Millinery: In the Pink

Pink parasisol straw hood (did you know it takes a weaver five days to make one hood-the blank straw hat shape?)
Ribbon flowers created by me.
Finally decided to do a bias drape after fighting a wide satin pink ribbon that did nothing for the hat.
How many times did I block it?
Four.
One low crown, one high crown, (see prior post!) one inverted crown with flat brim,
and finally....

Tally ho!

A riding hat shape galloped into my creative mind's eye, as I walked between the kitchen and the hat room.

This hat and the purple "It's the Berries" hat are for sale!
I plan to propose doing a trunk show at a local shop, but that is still in the dream stage. Get 'em before the merchant jacks up the price!


 

Millinery: The Houston Hat Net

A few years back I bought my first ****seriously**** priced hat. My husband said this would be a one time event, a statement that brought out the burning desire for more hats!
I discovered a Hat Chat electronic posting board. On the board was an announcement that hat lovers in New York would be welcome to meet for lunch at such and such restaurant on such and such date and time.

I was crushed. It sounded like sooooo much fun. But soooo far away.

So I posted asking if there were any hat wearers in Houston (the 4th largest city in America, by the way....) which is just an hour from my town of Kingwood.

Lo and behold, Kate Pernia replied that indeed there were hat lovers in Houston, and that they had formed a group called The Houston Hat Net. Kate actually was the founder. She claims that she went to a society wedding and was the only person wearing a hat. What a let down!
She rounded up a few hat wearing friends and they later went out, hatted, for lunch.

The rest is history.

The Houston Hat Net has a website:

http://www.orgsites.com/tx/houstonhatnet/

and currently the site is flattering me by having my "It's the Berries" and "Traveling Hat" on the home page. Silly me, it just makes me feel ooie-gooie happy to see my hats on that website.
Thanks Marie! (she's the webmistress over there)

If you have a chance to visit Houston during one of the HHN events, put on your hat and come along.

A fine group of ladies in the finest of hats makes for a mighty fine time!

>HTML< and =....

Bless me somebody, I've added a LINKS side bar! Now you can bounce over to my favorite blogs (after reading mine first of course...) with just a click.

I'm amazed that I was successful using html enough to get them there, even if the title isn't the right font (help me, somebody, please!) and the links squish ARCHIVES.

ARCHIVES for June 1 is under MAY 2006. Go figure.

If you know how to fix this, let me know. I even used a BOOK to try to figure it out!
Otherwise, just squint, and turn up the radio, so maybe it won't be so noticeable.

Hint: Turning up the car radio works when the car is making a funny noise and you don't have the time and/or money to fix it after you learn that the noise is not car life threatening.
(This hint from daughter Laura, the Road Warrior Princess RN.)

Introducing my Grandbaby Sebastian

("Good Lord!", I hear you say. What is THAT?)

THAT.... is Sebastian.

Yup, I do have a grandbaby. Sebastian lives with his daddy, our son Jeff, in Salt Lake City.

My first grandbaby was a bearded dragon lizard. And pathetically, I was over the moon when the darn thing laid an egg.

The egg didn't hatch.

Sigh.

But then Jeff got me a grandkitty. Sebastian. An adorable kitten, he is now full grown and has lived in a variety of settings including a fraternity house, beach house, and apartments. He is a remarkably calm cat considering some of his former housing situations.








Lots of my friends have grandchildren, and they show me charming pictures of their adorable "grands" fresh from their baths, looking angelic and oh so huggable.

I am so jealous.

So here's my "grand" fresh from his bath.

Once he dried, he looked a lot better.

I think I have the cutest grandcat in the whole wide world.

(FYI: Sebastian, AKA "Meowsie" really does have to be washed in water regularly, either by a pet groomer or Jeff, as the long fur in his..., er, um, private quarters, gets unhygenic otherwise. Ewww.)

Millinery: How the purple block came out: It's The Berries!

This may look simple, but it was not.
It took a couple of tries to get it right, as I struggled with brim issues, and silk too fine to hold a swirl, but here is the finished product.

It is made from an eggplant colored parasisol straw hood, first blocked on a profile block, then low rise crown block, and finally the tip was re-blocked for more rise. Brim is hand shaped.

Hat band is hand dyed (not by me!) china silk.
The ribbon store owner requested they not be identified.
Wonder what THAT is all about.
The rest from Leko.

