Blocked Felt Hat

During the Fall 2011 Semester I created this wool felt blocked hat in Millinery I Class, inspired by an original 1950s hat. To create the felt hat I used a wool hat blank and a vintage wooden brim block and crown block. The wool hat blank was steamed and pulled over the wooden crown and brim blocks and left to dry to create the shape of the hat. This process sounds easy but actually takes a careful but strong set of hands to pull the hat blank into a new shape without ripping it. Once the new hat had dried, the excess wool was trimmed from the brim edge, and millinery wire was added around the brim edge. China silk was used to create a lining, and Bouvais ribbon was steamed into shape and inserted into the headsize opening. A center back bow was tied and secured in place.

The Trim is a lovely green silk satin. A band was sewn around the crown, and a strip of the silk was knife pleated and carefully hand tacked in place and onto the brim so that the stitches were invisible.

Using scraps from past projects, I created this rosette trim, compiling shapes and textures until I was happy with the result. The rosette is created from wide black velvet ribbon stitched onto a cone shape of buckram. The other trim was created from black silk, pinked and knife pleated into half circle cockades, and sewn around a cord and twisted to create an interesting bud inspired shape with great texture.