Hats and buckram

Wearing my grey linen sunhat around has garnered compliments and a sense of accomplishment ... and has prompted a new sewing request from hubby.  He wants me to make him an "Indiana Jones style" hat from the leftover brown canvas to match his coat.

One problem: I am out of buckram.  Hancock says they will no longer carry it, and the buckram at Hobby Lobby is way too thin and light.  I had bought what I had at WalMart ... before they shut down the fabric sections.  There is still one local WalMart that never had its fabric and sewing section shut down, but it's across town and a royal pain in the (*donkey*) to visit, but I am left with no choice but to brave their hosed-up parking lot and screaming howling (*children*) as a last local resort before springing for buckram through online sources.  Can you tell I consider a trip to WalMart to be an ordeal nowadays?  (Insert cranky Mom rant about how I would have been backhanded in public for even the milder half of behavior I see in EVERY WM visit ...)  (Insert car-owner rant about how all but one dent in my vehicle has come from the WM parking lot ...)

I guess for some things, a woman just has to grab her ovaries and do it, ordeal or not - to quote one of my better Sergeant Majors from my army days.  Bleh.

It's either brave WM, or a minimum order of 5 yards of 60" wide heavy millinery buckram for white ... which would probably last me more than a decade.  I'll need lunch first.

UPDATE: Online order it is.  What's left of that store's fabric and craft section isn't worth the drive anymore.

Crocheted hatband on V8405 sunhat

Snapped a pic of my new crocheted lace hatband on the sunhat, and have a couple ideas for more (since I planned for them all to be interchangeable anyway).

V8405 sunhat with crochet lace hatband

My thinnest satin ribbon was too wide to weave through the band part at 3/8 inch wide ... so I will probably make the "bars" taller on the next one since I am still wanting a peekaboo ribbon.  I'm not sure the shade of lavender really matches the linen, though ... but I still have white, blue, and of course pink crochet thread to play with more.

I also need more coffee this morning to achieve actual coherence.

Hatband pattern to be crocheted!

I found it!  The pattern in the Crochet Edgings & Trims book to make a hatband for my grey linen sunhat!  Here is my test of it in the craft cord:

Romanesque arch crochet pattern - future hatband!

It even looks like the pic in the book ... and best of all, the "windows" below the arches are just wide enough to thread a 1/4 inch satin ribbon through.  I'm excited, if you can't tell. LOL  I'll need the excitement to carry me through crocheting 22 inches of these arches, then adding buttonholes.

Oh, it's upside-down in the pic ... I'll have the arches going upwards on the hat.  I'm doing it up in size 10 lavender crochet thread using my 2.75mm/size1 steel hook.  The crochet thread is a smidge thinner than the craft cord, but mainly because it is spun tighter, but I used the same hook on the test piece.

I think I've discovered where the problem is on the curling - my start chain curls and I am not certain why.  Gloria asked if I was crocheting too tightly in chat the other night, and that is possible although I keep seeing about a quarter of free crochet patterns online having a note about the person writing it saying s/he crochets tightly.

I have more pictures of other designs, but right now am in a "drop everything else and do this project" mood, so hatband it is.  I really want to dump the black satin blanket binding test band.  I also need to give the blocking/shaping/starching idea a go soon.

Band sampler WIP band 7

While I was working on band 7, hubby came in and saw me putting the "finishing touch" on it, and remarked how much he thought said finishing touch added to the design and made it "Wow".  So I grabbed the digicam to snap a pic to share, and am glad I did:

Adding blackwork style detail to band 7

The book mentions backstitching the dark green curlie-cues on, but other sources say a double-running stitch, also called a Holbein stitch, would be used because so many also did blackwork embroidery (which is supposed to look the same front and back).

Hubby's praise for this floral band makes me think I should use this one to stitch up a hatband for my grey linen sunhat ... although I do have another I am also considering, I need to stitch it out to check the scale first.  I don't want it too wide.

Speaking of the sunhat, I wore it yesterday to the library to return/renew/check out more books.  One of the books I returned was titled Hats Made Easy! and when I handed it to one of the ladies behind the desk, she asked if I had made my hat.  I told her yes, but from a Vogue pattern .... the book is actually a good one but mostly focused on drafting your own hat patterns.  Given my stash of hat patterns, this one - while good - is not useful for me at this point.

I'll wait and make a separate post for my lace-making efforts ... and I started band 9 last night on the sampler. It's a little past lunch time, and I feel productive already today ... here's hoping the energy level stays up!

