Millinery: Hatty Inspiration and Frustration

Well, given that the Virtual Easter Bonnet Parade was sprung upon blogdom with almost no notice whatsoever, I must say having thirteen Parade entries wasn't too shabby.

Next year everyone will get a reminder to be prepared to spread the word, and have time to goad all your friends into wearing a blogworthy Easter bonnet.

This year's holiday season sure went fast; I didn't even have a chance to blog my St. Patrick's day go to work at the library outfit. You may remember the Shamrock hat in the blog banner up until March 18th?

There it is being worn upon my head.

I've been fussing with creating a similar style springtime/May Day hat. I like my ribbon work, but did a rookie error and forgot to block my buckram frame into a curved slightly cupped shape before I covered it in white silk.

I keep telling myself that it works anyway, but it just sits on the head jutting out in a way that bugs me. Plus the beads hang at a weird angle. Naturally this means I've got to start all over again if I want to really wear it.

My plan was to have french veiling wafting over the whole piece; I cut out ivory veiling instead of white too.

Sigh.

This piece is just bucking me every inch of the way. Except the ribbon flowers, of course.
What was I thinking...I don't even wear lavender anyway.

I'd really rather concentrate on making something like this hat:

(Is it wrong to take a picture of a picture in a magazine?)

The magazine was about wedding flowers; I thought this wedding hat seriously rocked.

The bride was carrying red flowers, and had a cherry theme to her wedding.

Want.To.Make.That.Hat.

I gave it a shot this afternoon using royal blue horsehair (the name of the stuff the hat in the picture is made from.)

I got close but no cigar. I'll need a longer piece, and a curve buckram headpiece covered with matching fabric, or a piece of blocked straw.

It would only take the tip of a straw hood to make the small head piece to which the horsehair would be attached; but somehow I just wince at the idea of cutting up a whole hood just to get a five inch wide circle from the middle.

Now I do hope everyone has been watching the Complete Jane Austen on Masterpiece on PBS on Sunday nights.

I stumbled across the costume designer's comments about the hats worn in Emma. Such a great article about millinery design to illustrate a character's personality. You can read more about Regency millinery here.

I have to ask: Was I the only one who was amazed at Emma's brown hat with a triangle shaped crown?

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Virtual Easter Parade. Any interest in a virtual Kentucky Derby Day showing? We could wear our hats, and place our bets on our blogs.
Then we could invite friends over to watch the race with us (encouraging them to wear their own hats or providing hats from our collections.)

The Derby is always held the first Saturday in May...get your party thinking hats on and let me know if you think this would be a great idea!