Millinery: A trip to buy ribbons

Yes...I did go nuts.
And yes, it does add up.
Wonder if it might be cheaper to just become a drunk?
Then I could to AA meeting, and they are free.
There aren't any RA (Ribbon Anonymous) groups.

Yet.

Don't you just love Myrtle?

Myrtle is everywhere! Crepe Myrtle that is...she is blooming at every intersection, around every parking lot, and is frolicking down the parkway on the road out of Kingwood.

I keep trying to stop on the streets to take Myrtle pictures where there is no parking available. Not everyone appreciates a flower freak hanging out of a car window, blocking traffic. I wonder how people could NOT want to stop and stare at all this beauty along with me!

Crepe Myrtle comes in white, pink, lavender, deep rose, grape, and fuchsia. The south's version of lilac, but sadly, without the scent.


Myrtle does have more than one "party piece" though: After she does her tulle prom dress turn in summer, she steals the show again in autumn, clad in her blazing golds and apricot colored leaves.

And she is not afraid to appear in the nude either...in winter her bare limbs are a smooth pinkish gray with lovely subtle colors splashed about as accent tones.

She also adds brown jingle bell shaped pods to her finger tips, just in time for the holidays.

She sheds her bark as she grows in lovely curls of rusty brown, and is frequently spangled with anoles, bright green colored lizards that pose on Myrtle's limbs, secure that they have found a perfect setting for their tropical reptilian selves.

Passionate!

There is a new park in Kingwood, that is, new as in developed last year. I kept meaning to visit it, but was always too busy.

Yesterday I decided that "busy" was going to mean going to the park and taking pictures.

The park has a semi-circular path, and along the path are benches with trellis on the sides and over the top, designed to provide shade.

These passion flowers were twining up and over the benches, scenting the air with the most seductive perfume imaginable. I could imagine sitting down and never being able to leave the magical mesmerizing colors and fragrance.

The flowers have a secret: The under side of each flower has its own magic: The stamen is orange yellow when seen from behind, and the sepal and petals are arranged in an alternating purple/green/purple/green design.

I love flowers with a secret surprise. And if it wasn't for the fact that it is in the low 90's in that park, I think I would find a lovely lavender and green gown and a purple hat to wear, and I would go sit on one of those benches and write poetry.

It is so beautiful there, I'd bet the poems would just write themselves!

Millinery: General Andrew Jackson weighs in.

This felt roll brimmed hat was purchased without trim in New Orleans in December 2000. It was perfect to wear in the foggy wintery coolness of that lovely town.

As it was nearly Christmas during our visit, the town had actors strolling around dressed as historical characters that had lived in New Orleans in the past.

As luck would have it, General Andrew Jackson was taking a morning walk when Bernie and I were out early, sight seeing. I was wearing this hat, as it was purchased, without a single bit of decoration yet added.

General Jackson paused upon seeing us, tipped his hat to me, and said in a decided tone:

"Madam, my compliments on your chapeaux".

And continued on his way.

I didn't even get a chance to inform him of the fact that we lived on "Old Hickory Street", (we resided in Dallas area at the time.)

Nor did I have the opportunity to tell him that my husband's great- great-great grandfather served as a dragoon under his command in the War of 1812.

The General looked in fine fiddle clad in his uniform, and I hope he fared well during the last bout of unpleasantness that troubled that fine city.



Now there are two feathers in my cap...plus peacock hurls, (the grassy looking stuff), a jade and gold pin, vintage velvet bow, velvet leaves, and vintage netting with dots as a hat band.



And Tiggie wants to know when do we invade Japan?

YOU ARE INDIGO

"Of all the shades of blue, you are the most funky, unique, and independent.
Expressing yourself and taking a leap of faith has always been easy for you".

This bit of psychobabble insight about myself was gleaned by taking the quiz:

"What color blue are you?

Feel free to take the quiz yourself!

http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorblueareyouquiz/

Millinary: Not right the first time.

Remember the other day when I was gleefully blocking four hats in one day?
The blue one turned out great!





The pink one...well, it has turned into one of those "if first you don't succeed..." projects.

The first blocking I thought the little raised bumps in the straw weave were cute. A nice textural detail. So I put them on the outside when I blocked the hat.

Then I was just stumped with what to do with the excess brim. I wanted a wider brim but the shape would only allow so much distance. So I just pleated the excess under. That looked great, on the block, but when I tried it on....em, well, I'm not so sure this is such a great idea. But dang it, maybe if I just fold the brim up into the hat and stitch it to the crown. Using a chain stitch so it will come out easy if it is not quite right.