Renaissance flat cap S4059

Feeling good today and trying to make up for a week of no sewing ... the flat cap from the Simplicity 4059 (men's costume) has been both cut and sewn!  Y'all will recall I made the doublet for my friend the history professor to wear the Ren Faire this year, but didn't get to the hat ... now it's done and I need to call him up and have him look over my small ribbon stash to see if anything tickles his fancy since I used up the Christmas-green velvet ribbon on the doublet trim.  Here's the plain Jane version:

Simplicity 4059 Renaissance flat cap

If he doesn't have a feather plume suitably fancy enough, there is a vendor who has been there every year I've gone who sells hat feathers on pins (versus the "cut a slit" method the pattern recommends!).

Folks, don't fear making a flat cap - they are super-simple.  About the only style easier would be a beret, which is so similar in both pieces and construction they ought to be related.  Two pattern pieces, a handful of seams, and you are done.

Now ... about the pattern and instructions ... "one size"?  Really, Simplicity?  And that "one size" is snug on me??  I just made up the medium in the Vogue hat yesterday ... so I don't have a large head by men's standards.  In fact, my army soft cap was a little size 6-7/8!  It's a good thing I not only had my friend's head circumference measurement, but also my own.  I had to sew the brim-to-crown seam three times before I had it big enough, using "ye olde tryal-ande-err" method.  It's now a size too big for me, which should fit my friend just perfectly.

Oh yeah, that reminds me.  Flat caps were not only worn by men, especially by Elizabethan times.  Women wore them also!  I have my red one, and since it's snug plus the construction method ... I strongly suspect it was made from this pattern.

Wearing V8405 sunhat and test hatband

OK, I have a pic of me wearing my new linen Vogue 8405 view C sunhat now.  And a test hatband for it (this is only a test):

Vogue 8405 view C sun hat

As many of y'all know, I tend to regard pattern "instructions" as more like suggestions ... so no big surprise when I ignored the call for interfacing and used buckram in the crown, top, and back brim ... then used 14 count Aida cloth when I ran out of buckram and Hancock's was also out.  Then, I ignored it's instructions to fasten down the hatband with the button.  Instead, I put the button on first this morning, and after hunting through my small ribbon collection without satisfactory result, grabbed some satin blanket binding, eyeballed the length (no way this hat needs a whole yard of ribbon!) and put a buttonhole on each end so I now have the ability to change out hatbands.  It's a good thing - the blanket binding is a bit too wide (whereas all my 1/2 inch ribbon is too narrow!).  I'll be digging into the scrap bag to find some more suitable hatband fabrics ... I'm pretty sure I have enough of the light pink linen/cotton from last year.  Plus there is the leftover silk charmeuse from my tunic.

Overall, I am happy with it, even though my teenage son keeps saying it looks like an Amish bonnet (HA!).  And now for a pic of just how short of a haircut I got this past Tuesday:

Yeah, I cut it way short!

This is as good as the pics get while it's still morning here.  LOL  Now hubby wants a hat to go along with the shirts I still haven't cut out this summer (yet!!).

Vogue 8405 Sunhat

I didn't want to say anything all day because I didn't want to jinx myself ... but I've been sewing today!!  WooooHOOOOO!  Now that I've finally had the chance to sit down in front of a machine, the hat went together rather quickly.  Well, up until the part where I hand-sewed the lining into it.  Hubby isn't inclined to snap a pic tonight ("It's called a SUNhat, right?  So you need sunlight.") so here it is on my styrofoam head ... which I have been referring to as "Max" lately (yes, as in Headroom).

Vogue 8405 view C sunhat

More tomorrow, including pics of my new short haircut.

Time for a sunhat!

I've hinted at a new sewing project, and yesterday managed to get all but one piece cut out of my most recently "wild hair" inspired adventure: I am making a sunhat out of the linen leftovers from my shorts I made in May.  After much debate about which style (fedora versus sunhat) I then had to choose a pattern ... I probably have too many hat patterns but I do love hats.  I chose Vogue 8405, view C:

Vogue 8405 view C in grey linen

So I am still one piece shy of starting to sew ... because I ran out of buckram!  So I hit Hancock's this morning ... and they are out of buckram.  To add insult to injury, they've been out for a couple weeks and the computer system still has not ordered more!  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot??  Is there no manual override on this automated ordering system??

