Figure 8 Out

Souped Up Figure 8 with a Little Bowl of Flowers

This is a Figure 8 clamp style Hat from the 30's/40's.  I bought this original years ago and it still had the paper 10 cent price tag on it from Woolworths.  Trust.  The tag disintegrated BOO!  Its a sweet little black number. I styled my leather flowers after the little vintage bouquet pinned to the side of the skull block.

 I started with a length of steel spring wire, felt tubing I made and a felt round I cut from left overs  from a hat.

I sewed the wire to the edge of the round with a wide zigzag stitch, it can also be sewn by hand. I overlapped the wire 1 1/2 inches.

Soft Metallic Leather

 I cut a 1 inch wide strip of leather instead of using the felt to bind and cover the edge of the round. The binding strip is started where the last of the zigzag stitches are and the wire is just a tail hanging alone. 

Sewing the Binding Strip

After the binding strip is sewn onto the round I threaded the felt tubing onto the wire tail and connected the felt tube ends together and I bent the tail wire with a pair of pliers at a right angle close as I could get to the zigzag stitching. Then I turned the binding and glued the edge of leather with some crazy glue called "Tiger __?__ Glue for Leather.  Its nice, it has no smell. I'll post the name later. 

I sewed the leather edges at the center back and added a small piece of the leather to cover the seam.  Looking back I should have used the felt.

I cut flower shapes from felt and the leather, added stamens,wire and brown floral tape and made a little bouquet to sit in the tiny soup bowl on the very top.

Top and Back .... Peace Out

BTW... 

Sunday, November 20, 2011

NBC "The Feast" Thanks to Hannah Snavely and Marco Villalobos

Anything and Everything Passes as Headwear at The Millinery Guild, Beverly's New Haberdashery

Los Angeles' newest haberdashery, The Millinery Guild, opened this fall on Beverly, bringing quirky hatter Susan "Montez" Murphy’s avante-garde, handcrafted creations to the Westside.
The light, bright and airy space stocks  Murphy's own vintage-inspired in-house line, Montez, which she crafts using wooden hat blocks circa the '30s and '40s, plus toppers by Cristina de Prada, Su WeHa, Bijou Van Ness and Carpe Diem.
And, while most folks come by the shop looking to replicate the adorned look of a certain sapphire-bedazzled newly-crowned princess, according to Murphy, anything goes when it comes to headwear, just as long as you're not headed to the movies.

Video by Marco Villalobos . 


  I'm Gobsmacked!   

Daily Candy!!

Daily Candy did a Feature on My Shop "The Millinery Guild"!

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Los Angeles | September 7, 2011 The Rad Hatter The Millinery Guild Opens on Beverly | | There are many words to describe Susan Murphy’s hats, but “dull” is not one of them. Her new Beverly Boulevard boutique, The Millinery Guild, specializes in eccentric, over-the-top headwear (an all-too- raresight outside British aristocracy and Munchkinland). Inside the all-white jewel box space, you’ll find handcrafted toppers that range from whimsical (felt fedoras with bird appliques) to WTF? (a mousetrap headband with a wedge of rhinestoned cheese) by established labels such as Cristina de Prada, Su WeHa, and Carpe Diem. Then there’s Murphy’s own line, Montez, with avant-garde creations like a mouth-shaped straw beret dangling a cigarette. She often uses wooden hat blocks from the 1930s and 1940s, so even custom orders have a vintage twist. Want to flex your own millinery muscle? Murphy plans to teach beginners’ workshops at Hands-On 3rd. We’re brimming with excitement. The Millinery Guild, 7767 Beverly Boulevard, between North Ogden Drive and  North Genesee Avenue, Fairfax District (213-985-4784 or themillineryguild.com), $65 and up. Photo: Courtesy of The Millinery Guild How YaLike me nao?

My Shop "Inside" and Mondo Guerra Wearing My Hat..WHAT? Umh Huh

I haven't  had much time to do a tutorial or block on some nutty blocks I will now and I'll post really soon.  I had some really good news Mondo Guerra Project Runway Alum season 8 and now an Allstar is wearing a boater I made  http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway-all-stars

Guess which one he is... 

Something New

My Shop on Beverly Boulevard LA CA 90036

 

 

 

Here it is, I'll post pictures of the interior next.

Argus Eyes and Swords

I'm back curling and doing unnatural things to Feathers.  This time... Peacock.  Eyes and Swords. Curled, heated, bent, squeezed, smashed.. Its starting to sound like a Steinbeck Novel. 

I bought them like this

Curled Swords

Trimmed Eyes + Curled Swords

1.I stripped all the barb feathers from the vein.

2. Straighten out the eye a bit and hit it flat with the iron for a second or two. Watch it, they burn pretty fierce and fast.

3. I trim the eye. just because I like to.

4 Hit it with the iron again.  It's ready

                               

                                                                The Swords

1 Clean up the all ready stripped side of all the straggly barbs

2 Be careful when you do it by hand, scissors come in handy for this part.

3 Ready

4 Hold the feather with your left hand and use the knife along the vein just like curling ribbon for gift wrapping

5 Curl until you get the right curl for you

6 All curled up

7 Hit it with the iron. Wrap them with some floral tape. Done

In Barcelona.. May 8th

Come to Barcelona and wear your hat!

Next May 8th 2011 (Sunday) at noon we will wear our hats and take a stroll down Barcelona’s emblematic street, Rambla Catalunya. This will be the seventh edition of the “Passejada amb Barret” (Hat Stroll), our version of the Easter Parade that takes place every year on the Sunday after Easter (although this year it will be delayed one week to avoid clashing with any 1st of May events). We will be meeting in Rambla Catalunya / Diagonal (where the sculpture of the giraffe is). This year we will have people coming from far and wide, so why not plan your trip and join us on this wonderful event. It’s the excuse you need to get (or make) a new hat, and visit Barcelona ¡See you!

Two Crowns One Brim Fedoras + Turbans

Two Fedoras for Ozzie,  My favorite Hats from a fashion show and a commission of 3 Turbans for "Hats By Leko".. My most excellent friend Cristina de Prada ( you know her as The Rantings of a  Madhatter Wannabe) and Nina Palowsky (Milliner Extraordinaire) in Barcelona are having the annual Passejada amb barret 2011
B There or B Square

Brown Fedora

Black Fedora

The Blocks 

My Hands Turban

Do I need to Explain?

Fringe Flower 

Crazy Turban

Big Knot Turban

Not Much to say about these other than I had fun making all of them..