the bitter taste, your body will crave it every season. I taught my kids how to eat it when they were young, and now they love it and order it when they can at an authentic Cantonese restaurant.
I had a couple of interesting projects on the work bench these past few weeks, including a revamp of a hat I made three years ago for a client. It got a little squished recently, and lost its shape, so I decided to give her a brand new hat. The first version was kept simple, because she requested no embellishments. I sadly complied, but secretly wanted to give it SOMETHING. I just told her since she’s enjoyed a basic hat for three years, why not change the look and feel completely. The advantage of a plain hat is having a pretty clean canvas to start on a revamp. I cleaned it up, and re-blocked the whole rabbit fur felt onto its original wood block. I played around with new flower materials, and decided on some hand pleated Petersham flowers with beaded stamens. To give my client more bulk at the top of the hat, I lined the inside with a fresh piece of vintage men’s tie silk fabric. Gorgeous in my opinion. The ribbon flowers were a new design and although there are many, the low profile of the ribbon pleats kept them less dramatic. The added opaque colored beads for the stamens gave it a pop and a third dimension without screaming “embellishments!” at you. I felt like the new flowers paid homage to the vintage shape and style of the hat.
I told myself I would do better with documenting my progress, but I started out the year basically back to my old ways. This hat was a pain to block the first time, and it wasn’t any different the second. Even though it’s a five-part wood block, making the removal process easier, the indentations of the crown mushroom look was a struggle. It took me over a week of shaping, drying, and reshaping before I was satisfied with the outcome. It is never going to get easier, certain blocks are just like that, unruly because what we imagine we want something to look, doesn’t always work when it comes down to the creation. There are many variables, like the thickness of the base material, in this case a medium to lightweight rabbit fur felt, and the vintage wood block itself was in bad shape. The wood puzzle parts were jiggly as heck when put together. I ended up taping the pieces with painters tape just to hold it secure. I normally wrap my blocks in plastic to protect it before blocking, but at one point I removed the plastic film because it was keeping me from getting a deep groove for the crown shape. After much complaining, I was satisfied with the result.
This is the original SAMPLE hat blocked without embellishments. I want you to see what it looks like plain, even though the color is different.
These are the unedited photos and a video I took late one night on my work bench. I think they turned out better than the studio shots. This was before the lining was put in.
Angled view
Front View
The inside silk lining added bulk to the tall mushroom crown.