Mad Cap Schiap

Three of these blocks look like they're 1930's Schiaparelli inspired. It's hard to see the hats themselves, of course I had to do it in black wool and I took pictures at night. . At any rate they're cute. They look like "not knitted" Mad Caps.
I'll trim the caps un-Schiaparelli like and repost.. The fourth block is a 1950's half hat, it looks more like a beret. That one was a little fussy I'll redo that one in velour and wire the edge next time.

Turbo Turban

This Hat looks like a Sea Shell, a Turbo Argyrostomus, that's what I found when I googled sea shell, sans the snail. I used a printed wool felt hood, next I'm going to block it with fur felt, You are right Cristina! Wool felt, complicated block? International Sign For NO insert here. The last photos are of what I did with the rest of the capeline I used for the Cocktail Hat with Quills. I used my old hand crank pinking machine. I love a good old machine with a hand crank.

Quills and Spills

I bought some ostrich feathers that were seconds thinking I would dye them. They were just too raggedy and the quills were very thick, so I striped them of all the fluff and boiled them in a 6 quart pot of water to soften them. While they were boiling I made a pattern out of a piece of wire the approximate length of the quills and bent it into the shape I wanted the quills to be. With the wire as a pattern I fashioned make shift jig with pins on an old message board. When they dried I got out the air brush, spilled paint and made a huge mess. One tip read instructions first, then push button. Eventually I got them painted and dried and sewn on the little cocktail hat. I wanted the edge or head-size of the hat to be rolled so I wired the edge and pulled one end of the wire until it curled under and sewed the grosgrain over the wired edge.
Update on the shoe, I can't get it to stick on my head how did Dali balance his?






























Hey I've added some photos of a re-block of this block. The headsize is 22" and the crown-side mid point is 24" the "Small Brim Theory" didn't work.. Sorry Nina! What did work and makes a Sixties-ish pill box is the tip pushed down. I'll use this block only for the tip..

Gone Batt-y

Today I decided to finish off a project I promised to my friend Jic. These are, sort of, the first steps to hand making felt hoods sans shearing the sheep or taking care of them . I finally carded the wool I dyed and picked into nice fluffy batts. Whew. 2 pounds worth
I dyed and picked the wool a few weeks ago so now that he's out of town I've finished the project! I'm sure he'll be glad to know. Now that he won't be home to use them..




I was asked to post the inside and the back of the Crazy 40's Beret check it out Updated Photos Cristina!..
http://chapeaudujour.blogspot.com/2008/10/crazy-1940s-beret-block.html

The shoes are something I'm plotting out. This will be the second round with this idea. The brown shoe was my Moms, She had teeny feet size 2 children. The black shoe is mine and just to show how small her foot was I'm a size 6. My shoe looks like Big Foot or the Yetti's slipper compared. I'll be posting what I did with it in a couple of days..

Big Bonnet

This is a strange marriage of two 40's blocks. It's a Toque Crown and Asymmetrical Brim. It almost ended in divorce and a whole new hat. It started when I blocked the crown backwards, Front is back and Back is front. I wanted it to sit more forward than what the brim was intended for, not a Bonnet so I hand re-blocked the crown into a modified Fedora. The trim is a one piece hand made felt ball cascade. I made a few of those as head bands and gave them away for gifts. I still wonder if they ever wear them..

I Eye ManRay.. I Heart Him Too.

I've started to experiment with screen print.. I made a screen of ManRays Tears, I'm not sure of the title of the photograph.. Happy to report my screen worked on the paper Toyo Hood. I did a separate screen for the T-shirts. I did three Toyos and this turned out the best. The others are smeary. My next screens will be on felt hats. I also did a baby romper and T-Shirt from H&M.