Friday, July 06, 2007

Millinery: Five Hats in One Day: Gray

For Christmas my daughter gave me six straw parasisol hoods.

Awhile back I blocked five of them in one day.

This is the story of the fourth of the five hats that I blocked in one day.

Remember what the hoods looked like before they were blocked?

The gray one in the middle is the hood that this story is about.

When I first began to make all those hats that day, I took each of the hoods and dunked them one by one into a bath made from hot water and unflavored gelatin.
Here's the subject of today's post, the gray hood, lolling unsuspectingly in the tub (grin!)
In the cabinet below where the gray hood bathed sat a plain old wooded salad bowl.
It had been a wedding gift to me back in 1976 and it had seen a lot of salads, lots of potlucks and a whole lot of family dinners over the years.
Thirty years of same old, same old.
But on that hat making day, that salad bowl was about to have an adventure.

Swooping it up out of the lower kitchen cabinet, I tried the salad bowl on my head.

And it fit!

Sorta...more or less. Anyway, it was big enough I could stick my head inside of it.


Quickly I wrapped the salad bowl in saran wrap.
That really surprised the salad bowl. Usually saran wrap just went over the top, to cover the salad.

Saran wrap all over felt...well, a bit odd.



The saran wrap had to be done this way this time because I knew I was going to pull the gray hood out of the bath and pop it onto the salad bowl turned upside down, and I wanted to make sure that they wouldn't stick to each other as the hood dried.

Now if you are sensitive, you might want to avert your eyes at this point. The next thing that happened to the hood and the salad bowl was a little bit painful.



I'm sure the salad bowl didn't mind too much that I stuck him on his bottom with tacks.

He is a very brave salad bowl. He's had toddlers roll him around, and people knock inside him with salad tongs.

This was probably the hardest thing he has ever had to face.
At least the little holes won't show when he goes back to his regular job.

Knowing how much it must have confused the straw hood to be pulled from a nice warm bath and then suddenly be stretched over a wooden salad bowl, I didn't fuss with the edge of the hood; I just rolled it back in a loose fold.

Then I left the bowl and hood alone for awhile while the hood dried. It's always hard to tell when a hood is dry just by looking, the best way to tell is to feel it. If it feels cool, it is still damp.

After awhile, when the hood was no longer wet, or cool, I took the dried straw hood off that big old salad bowl.

Then I folded that gray hood a bit, added a piece of lace from Switzerland and an old button from my grandmother's button box, and suddenly, with just a few stitches, I had made a hat.






This hat looks different from every angle, a "Robin Hood" style from the back, a cloche look from the side, and a touch of riding cap from the front.



The lace from Switzerland, and the button from Grandma.
I think the top view of a hat is important too, because often you are sitting while you wear a hat, and the first view a person approaching you might get is from the top.

So there you have it, the story of a hood, a salad bowl, a piece of lace and a button.

Stay tuned for the last hat in the series, coming soon!

9 comments:

Marie said...

Jillie strikes again -- wonderfully creative!

Becky said...

I admire the lace and button! Your creative genius shines through. The French Revelution comes to mind when I first glanced at the hat. Must have been the from the film "Tale of Two Cities" where every peasant seems to be donning a blue floppy topped hat. I really don't know how to describe it in hat language. Either way, you're amazing with hats!

Lovella ♥ said...

First of all I want to congratulate you for not having put your wooden salad bowl in your dish washer and ruining it. I know at least one bride from the late 70's that did that. Your salad bowl at least has a life, mine has long gone back to sawdust.

Your hat creativity is just amazing. A little twist and a little bend a button and a smidge of lace and voila . . Jill has another hat. I do wish you would model it for us.
By the way, does your rather pokerfaced model have a name?

When you come to visit, I'm going to send you home with a smidge of my grandmothers lace and a button to boot so that one day you'll make a hat for yourself that will share a little bit of my heritage.

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

Yes I did take good care of my wooden salad bowl, regularly oiling it and never dunking it into water. A salad just looks so nice in a wooden bowl when dining casually, and no fear of breakage when going to pot lucks. Salads in plastic bowls just doesn't do it for me.
My model was introduced last summer...her name is Joan. I got her on ebay!
The first doll I ever remember owning I called Joanie, so the name is a slight nod to my first and my last doll. Putting hats on
Joan has all the same girlish fun as dressing up my dolly did way back when.
I'll try to post a picture of me in all five hats at the end.
And Becky, thank you for putting your finger on the look, it does have the french revolution floppy hat. I'm uncertain of the proper name of that style, maybe Kate will know.

Kate said...

I should know it's name but I can't remember. Ich bin alte! Darling hat tho'. BTW: went to Bischoff this week and looked for those wee baby buggy lace motifs but none were in sight. Will keep looking tho'. Any excuse to go lace shopping, you know!
Hugs,
Kate Q:-)

Anonymous said...

Jill, you have millinery fingers! Great hat! I'm with Becky on the French Revolution look. I couldn't remember the name, but finally I got it, those guys wore a Phrygian Cap. Click the following link for a look at an original Revolutionary cap (really cool): http://www.nmm.ac.uk/upload/img/NAN0002.jpg
Thanks Jill for sharing so many things with us!

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Very cool hat! Where on earth do you find the room to store all this millinery? I am enjoying your hat-making stories.

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

Thanks Cristina, in my mind I knew that was the name, just couldn't spell it or pronounce it! Ah, millinery teamwork at its best.
Anyone reading these comments, be sure to take a peek at Cristians blog to see her amazing new cloche.

A Lady said...

Mom! I love that hat! It is so romantice, strong, and yet feminine! Great use of the lace. Brilliant