Make your own hats

A lot of people find the idea of hat making completely daunting, but in reality it isn't so hard. True, some models demand a hat block, but it is also possible to construct hats with the help of wire, sewing them from a pattern or crochet. At the  University of Wisconsin Digital Collections website I found several books on millinery, ready to be read and learned from. My absolute favourite is this little gem; How to make and trim your own hats by Vee Walker Powell, published in 1944. It's not overly in depth, but it gives a clear overview with lots of helpful suggestions and diagrams. And the illustrations are just darling!

The content:

 And I love that on the subjects of what hat that fits you, the book tells us; "No rules, just common sense"!

If you want more, then complement Your Millinery by Winifred Reiser, 1949, a much denser volume with a lot of instructions and explanations!

As I know many of you are interested in other epoques as well, the website also contain these books on millinery:

Millinery: Theoretical and Practical by Clare Hill, 1909

The Art of Millinery: A Complete Series of Practical Lessons For the Artiste and the Amateur by Anna Ben Yûsuf, 1909

Millinery as A Trade For Women by Lorinda Perry, 1916

Make Your Own Hats by Mrs. Gene Allen Martin, 1921

Millinery by Charlotte Rankin Aiken, 1922

Straw Hats, Their History and Manufacture by Harry Inwards, 1922

Practical Millinery by Florence Anslow, 1922

A century of hats and the hats of the century by Edward Mott Wooley, 1923

Millinery by Jane Loewen, 1925

How To Make Hats; A Method of Self-instruction Using Job Sheets by Rosalind Weiss, 1931

A review of WWII Era Flight Cap from Mrs Depew

As I told you recently I bought a few pdf-patterns from Mrs Depew Vintage & Notions and the first I tried was the WWII Era Flight Cap. The very short review is that I have only good things to say about the pattern.

A tutorial for a 40's style tilt hat

About this hat
I made the hat without a precise plan to where I was heeding and it wasn't until I was halfway done that it dawned on me that others might find the process interesting. That's the reason to why there aren't many pictures from the early stages and you have to make do with some me-made drawings. The hat is not a copy of an existing hat, but rather draws on numerous pictures of tilt hats as inspiration. I don't claim any historical authenticity at all.

Consider this tutorial as more of a template for making a tilt hat of your choice rather than for one specific design. That is why there aren't any exact measurement and often more than one suggestion to how to treat a certain step. I hope I will manage to explain clearly what I mean, but if there is something that seems unclear, please ask! It is surprisingly difficult to write tutorials, so I hope I have managed to write something that is understandable. Hat making is surrounded by an air of mystique, but making hat is actually not hard at all. Being, by it's very nature, a rather small project, making it doesn't take long and if you make a mistake you don't loose so much if you have to start all over again.

Supplies
1 hat capeline/hood in felt.
Millinery wire
Sharp needles
Thread
Grosgrain/Petersham ribbon
Optional: Extra decoration of your choice.

Hats from NK

Nordiska Kompaniet, or NK, was Swedens most exclusive department store, probably still is though it nowadays is more of an exclusive mall instead and to me it has lost a lot of the charm it had in my childhood. There are still some excellent stores though, especially when it comes to perfume. A lot of fashion has been sold there over the years and the museum Nordiska has many photographs that depict what was among the more fashionable in Sweden during the 30's and 40's. Recently i have been on a hat search binge in their archives and this is what i pulled up:


1936

Source: digitaltmuseum.se via Elisa on Pinterest

A review on Pleated beret with accent trim

The Pattern
I bought the pattern for the 1930's Pleated beret with accent trim as a PDF-pattern from Kalliedesigns at Etsy. When writing this the cost was $4.25. It was mailed to me very promptly, well within the time limit of 24 hours. The pattern is a copy of an old one, and is a bit sloppily executed, I'm sorry to say. The lines are broad and uneven and you need to redraw them to get an even shape. That is, however, not difficult to do. The pattern also contains 2 pages of sewing instructions. I find those easy to follow, but I suspect that you might find it a bit more difficult if you are unused to sewing.

The coolie hat

Picture source: http://eclecticjewelryandfashion.blogspot.se/

The coolie hat is an English name on a conical hat worn in several Asian countries for protecting from sun and rain, often made out of straw.

My hat blocks

It's perfectly possible to make hats without hat blocks, you can knit and crochet them and you can make them out of flat pattern pieces. However, if you have a hat block your shape possibilities increases. Sadly hat blocks are quite expensive, but you can block hats on other things as well, like a bowl or pan- anything that has a shape you can turn into a hat. You can also make hat blocks yourself. Below is one a friend's husband made for me by glueing layers of plywood together and the cutting it into shape with the help of a bandsaw. This one has a very nice shape for a larger pillbox hat. Beside it is a large Styrofoam ball which you can use to shape a fascinator base.

I wish I was a rich girl #6

After talking hat patterns I guess it's only natural with a hat post on hats you can actually buy. As always, the descriptions of the hats are from the sellers and may not be correct. Also, I have not bought anything from any of the sellers and have chosen hats solely after their look, not their price or condition.

Halo hat


Tilt hat. I think this hat Johanna has made looks quite similar.