Aida cloth was suggested as a substitute (after I flatly rejected heavy craft interfacing) and they did still have some ivory-colored Aida by the yard ...that was NOT on the utility fabrics shelf last time I looked at it!  So I snagged 2 yards of the 60 inch wide Aida.  Even if it doesn't work for the hat brim, I can still cross stitch on it.

Question time: Does anyone have a decent source for hat buckram?

Random garb notes

For future reference, some garb notes after spending almost all of yesterday at Ren Faire:

• Must make friend's Tudor cap, since I did promise him he would have it no later than Memorial Day ... a week from tomorrow!  Even if it does end up too hot to wear it, he still needs his matching Tudor cap to go with his doublet.
• I finally found my other red petticoat, the one with the fleur-de-lis contrast panel.  How did I "lose" a bright red petticoat?  I folded it in half and hung it on a regular hanger ... next to fluffy-poofy sleeved shirts that hid it.  (*Sigh!*  *Loud audible sigh!*)
• I have decided I should make a top to go over the smock and corset/bodies instead of a full overdress.  Not only will it be quicker and easier to sew, but that will be less skirt to maneuver in the porta-potties.  That's also a major reason I do not have a farthingale planned ... I just can't imagine the logistics of the portapotty use with one on.
• Must finish the new corset this week!  Last year's model is just too stretched out to wear even one more weekend.  It just did not feel right yesterday.  I'm over half done now ... boning channels sewn, so what's left is to cut and file the cable ties (I am not making this one period correct at all), floss them in, then bind and put in eyelets.  If I get my (*donkey*) in gear I can get it done, plus the Tudor cap.
• More wistful cringing at improperly worn corsets ... the number one mistake is wearing them too loosely.  Yeah, I know, I know ... any corset made from a "Big 4" pattern has too much ease in the pattern (Butterick, Simplicity, McCall's are the major offenders, I haven't seen one from Vogue that would qualify as a Ren Faire corset yet) and most folks just don't know any different since corsets are no longer daily wear undergarments (or in my case, outer garments!).  I saw a lady in a wonderfully-sewn 18th century stay (colonial period, probably Butterick 4254 in fact!) who had the room in back to lace it up tighter.  I don't nitpick on spiral lacing since I haven't made one laced up that way myself ... but if she had tightened it properly it would have been perfect!  Even with jeans shorts and a modern knit top, since my mind works that way.  She certainly wasn't the only one yesterday in a too-loose corset (HOW can that be comfortable??) just the one who really caught my eye.
• To top everything off ... I want a new smock/shift/chemise for next year.  My hankie linen one worked a little too great last weekend ... the temperature never even cracked 60F, and it let every tiny breeze  through and up, so it will definitely keep me cool next weekend.  Well, as cool as I can reasonably expect since the petticoat and corset aren't linen (although the new corset is lined in linen).  So, just what am I wanting?  An Irish leine!    Silly me ... I am expecting it to be a gathering nightmare on the sleeves, but darn it, I want!  I don't know why this has popped into my tiny brain, because I haven't seen an example of one at Faire yet ... but for some reason that idea moved into my tiny brain last night and is still here even with coffee.

I have no pics for today ... yesterday's intentionally mismatched outfit (for "pirate invasion" weekend) is pretty sweaty since we easily were into mid-80s (Fahrenheit) after last weekend's cold.  At least I had the "mighty umbrella" at the ready for when the sky opened up in late afternoon - this IS Tennessee and it IS spring.  About 45 minutes before the sudden downpour, some kids in their late teens or early twenties were laughing at my weapon of choice, since I carry my umbrella on my dagger frog.  I was looking for them as everyone scurried to find shelter ... just to have the last laugh.  OK, I sort-of have a pic ... my very feathered tricorn hat, which stayed dry!

Feathered tricorn "pirate" hat

Hmmm ... I've added a feathered pin to the other side since this pic was taken ... it's quite the dandy's hat.  Not a single feather got wet yesterday - a good thing since some of them are dyed!  I learned the hard way on Halloween '09 that the dye will run in rain.

Happy hubby

He had a much bigger grin on his face when I brought him this hat, and again when he tried it (and promptly ran to see himself in the mirro).  I had to get him to quit making silly faces for the camera ... but this is what a happy hubby looks like after all day in the cold rain with only a thin army-issue fleece hat:

After feeding him, I held up the back yoke to the McCall Palmer/Pletsch pattern I'm going to use for his flannel shirt, so he has another reason to grin: pattern prep has started!

