I guess I am a Mad Hatter (minus the mercury poisoning)

This is what I have been up to over the past couple days. I made an agreement with my husband not to work on Bags over the holidays, so I have stuck to my little vow...I made hats instead! It is so bright here a hat is essential if you are going to spend any time out in the sun. The only problem is that I think most of the hats available in town are ugly. Yes yes, I know I am a snob and I always think I can do things better than others, but that is just me. I can't seem to help it. Well, a couple months ago I was flipping through a Japanese craft magazine Pochee (I can't find a direct link to where you can get the magazine, but I got it at www.superbuzzy.com) and I saw the most wonderful hats! The I thought to myself "Self, whenever you see the Japanese tourist ladies wondering around town they always have on the most fabulous hats...They MUST make them all by themselves!" Pochee magazine had a little tutorial on how to use these funny green plastic templates, and as they say a picture is worth a thousand words...it looked pretty straight foreword.


The only problem was that I COULD NOT find the templates anywhere! I scoured the Internet and came up with a big fat zilch! Nadda! Nothing! Damnit! I had to have a hat, an awesome hat!


So I did the only thing I could do...I emailed my friend, and fellow military wife, Shannon (she has an Etsy shop Toyko Mommy where you can get awesome Japanese fabric). Shannon, the dream come true that she is, went hunting for me! And she found exactly what I was yearning for. She sent me that little hat template kit (and some wonderful fabric..how could I resist since she would be sending me a bit of a box anyway and she has also gotten me hooked on Quilts Japan magazine...but I won't get side tracked on that now, let's get back to hats). Shannon said that there should be more wonderful templates when the season changes...so I will bug her again then.


See...there is the template in it's wrapping. I made my first hat right after I opened the box. It was too easy! I did make some mistakes since I don't read Japanese, so this one is a little big.

This one is big too....the first line is the sew line! I finally figured that out. Duh. I love the fabric in this hat. It is from Denyse Schmidt's Country Fair line. I will make another later today with a smaller brim.

Here is a tulip hat....the brim can be up (Stu thinks I look like the Gorton's Fisherman) or down blocking the sun. I used some lovely Nani Iro fabric for the outside of the hat and a blue Linen/cotton for the lining. You can't see it in this picture but the pink on the flowers is a metallic pink...such awesome fabric. It is a cotton double gauze that after it is washed it gets wonderfully soft and glorious. I have this guy in the wash right now to test it out after being cleaned.

This is my current favorite. It is a big fat flower from Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party collection. This hat is in a Cape line style...with a shorter brim. As you can see the brim is made out of wonderful Winter weight BDU! Woopee! Now I am in the zone.....What else can I do? I Know I will make the hats reversible! Awesome!

This is the inside out version of the blue and red Country fair hat below. Can you see the ribbon around the crown of the hat? It is some glorious ribbon with bees on it. I got this a couple years ago from Repo Depot Fabric, but they don't seem to be carrying her ribbon anymore. Each one it like a tiny tapestry...veggies, bees, trees...dancing girls, you name it and she has made a ribbon for it. I hate it that I can't remember what the lady's name is who makes these awesome ribbons. And I also hate it that I won't be able to get some more. Bummer.

This is the inside out of the Big Blue flower hat 2 above. Gosh I love it!

Here is the Blue and red Country fair cape line hat. It looks naked to me. I am going to make a band of some sort to go around the crown...I would put a big green parrot feather, but then it wouldn't be reversible.

Here is one of my favorite little models, crazy Emma.

You may be wondering what the hell I am going to do with all these hats??? Well, I am not really sure. They are so fun to make. I guess I will probably stock my little Etsy Shop....but maybe there is no market for awesome sunhats? I am the poster girl for skin cancer, so a hat is pretty essential out here. Oh well, I will put some in the shop and see what happens.

See...maybe it was not the mercury poisoning that drove the hat makers crazy...maybe it was all the endless options of making awesome hats!

xo,

Tia