Green felt hat


Tilted top hat


Purple picture hat


Straw hat


Wide brimmed hat


Spring hat


Navy felt hat


Red velveteen


Black felt hat with rope detail


Blue straw hat


Navy straw hat


Red felt hat


Brown felt hat


Polka dot and fur hat


Grey felted hat


Black picture hat


Navy halo hat

Hat patterns, part 2

Here are some rather nice hats from the 30's and 40's that are either knitted or in crochet. I’m a bad knitter and I have never been able to fathom crochet, but perhaps a hat would be a good project to start with. I really like that so many of these hats have a matching bag to go with them.

Vintage 1940s Crochet Pattern Clutch Purse & Fascinator Hat

Hat patterns, part 1

It may seem a bit daunting if you never tried it, but making a hat isn't very difficult. You don't have to work with hat stocks and steaming felt or straw- a hat can be sewn, knitted or in chrochet. And it isn't too difficult to find period patterns online. On Etsy you can find re-printed PDF-patterns for a few dollars. Printable patterns can be a bit of a hassle as you may need to cut and paste to get your pattern, but a hat is so small that you may not need to paste at all. Here are some of the 30's and 40's patterns that I like- there are more.

Pretty hat and posy made of leather

A hat for every occasion

Alla kvinnors bok advices that hat style should be chosen according to hair and dress, but occasion should also be considered when choosing what to wear.

The boater or canotier is especially suitable for spring and summer. It can be worn simple or very elegant. If the latter, it can be decorated with a veil, flowers, or similar.

White beret

I have now got my spring/summer wardrobe going with buying a white beret. It’s a modern one, found at Village Hats, but I think the felt flowers gives it a nice 40’s flair.

Grey Beret

My autumn/winter wardrobe has two berets listed, one grey and one black. The black are to be made in the same fabric as the black wool dress, so I plan to sew that one myself, but I have been looking for a classic grey beret in stores. I haven’t had much luck, but then Retro Chic posted about berets, 3 Ways to Wear a Beret- read it for some nice tips and she mentioned Village Hats as a good source. I looked; I found and ordered a grey one within minutes to a good price. I placed the order on Sunday at it arrived today, which I think is very good considering that Village Hat is in UK and I am in Sweden.

Green felt hat

Here it is, the green felt hat in action. I am very pleased with it, despite all the problems I had when I made it. One thing I noticed when wearing it that the elastic did nothing to keep the hat on. It just slid on my hair- I guess it would work better if I had had my hair down. Luckily I inherited a few hat pins from my grandmother, so I used one of those to keep the hat in place. Much more becoming than elastic anyway.

An illustrated guide for making Vintage Vogue V7464, hat B, part 2

The second and last part. The first one can be seen here.

There are actually no markings on D to tell where you are supposed to attach it, but trust me, it is supposed to wrap around the gathered bit on B. The instructions said to stitch it to the inside first, but I did it the other way around, as I found it easier to place. Just stitch it down at the ends.

An illustrated guide for making Vintage Vogue V7464, hat B, part 1

Due to all the images I break this guide up in two parts. I hope you will find it helpful. Now when I know all the steps, the hat isn't so hard to sew- I just wish I had known them before I started...

It’s meant to compliment the original instructions, so you need those too to get all the information you need. I made my hat in green wool felt that probably is a bit on the thin side. I starched it heavily before I started to sew and I think it will hold up well enough, as long as I don't get it wet. I used ordinary heavy wire when I made it, but have since found my millinery wire in a box where it wasn’t supposed to be and replaced it.

Here are all the parts cut and thread traced. I really recommend you to thread trace here. It doesn’t take long and you need to be able to see the marks on both sides. Pattern piece A is the front and the curved end is the one that curves down toward the face when you wear it. And though it wasn’t clear to me when I started, the opposite, pointy, end is one part of the “bow” on the finished hat.

A review on Vintage Vogue V7464, hat B

This review is solely for hat B, not any of the other hats you get when you purchase this pattern. I have not tried to make the other hats and have no idea if the instructions for them are good or bad.

Before I started this hat I had heard a lot on how bad the instructions were for it. I decided to give it a try anyway, as it is a cool hat. Unfortunately every bad thing I have heard proved to be true. The instruction for this hat is the worst I have ever encountered. For a start, the black and white drawing seems to be of a completely different hat. You get no help for figuring the pattern out by looking at that, so don’t. There are two nice photos of the finished hat, but they are both from the front. As the hat is asymmetrical it would have helped if there had been a back view as well.

Blue hat, red sweater

In the bottom of a box filled with hat supplies I inherited from my grandmother I found a blue hat. At first glance it looked a complete wreck, badly smashed up and very dusty, which is no wonder as it has probably been there for 50 years or more. On closer examination I found that it was in pretty good shape, despite it looks, so I decided to try to renovate it.

A black 1940's hat

As we are on the subject of hats, here are a few photos of my back 1940's hat. I bought it years ad years ago and it has since nested, wrapped in silk tissue, in an old hat box. It's made to sit on the back of the head and despite having either combs nor rubber bands to keep it on, it stays on. Perhaps not on a very windy day, but still. It is made in black velvet, decorated with smooth feathers that are wrapped in black veil.

Hats, hats, hats

Vintage Vicky asked for more hats. Or hats, really, as I haven’t really talked about them at all yet. When I was a child I always wore something one my head. Always. If no cap/hat/helmet were available other things could do like paper bags or a small buckets or my gruel bowl. Usually before I had eaten all the gruel… The red cap with fake fur I wear on the picture was a favourite.