Easy fleece cap McCall 4681 E

With less than 2 hours work - including tracing off and hand sewing, I think I truly like this easy fleece cap I just made for hubby.  As I've mentioned before, hubby is from Florida and doesn't like cold weather anyway.  Add to that, he is also active duty military ... and is required to keep the "bad army haircut" as long as he is still in, so no hope of natural insulation from his hair.  Over the weekend while I was working on my faux sherpa beret and fingerless gloves, he asked for a simple fleece hat to keep his head warm ... and was NOT an army-issue color.

As soon as he saw the photos and line drawings for McCall 4681 he wanted on (minus embellishments, of course!).  Each view for M4681 has a slightly different pattern piece and instructions, so I read over the instructions for each and chose view E as the not only the simplest, but the one that made the most sense to me for construction.

I had to measure his head last night, since McCall didn't use hat size but inch measurements for their sizing.  Hubby needed a medium according to the measurement chart.  Regardless of which size I needed, I had to trace it off due to the way the pieces overlap on the different sizes:

I suppose there is a remote chance my son may want one, once he sees hubby's.  Remote - the kid prefers store-bought stuff.  He's learned not to say "stuff with a label" because I mentioned wanting to buy my own labels to put in the clothes I make.

Now, I don't know about y'all, but I have yet to successfully mark fleece with a fabric marker.  Instead, I mark important things - like leaving an opening to turn a fleece hat - with my long yellow top pins:

Another thing the pattern instructions mention doing that I still have not accomplished: pressing seams and whatnot in fleece!  I don't know if it's just me, or if the fleece takes advantage of my inexperience like a naughty and mischievious child ... but I have yet to successfully press fleece and honestly have given up trying several projects ago.  If there is a secret to it, no one has told me.
A few seams, turn, then hand stitch the opening closed and tack the two layers together ... and here it is:

Since hubby and I wear the same size army soft cap (6-7/8) I tried it on to make sure there was enough stretch ... success!  The cap itself is double layer, and when turned up that is four layers of fleece over the ears.  That should be more than enough to keep even hubby's ears warm.  He'll want it later in the week if the forecast cold front moves through.

Next project will finally be hubby's flannel shirt.  If it sounds like hubby is getting the lion's share of recent projects ... a happy hubby doesn't complain as much about recent fabric purchases, although he still does make a few noises about how much space the growing stash of fabric takes.  If my box arrives today as it should, I'll post about recent acquisitions - and a splurge.

Second beret and fingerless gloves done

OK, now I think I can put McCall 5996 away ... just finished up hubby's solid brown pair.  As I mentioned in my earlier post today, this is honestly not a complicated pattern.  Four pattern pieces, only a few steps to put it together - and here we are:

That's the second beret I did up yesterday but didn't snap a pic.  I decided to put the seam on the inside this time.  And those are hubby's gloves, one face-down and the other holding my NON-heatset fabric marker.
I forgot to mention this morning a recent addition to my bookmarks folder: Adonising's tips for fleece.  The right side/wrong side tip was definitely used this morning while laying the fleece out to cut!

For those of y'all who might like the fingerless glove idea without the mitten-style finger covers, here's the in-progress pic pausing at this step:

There's a pair of stitch lines at the wrist area on the bottom front piece - I like this little feature.  Just run a set of gathering stitches, and barely gather them to keep the inside wrist portion from stretching too much.  It's part of the pattern ... I can't take credit for it.

I'm still putting the seams on the outside for these gloves.  Hubby asked about it ... I personally find this more comfortable as opposed to the seams being against the skin.  Is this just another peculiarity of mine?  Or do others feel the same?  Hubby thinks it a little odd-looking, but too late now because I was snapping this pic when he mentioned it.  What do y'all think about this seams-on-the-outside idea?

Pink faux fur revisited

No, I haven't pulled out the faux furs that shed even more than my cats, but the pink faux fur is still a bit of a running joke in the chat room.  Folks who missed the pic the first time around tend to disbelieve it exists ... those who saw it say they still can't believe I would buy such a monstrosity.  Especially the small but vocal "Anti-Pink Brigade".

The whole pink fur idea goes back the the Tacky 80s, when I was a kid and begged my mother to buy me a dyed hot pink rabbit fur coat one year.  Mom not only told me I was dreaming, but that the only way I'd get one is if I buy my own when I grew up.  If I could find on in good condition, I would ... but until then this pink-mauve faux fur will have to do and it is destined to become the vest in M 5983, another which just recently went out-of-print.

