Vogue 8052 Hat

ETA: DH took some pics of the hat on his favorite hat model this morning, so I have done some delete, cut, and paste here.

My little retro hat is done. Today is a bad hair, no makeup day so I definitely would not do it justice. It does look cuter on but I find I also need to get a comb and stitch it in the hat so it will stay on a little better.

This was really fun to make. The fabric is an embroidered dupioni from the stash. Yesterday I did the stuffed, wired tubing. The pattern has you do the "double the cord needed and use the uncovered half to pull the fabric over the cord" method. Oh, did I say a 19 gauge wire goes in here at the same time as well? I fiddled and diddled way too long with this and decided to just do it "my way." That way was using a Fasturn tube turner. I had to cut more bias. I was able to stuff the cord and easily turn it at the same time. Then I folded the tip of the wire so it wouldn't be sharp and just easily pushed it up and thru the stuffed tube. Moral? Go for the Fasturn, forget the pattern. I also was a little paranoid before starting it "my way" and decided to stitch the tube a little wider. I didn't get tight firm tubing because of that but what I got worked just fine.
Next the pattern has you cover the wire form. It does suggest a "designer's tip" that to be authentic one might want to sew the cover to the frame. It doesn't offer any alternative so make sure you follow the "Designer Tip". The cover has to be on the bias with center front. That way it can be stretched easily where needed most. I pinned and pinned.
This looks pretty messy but it got much better. First I pinned the cover to the frame. Then I cut it back to about an inch. Then, very important, I basted the cover to the frame. Trimmed again. Then I was able to turn the hem and stitch it to the frame. I would release about 2 inches of basting, roll and whip, then release two more inches.......Next the pattern has you cut out a circle on the center of the attached cover and glue a fabric circle in its place. The reason being? Ya got me. What I decided to do, because I wanted a smooth finish to the top of the hat, was take a circle of fabric, fuse two layers of fusible fleece to the wrong side, and then gather up the edges, yo yo style.














Now I could put the flowers on. I got a silk hydrangea from Joanns. The flowers were pulled off one by one and glue gunned to the hat. Thinking it looked just a little blah, I came up with some shaded organza ribbon. I made leaves out of the ribbon and tucked them here and there into the hat. I think the leaves really add to the finished product. What you see below is the view from above the hat.














DH gave me a wonderful camera a couple of years ago with all the bells and whistles. I only discovered a couple of weeks ago that I have a remote for it. Once I get cleaned up I am anxious to try the remote to take the pictures. I think a bit of manual reading is in order first..........Bunny