Saavik's Scribblings

1940’s style hat!

Soooo my rather talented photographer friend texted me saying that he was going to do a 1940’s shoot and asked if I wanted to help out.  So of course I just had to make a hat.  Fortunately, my Greek Myth class spent a while going over the syllabus and basic background stuff, so I had enough time to come out with a quick sketch xD  and I went by dollarama on the way home to get supplies…

For anyone who’s interested: here’s a How to:

First things first: A concept sketch

Doesn’t have to be good, just a very basic idea so you know what materials you’re going to need

2nd step: Finding cheap wonderful things

Everything in this hat (‘cept the cheerios box…i had that because i likes breakfast cereals) was bought at dollarama…  The basic fabric from the hat was cut from a scarf, the pearls were bracelets, some feathers from some weird stick things and a hair pin… that’s it…super cheap eh?

3rd Step: Prepping the materials

The “tail feathers” I chose were actually plastic, and were only cut a few times, so I shaped them a bit and made many more “feathery fluff pieces”

Here’s all the items separated and ready for hat construction

Step 4: Basic Cardboard shape

Cut out the structure from an old cereal box, you could use any sort of cardboard but it has to be flexible enough to be shaped without having weird creases.  I chose to taper mine. 

Trace out the inside of the loop and then draw a bigger circle around it.  Cut out some wedges so that you can easily bend it down to make the centre stand up.

Step 5: Shaping the centre piece

To make the centre curve inwards, make a slit down the middle and score around it.  Secure everything with packing tape.  It looks a little bit like a vagina right now, but whatever, vaginas are cool xD

Step 6: Weldbond time!

 

So I guess you could use any white glue you want for this, as long as it has a strong hold it will be fine.  I personally love weldbond, it’s like magic; it’s thick, and dries quickly, is waterproof, and has an amazing hold… I swear by this stuff…

Anyhoo, so you want to start gluing from the top down, working with thin layers of glue so it doesn’t seep through and stretching the felt to minimize wrinkles.  A few wrinkles on the main part are fine because it’s going to be covered in feathers, but the outer ring should be smooth. 

Step 7: Feathers

Using a small amount of weldbond, carefully glue the feathers to the centre section starting at the middle of the front and move backwards. 

Step 8: Gluing together and finishing touches

Using a glue gun stick the centre and the outside pieces together.  Put the tail feathers pointing backwards and then glue pearls around the outside edge, making sure that the holes aren’t facing upwards. 

Step 9: Finishing Touches

Right now, when you look underneath the hat, it still looks a little bit like lady bits, so cover it up with some felt. 

Make a strut out of cereal box cardboard, cover in felt and attached some hair clips to it.  Depending on the angle of the hat you might want to attach clips or pins and different places. 

To make the veil, get some black tulle and cut to the size that you desire (full face, half face, etc).  Now, many veils from that time period had little dots, so I just filled in the occasional cell with black fabric paint.  Once dry, attach to the hat, enjoy!