Ben's Hat

This hat I made for Ben, a custom order thru ETSY. I bought some dark red melton wool that I will be use to make a hat for me.
Ben sent some extra metal bands as part of our bargain, so I can make a few more hats in this same style.

This is Ben's Hat... he wanted a hat like the hat Brando wore in the 1953 movie "the wild one".... if you are old enough, you may recall that helmets were not required for bikers in those days. Brando played a rebel on a motorcycle and wore a hat much the same as this.

The hat is an 8-panel hat made from a camel melton wool. It is very thick and will be warm to wear, but I doubt it would protect you from head dents if you crash into a Redwood Tree!

I lined the hat with a creamy oxford silk. The brim is leather, as is the inside hatband. Ben provided the metal band for the front of the band... I anchored the band with two viintage metal buttons from my stash. The wool was too thick to use to cover the button on the crown, however I had another wool that is a near perfect match!

Handkerchief Angel

They were really fun to put together! I used a bit of poly fiber fill for the head and a bit of hair. I have some "rainbow" organza that I cut into strips; each of the angels has a slightly different color combination. Four layers of tulle underneath give them a bit of fullness that I like. Since the angels are to be a memory keeper for relatives of Rose, I added a rose with ribbons. The angels appear to be laughing... I used a Mary Englebrit drawing as inspiration for the facial features, but I doubt that Mary herself could figure out which one as the embroidered features look nothing like the face in her picture!

A customer sent me 9 of her grandmonther Rose's handkerchiefs so they could be made into something to share "grandma" memories with other family members. Such a sweet idea! I suggested that perhaps the old fashioned handkerchief dolls used by mothers forever to keep little ones quietly entertained might be a good inspiration.

9 lovely handkerchiefs arrived, but were a bit aged; I brightened them up in a bit of a soak. I added 2 drops of Mrs Stewarts bluing to the wash water and they came out wonderfully! Bleach would have been way too harsh for the fragil fabrics.