The thread caught on each bump. Worse, when the folded inside the VERY raw prickly spikes of straw ends were against the head and forehead skin. OUCH!
I considered a heavy sweat band. Then thought probably everyone will wonder why I made the hat inside out. Not everyone appreciates texture.

So I ripped out the chain stitch, stitch by stitch, as it didn't pull out at all!

And have re-blocked. Made the crown taller, and rolled the edge of the brim.

Today I will head out to the fabric store to figure out a band fabric, as the tacks left dark gray marks around the hat. You can see the marks if you look closely above the pins in the last photo.

PS: I just finished Fanny Flagg's new book "Can't Wait to Get To Heaven". Put on a straw hat, pour yourself some pink lemonade, pull up a lawn chair under a tree, grab that book and give yourself a summertime treat.

Window Treatments

When planning window treatments for french doors and transome window, it is important, if you have a lovely view, to enhance such view, rather than have the window treatment block or compete with the view.

Or just chose your drapery to compliment your cat.

Whatever.

Millinery: A Travel Hat in Blue

Last week I ordered four "hoods"
(unblocked hats) from Leko. And today I went to town making my parasisol straw hats!



First step: Dunk the hood in a plain gelatin pack/1 qt. boil water mixture as a sizing.
Second step: In this case, with the blue hat, I pinched it flat, in layers, and then ironed it while it was still damp.
Third step: Decorate! (Recognize the trim?)
Fourth step: Hem the brim edge.
Fifth step: Put in a label (darn, I'm all out of labels!)
Sixth step: Wear to the store.
Seventh step: Blog all the fun!
This hat can be worn SO many ways! Addictive...now I want a peach colored one.
Tomorrow I'll show you what I did with the other hats!
And isn't Joan wonderful?

Millinery: Joan At Work

A white shantung silk Daphne styled hat, with satin rose.

















A three part black velveteen oversized beret, trimmed with heavy black lace, iridescent black beading and painted silk butterfly. Peach satin lining. This was the first hat I made in millinery class. Everyone at home laughed until it was seen heading down the runway in a fashion show. The runway spots made it unbelievable!












My hat room sewing area. Joan is wearing a Cotton print Daphne with a three minute rose trim and ombray navy ribbon hat band.

Millinery: Introducing my assistant "Joan".

She just arrived from ebayland yesterday.
Isn't she perfect? Her eyes are so life like, her eyelashes elegantly curled, her lipstick a fresh tulip pink. And her taste in eye shadow...turquoise and toast. Bliss!

I have been trying all my hats on her, a retrospective pasttime, with all the good vibes and enpowerment that I last felt as a girl child dressing up my dolly.

I remember the first doll I had as a child.

I named her "Joanie". I have no idea why she had that name. She had blue eyes that opened and closed, a soft stuffed plastic body, and wire-like red-brown longish hair, done ala "Lucy", curls as a bang and top notch, and the rest of the hair was long and ended in curls at her shoulders.
Joanie had a GREAT wardrobe, Grandma sewed swell stuff!
She even had a bonnet hat!

Assistant Joan is looking fine in all my hats. She looks sultry in cocktail hats, innocent in fabric hats, condescending in brims. Watch for her in future blogs...and possible modeling my hats on ebay!
 

Shirt...skirt...whatever!

My hero Erin McKean over at Dressaday gave a nod to
http://rowena.typepad.com/rostitchery/
with Rowena's online dress pattern. AND...Rowena shared what to do with a big ol' "on sale for two bucks" plain tee shirt: Make it into a skirt.

That's right, just stretch out the collar, sew the sleeves closed, and slip that puppy on!
As Rowena put it: The pocket form a cowl-like shape at the hip (like i need more hip cowlage).

I used a XXL tee that was handily available, stretched the neck out, stitched the sleeves closed, ran an iron over the sucker and bob's your uncle, I had a new skirt just perfect for a quick trip to the post office, dry cleaners, and grocery store. The former breast pocket is the perfect size for parking my cell phone, and the side pockets were handy for sunglasses, keys and other "at the ready" stuff!

Unbelievably comfortable.

Rowena made her "shirt-skirt" from a bright green tee. Wonder how stripes would work? Or one with printing? I'd have to be careful what the shirt said in back, as it would be read right across the "beam".

Pictures are of the back and side.
In case you wonder: My waist is about 33 inches. Imagine how cute this would be on someone who successfully watched their weight!