Need a Lift? More Hat Stories,* Judith M Millinery and More

Here are some more: A Reuters piece, some criticism on Mad Men hatwear, a list of upcoming workshops at Judith M Millinery and a story on vintage hats. What interesting hat-related stories have you read lately? Please post.

* The pattern above? A favorite already in my collection (I particularly like Belle- Buoy in the lower right corner). It's up for auction here. Bid, bid, bid!

Local Kentucky Derby celebrations?*

Is it just me but are there a surfeit of Kentucky Derby celebrations going on this weekend? I got two emails from local pubs with parties tomorrow. If you buy a drink at one, you can eat all you want at the buffet. That's terribly tempting. A Guinness doesn't sound like a drink appropriate for the festivities, but a mint julep would.

It does sound like the real deal will be a tad more subdued this year. Women continue to buy pricey but not extravagant hats. Another newspaper article online talks about how
attendees are restyling hats or making their own. If you're going, what are you wearing? Are you making your own cheapau (intentional misspelling)?
* The above hat Image is Windswept, Karen Henrikson, 'Mistral' Panama Cap.

Hats Not So Haughty: A Round-Up

Is it just me but doesn't now seem like the right time to wear a hat? Maybe more people are...and I'm not just talking about your everyday black knit topper, just something bright and colorful. There were so many bright straw pictures at the opener for Nordstrom's trend show on Saturday in downtown Chicago, I thought daylight savings time had kicked in early times and I was at church on Easter Sunday. Which brings me to that day, discussion-wise. In years past, I haven't seen too many woman wearing hats (I'm not going to say bonnet because we're not talking babies, but full-fledged adults) on Easter, but this time, I'm hoping it'll be different. You know it will be a like secret meeting of the Yellow Hat Society. Serious. We'll all converge into the aisle at communion, give each other furtive winks, a cue to break out and start dancing, of course, all the crying toddlers already running amuck will just join up in the fun.

If you're looking at the hats above, I don't have plans to make a yellow fedora yet. I'm not looking to be the female version of Dick Tracy. Now I could see a daffodil cocktail hat with matching Russian veiling. That would be pretty and feminine. Pair it with a neutral trenchcoat, and it would be a darling way to end Lent. But I'm certain that there will be at least one or two women walking around on Easter in their Aretha Franklin knock-offs. That won't be me though, I'm too much of a rebel. Hah! (As an aside, I'm sure you've seen all the altered photos of men wearing Aretha's hats).

I actually need to make Vogue 8405 because I'm teaching it March 22 at a Vogue Fabrics store near you. However, I'm a lazy one, I sew best on a deadline. Consequently, when I hear my class is almost full, that's when I buy the hair canvas, the lining fabric, and raid the stash, and get sewing. Otherwise, I feel like why bother? Although, truly, it's an adorable pattern. My favorite is the one in the lower right corner with the brown plaid ribbon. I was going to focus on teaching that version alone in my workshop, but since the hat with assymetrical brim is featured on the Vogue Fabrics' web site, I figure I'll teach 'em all.

Wait, there's more! If you're a fan of Judith M Millinery no matter where you live on this great planet Earth, you'll be happy to hear she's starting an online forum on her site. So you can ask questions there until the black cows come home, (then you have to make me a Black Cow, ok?).

Finally, back to the pattern above. Which hat would you make if you had the opportunity?

Haughty Hattiness: a Weekend Round-Up

This blog entry has several pretty 1930s images with ladies wearing hats.
Vixen Vintage waxes oh so poetic about wearing....hats.
Styling by Cody Farquhar has an 1960s image of the same.
Talk about a sassy hat: I love this one, which matches a pair of black stilettos.
And a story from Elle, about how the fashion industry is mad for hats now.

I really should do a round-up of the best hats on the catwalks, but I'm lazy, you know? Perhaps you can leave a link to the best hats you've seen to date on and off-the-runways. I'm too busy signing up for Patternreview's hat contest. I'm doing Vogue 8175!

They Came, and didn't eat the candy: Vogue 8175*

Second time around, I had four students vs. the 9 who crowded into the Vogue Fabrics Classroom on Sunday, Feb. 15. For what lacked in human mass, we made up for in sheer number of hats, Alice, sister of Laura Proudfoot, bought a whole hatbox full of vintage chapeaux. She pulled out so many hats, I thought for sure she was a magician. How many could she possibly fit into this round cardboard the size of a floor cushion? At least five, include the saucy straw number above with its bright chartreuse vine leaves. This particular picture hat, which looks like it's from the 1940s, would be most suitable for Easter, I think. Alice also had some hats from the 1950s, and another one she made using Vogue 7476, view C, which she says, was reaaaally hard to make with lots of hand-stitching. I have a picture wearing it, but it's not very good so I skipped uploading it. Most of her finds were for a few bucks at garage sales. She'd pick up and hear, "You like that? I got more at home. They were my aunt's." Now, how often does that happen? I am not going to the right garage sales clearly.

Jenny L. Gerst had a straw hat from the 1960s or 70s (we're not sure which). She had all these ace millinery supplies, the likes of which we've never seen at Vogue Fabrics. To wit: this supremely thick millinery wire that would easily survive a gust of Chicago wind. They shoudld build locally-made umbrellas with this stuff. Plush 100 percent wool felt not seen in these parts of Illinois. Other doo-dads I know nothing about, most of which she's purchased at Judith M Millinery, a two-hour drive from the Windy City. (Incidentally, Judith M bought out Manny's Millinery after it closed.) Turns out, Jenny and I know lots of fellow milliners. Eia. Laura Hubka. Laura Whitlock.

While Jenny and Alice worked on Vogue 8175, Laura and Barbara labored over the Flirty Fedora. This was an interesting project, since the pattern was drafted for fabric with a grain. Felt doesn't have a grain which makes it so great for a beginner. Plop down. Cut. No worries about the felt going that way when it needs to go this way. Also, felt doesn't need to be lined, so Barbara and Laura skipped that part of the instructions. Laura finished her hat by the end of class. She only needs to insert her petersham ribbon inside the hat, right at the part where head meets the rought texture of the hat.

This is the last of the hat classes for Vogue 8175. But don't cry into your Pale Ale or Guinness. I'm going to teach another hat class using Vogue 8405 in March. I figure results from this workshop can either become Easter bonnets, summer hats or just something to wear during these amusing times to Costco...I hope my students eventually email pictures of themselves wearing their work. Either that I'll come after them with my terrible digital camera. That should scare them in snapping something far more flattering than my uploaded pixels. Sometimes, you just need to instill the fear of God (or my photography) to get humans to do things your way.