When you can’t find a
skinny bowtie to match
the look you want, just
learn to make your own.
We didn’t bother to buy
a pattern, so Ray
designed his own. It
took a couple
modifications from the
first design, but the final
result worked out
beautifully.
We wanted to try our hand at making our own hats for Joanie. We
bought a pattern that we liked when patterns went on sale, and tried
it out in cheap muslin first. It is as difficult as we expected, but we
will probably make two or three different stylesto wear with different
outfits. The general idea is fun, and it’s nice to say you made your
own so that it matches the outfit you’re wearing.
You can tell the ideas for the hat kept evolving.
I never would have dreamed that I would some
day make a hat completely from scratch, but
we loved how it turned out. And it matched
the dress so well because it was made from the
same material. To finish it, I added a long
ribbon to tie under the chin in case the wind
came up, and had two large ostrich feathers to
really make it fancy.
As you can see from the photos, there is a lot of wire involved in the building process. We had to do a lot of
experimenting to see how the entire hat is pieced together. The directions on the pattern were a little vague
in places, so we ended up looking online for tutorials to try to figure out what they were doing. Even the
people doing the tutorials had trouble understanding the written directions, so we didn’t feel too bad.
Joanie wanted a very specific hat to go with her
Victorian dress. Of course, getting a large hat in
that style was extremely expensive, so we decided
to make one. We were inspired by the Main Street
characters at Magic Kingdom. Their hats are
elaborate and wonderful!
And then Ray decided he needs a top hat with Mickey ears. Why buy one when you can
make your own with VERY large ears? Again, his engineering skills came into play, but
now he has a hat where we can change the color or print on the ears to match the outfit
he is wearing.
Sometimes it takes some
improvising to do the construction
needed to make a look work. In
this case, some jar lids became the
base for the Mickey ears, and they
had to be attached to the hat with
nuts and bolts to make them
secure.
So far, the hat has been an accessory
for his 101 Dalmatians outfit, then with
yellow ears it works for his Beauty and
the Beast (Gaston) outfit, and finally
had little mittens for the ears for a
Christmas event we went to. The
changes are easy to make, and the hat
becomes a very versatile.
We bought some pre-owned hats online and found that they were not in
exactly the best condition ever. So we decided to re-cover one of them to
use with one of her outfits. He had to make a pattern to fit the hat, then
cut and sewed it together and covered to hat to make it a hat to work with
one of her theme clothing outfits.
I had already purchased a different parasol for my Victorian outfit and added lace onto it to make it
look a little fancier. But then we found this umbrella at a local thrift store. If you can’t find a parasol
that has the handle and the look that you want, you have to improvise and cover an old umbrella,
right? We love how it turned out. So I had two parasols with me during the Dapper Day festivities
and switched back and forth depending on the look I wanted.
I hand sewed all of the lace trim on it. I
think you might agree, it looks really good
now that it is finished.
I had to use one of the panels from
the old umbrella to make a pattern
for the new cover. We decided we
didn’t like the unfinished look of the
material on the inside of the
umbrella, so I lined it with muslin to
make it looked finished inside and
out.
The final outfit with custom made hat,
dress, spats and umbrella looks pretty
sweet if I do say so myself.
When you can’t find a skinny bowtie
to match the look you want, just
learn to make your own. We didn’t
bother to buy a pattern, so Ray
designed his own. It took a couple
modifications from the first design,
but the final result worked out
beautifully.
We wanted to try our hand at making our own hats for
Joanie. We bought a pattern that we liked when
patterns went on sale, and tried it out in cheap muslin
first. It is as difficult as we expected, but we will
probably make two or three different stylesto wear
with different outfits. The general idea is fun, and it’s
nice to say you made your own so that it matches the
outfit you’re wearing.
You can tell the ideas for the hat kept evolving. I never would
have dreamed that I would some day make a hat completely
from scratch, but we loved how it turned out. And it
matched the dress so well because it was made from the
same material. To finish it, I added a long ribbon to tie under
the chin in case the wind came up, and had two large ostrich
feathers to really make it fancy.
As you can see from the photos, there is a lot of wire involved in
the building process. We had to do a lot of experimenting to see
how the entire hat is pieced together. The directions on the
pattern were a little vague in places, so we ended up looking online
for tutorials to try to figure out what they were doing. Even the
people doing the tutorials had trouble understanding the written
directions, so we didn’t feel too bad.
Joanie wanted a very specific hat to go with her Victorian dress.
Of course, getting a large hat in that style was extremely
expensive, so we decided to make one. We were inspired by the
Main Street characters at Magic Kingdom. Their hats are
elaborate and wonderful!
And then Ray decided he needs a top hat with Mickey
ears. Why buy one when you can make your own with
VERY large ears? Again, his engineering skills came
into play, but now he has a hat where we can change
the color or print on the ears to match the outfit he is
wearing.
Sometimes it takes some improvising to do the construction
needed to make a look work. In this case, some jar lids
became the base for the Mickey ears, and they had to be
attached to the hat with nuts and bolts to make them
secure.
So far, the hat has been an accessory for his 101
Dalmatians outfit, then with yellow ears it works for his
Beauty and the Beast (Gaston) outfit, and finally had little
mittens for the ears for a Christmas event we went to.
The changes are easy to make, and the hat becomes a
very versatile.
We bought some pre-owned hats online and
found that they were not in exactly the best
condition ever. So we decided to re-cover one
of them to use with one of her outfits. He had
to make a pattern to fit the hat, then cut and
sewed it together and covered to hat to make
it a hat to work with one of her theme clothing
outfits.
I had already purchased a different parasol for my
Victorian outfit and added lace onto it to make it look a
little fancier. But then we found this umbrella at a local
thrift store. If you can’t find a parasol that has the handle
and the look that you want, you have to improvise and
cover an old umbrella, right? We love how it turned out. So
I had two parasols with me during the Dapper Day
festivities and switched back and forth depending on the
look I wanted.
I hand sewed all of the lace trim on it. I think you might agree, it
looks really good now that it is finished.
I had to use one of the panels
from the old umbrella to make a
pattern for the new cover. We
decided we didn’t like the
unfinished look of the material
on the inside of the umbrella, so
I lined it with muslin to make it
looked finished inside and out.
The final outfit with custom made hat, dress, spats and
umbrella looks pretty sweet if I do say so myself.