So, for those who missed it, here once again is photographic proof that my tackiness knows no bounds:

Now, to my surprise, maggie says she not only likes it but would like some for herself (just at a lower price point than what I paid, which was half off!).  And yes, "Fabric Ripper" is another chat joke ... one frustrating night someone asked what "dfr" stood for and I quipped that at the time it meant "Diningroom Fabric Ripper".  The nickname stuck - particularly on evenings where I mention doing a lot of seam ripping.

Of course maggie has no call to be the least bit jealous of my fabric acquisitions, especially after this latest round of bragging about what nice fabric she scored from a Fabric Mart mystery bundle.  I said a few words that I wouldn't type here or in her comment zone ... mostly about the silk suiting, which stung even more since they sold out of the herringbone wool suiting they ran for only $5/yd last month.

So ... am I bringing all this up to avoid admitting to not accomplishing much today?  Meh, I suppose it depends.  I did cut out and sew another faux sherpa beret from M 5996, this time in medium ... and gave the large to my partner-in-crime for Renn Faire since he not only wears a larger hat size than I do, but also collects hats like some women collect shoes.  I also cut out another left handed fingerless glove, but haven't sewn it just yet.  It's a good thing only one glove needed to be redone, because there isn't enough left of the scraps now.  A smidge over a dollar's worth of uber-sale sherpa (26 inches and I think it was 60 inches wide) and I have two berets and three fingerless gloves.

My mom called while I was sewing the band on the beret, and when I mentioned the fingerless gloves she said that was something I can make her (and she doesn't need to give me her measurements still!).  I've asked if she just wanted the pattern, so she can make multiple pairs.  Yup, so at some point soon I'll trace off another copy of the gloves, or just send her the tissue copy since I have it traced off on the red dot stuff already.  Oh - the red dot stuff sticks to fleece and sherpa nicely.  I guess there actually IS a good use for static electricity.

Sherpa bought and sewed this quick

So I headed out to Hancock yesterday afternoon, waiting for the warmest time of the day to leave because not only do I despise cold weather but this cold snap is lasting too long this time.  My goal was to grab about 3 patterns  on sale and snag as much of the on-sale cotton muslin as I could ... last time they ran a good sale on muslin the quilters bought it up in less than 24 hours after I got my 10 yards.  I know because I tried to go back for more!

This time, I bought 15 yds of 45" wide unbleached muslin ... for $0.59/yd.  That should do me for a year ... Renn Faire is coming, and I have things to line and undergarments to make!  Hopefully this year I'll get outer garments made so I am not walking around the Realm in my underwear LOL

Now, I mention sherpa in the post title ... on the uber-sale table in the back near the muslin aisle, I discovered a double-sided sherpa piece.  Not much left of it ... it measured only 26", but at $1.50/yd I could so live with tan.  The sun had set and the temperature was dropping like a rock as I left Hancock.  My plan: warm hat and gloves!

This plan was accomplished quite quickly: I think I spent more time hunting up all the pattern pieces on McCall's 5996 than I did sewing (not counting time to stop and wind a new bobbin).  This is the beret after a run through the washer and dryer .... did I mention this fabric is quite stretchy?

I'm not exactly a fashion model in the morning ... and I may actually need a medium instead of the large I made ... but it covers the tops of my ears and will keep my head warm.  For S&Gs - err, the fun of it - I sewed the seam on the outside instead of the usual right sides together, and also sewed the band in "wrong" side out ... although I'm not sure this fabric has a real "wrong" side.

It took maybe 10 minutes to actually cut out, and roughly half an hour to sew once I figured the best way to cuss ... err, persuade the fabric to stick to itself and go under the presser foot the way I wanted it to do.  Definitely lengthen your stitches if you use this stuff!  It's really fluffy.

After seeing the pattern picture for the fingerless gloves/mittens combo in this same pattern, hubby wants one also.  He's reminded me I mentioned a fleece cap for him, so I showed him M 4681 that I bought for that purpose.  Of course, he likes the more complex fingerless gloves from that pattern more ... He also prefers a solid colored fleece, instead of the remnants of his plaid fleece from his coat.  I boxed up the solid fleeces and put them in my closet already because I had planned to use up the remainder of the plaids ... so much for that.

We'll see how motivated I get today and tomorrow.