Autumn/Winter Hats 2010--Felt

Here in the Northern Hemisphere we are settling in for Winter. I'm not a cold weather girl, but I do love the seasonal changes like a crisp morning, changing of the leaves, comfy sweaters (jumpers), fires burning bright, and a beautiful, stylish, warm hat.

Below you will see three that I've recently created to send to TLD Design Center's annual hat show in Chicagoland. I've shown several angles on each so that you can see all the elements of the hats.

This one is probably my favorite of the three. Made from 100% wool felt, I've covered the crown in a mesh ultrasuede that changes tone and color balance as it expands and contracts over the hat. I love it!

I've free-form blocked the hood into a sort of abstract cloche. This is one of my favorite styles of hats and it is quite easy to fashion over the steamer.

Here you can see another angle showing the mesh. Note also that I've made 3 leather leaves as embellishment. The leather has a slightly metallic finish with swirls of subdued color in it. I used an awl to make a hole in the bottom of the leaves and secured them to the hat by sewing up through the hole, adding a bead, then back down to the underside of the hat.

Another cloche-styled hat of 100% wool, this time in chocolate brown. See how I've nipped into the edge to create a saw-toothed look, just for added interest.

Embellishment for this hat is a handmade felt button by my friend and fellow fiber-artist Louise Giordano at Scarf It Up. Be sure to check out her website if you are into knitting, crocheting, and felting.

Can you guess what the hatband is made from? Fish leather! Yes, fish leather. I believe this one is carp. I bought this piece several years ago while teaching at the International Millinery Forum in Australia. Fish leather is very strong and has a beautiful 'nap' to it, created by the scales.

Hot pink seems to be a habit with me...and I'm not really into pink that much. But when I look around the shop I see lots of hot pink things everywhere! Love pink and black together.

This one was blocked on a very old hatblock that a friend found for me in a second-hand shop.

I added black velvet tubing and a few black beads. This is an example of me letting the shape of the hat be the most important part. Minimalist embellishment.

Stay warm!