Ench By Sew-030: Hats Off to Downtown Abbey!

This show is created, produced and brought to you by Laurel Shimer.

Hats I made recently in Wayne Wichern's Hat Blocking Class

How to Find This Audio/Podcast?

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~ OR ~

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About the Show

The Enchanted by Sewing Podcast is, an extension of my regular sewing blog - Me Encanta Coser,  (http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com) which,  roughly translated means, Enchanted By Sewing

My blog is written in English. The name celebrates the historical and modern use of the beautiful Spanish Language in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, where I live.

This Month's Show - Hats Off to Downton Abbey!

In this month's Enchanted by Sewing show, I talk about the role of Downton Abbey played in inspiring  the hats I've been making. I also share what I've learned about how to make hats. 

Track 1) Pensamientos Primeros – Making Hats -  Inspired by Downton Abbey, and enabled by local milliner Wayne Wichern

Track 2) Technicos A summary of the Techniques I learned something about while making Hats with Wayne Wichern

Track 3) Pensamientos Finales – Pretty as a Picture Hat - Grandmother Lily’s Wedding  - The story of my Grandmother's wedding hat reminds me that it wasn't only wealthy women who enjoyed wearing beautiful hats. Women of every economic bracket have always enjoyed the magic of the perfect hat.

Downton Abbey Themes- Books and Videos
            


Show Track 1) Pensamientos Primeros – Making Hats -  Inspired by Downton Abbey - Enabled by local milliner, Wayne Wichern ( http://www.waynewichernmillinery.com) 

Why do I love to watch Downton Abbey over and over ?
1) The Romantic setting
2) The fantastic British trained actors
3) The Fashions - my favorite part of Downton Abbey.
The best part of the those fashions? -  Hats! 

So far I see I've linked to over 200
caps, hats and other millinery fashions
on Hats and Other Millinary in Pinterest

I've saved links for many of my favorite hats on my Pinterest board "Hats and Other Millinary". These pictures were great to take to Wayne's class, to give him an idea of what I wanted to  create.

Hey - Am I was the only sewist here who’s excited to find that the newest Cinderella, Lily James, is Downton Abbey’s Rose, and step sister Drusilla is Mrs. Paddmore’s side kick

dear little Daisy? According to the UK’s “Telegraph”, Daisy, aka Sohie McShera, does love the chance to reverse her Upstairs/Downstairs role with Lily, just as much as I’d imagined.

Planning, sewing, and talking about hats lead me to reflect on history associated with women in times past.

Going Beyond Downton Abbey - Flappers Author Judith Mackrell explores life beyond costume dramas, when it comes to celebrity idols of the Flapper era -  British aristocrats Lady Diana Manners and Nancy Cunard, Russian artist Tamara de Lempicka, and three Americans; African American dancer /actress Josephine Baker, Femme fatal, Literati – and Wife of F.Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzgerald, and Southern Belle turned actress, Tullulah Bankhead. These ladies climbed the ladder from lower or traditionally established life styles, to serve as new role models for women from Daisy to Lady Edith. When it came to these ladies' fears, challenges and dreams, Mackrell gets down to the nitty gritty. She lets everything hang out from the seamy side to the highlights of their lives. 

This Black Straw Cloche is one of three hats I made in Wayne's class 

Show Track 2) Technicos A summary of the techniques I learned something about while making Hats with Wayne Wichern

 

The Gibson Girl Personified the In-Look
for up-to-date professional women like
Grandmother Lily

Show Track 3) Pensamientos Finales – Pretty as a Picture Hat - Grandmother Lily’s Wedding  

In Grandmother Lily's time, picture hats were made popular by the "Gibson Girls" drawn by Charles Dana Gibson. These ladies personified the New Woman feminist movement with which my grandmother and great aunts identified.

Duchess Georgina's
marriage problems, should have
 been
a hint to her descendent
Princess Diana

Ladies have been wearing Picture Hats for several hundreds of years. Early versions were inspired by the Gainsborough Hats worn by Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire, ancestress of Princess Diana.

Experimenting: Singleton Button Making - Learning Precision

Most of my recreation time right now is going into my Moulage/French Pattern Drafting class. I don't have a lot to blog about in that regards this week, because there's a lot of repetition in my homework. I'm working on creating a sloper this week, but it looks an awful lot like the moulage!

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For a little fun between muslin sewing and pattern drafting, I've been playing around, learning to create Singleton Buttons.

These are my attempts at Singleton Buttons to date.

Since I'm not yet there when it comes to getting a clean, precise edge, I'm not yet concerning myself with creating the thread shanks with which I would fasten them to a garment.

Clockwise from top left
The button with more yellow flowers has a piece of thin fused quilt batting, cut the same size as the full pattern
The pink flower has no interfacing
The purple flower has a piece of paper, cut about the same dimensions as the metal ring

I've mentioned many times that I'm working on learning to be more precise.Playing with creating my own Singleton Buttons, looks like a good way to get some practice in. There's something about the way I need to learn to hold things and work with the needle when it comes to getting that precise edge I'm after.

My favorite so far, is the top left button. I used a thin piece of quilt batting in that one.

Next, I'll experiment with rings of a slightly larger diameter. I think that might make those tight, precise, edges more achievable.

~ Basic Techniques~

- I made a pattern circle, 2 and a half times the diameter of the metal ring.  I scored some welded metal rings at my local hardware store. I'm sure you could buy something at a fabric store that's actually intended for this purpose.

I've tried different kinds of inside bits.
In this attempt, I simply used a piece of paper.
That wouldn't actually wash well ,but I wanted to see how the edge worked.

 - Then I ran a basting stitch about 1/8 inch away from the edge of my circle, tightened it up, and stitched back and forth to cover the edges.

- The 'X' on the front of this button was basting stitches, to hold that piece of interfacing paper in place

- After I stitched the back closed, I stitched around the inside edge of the metal ring.

- At this point, in the future,  I'll stitch up a thread shank -  I'll be doing that once I'm happier with the way the buttons are starting to look.

Ench By Sew-020- Mind of the Maker

Hey! 

The latest Enchanted by Sewing Podcast has been published!

Listening Option I) You can listen to the show right on the web by clicking on this link 

~ OR ~

Listening Option II)  Click on this link to iTunes  to download this and other Enchanted by Sewing shows to your mobile device (iPhone, Android, etc.) free from iTunes

Did I miss any links mentioned in the show? If so, please post here and share them with everybody

Email- EnchantedBySewing@gmail.com

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- Pensamientos Primero  

Reflecting on Making

For some people, sewing is just practical . For another segment of society, and I’m one of them, sewing is an important creative outlet that helps us to stay healthy and happy.
- Entonces /Then

She B. Coole

Live talk from our local Makers Faire includes extempore  interview with professional embroideress (Tapistres?) Barbara Coole (B. Coole)
o B. Coole Shares
• Thoughts on the realities of garment sewers investing both time and money into modern machine embroidery equipment and know-how
• Her advice on choosing an embroidery machine

- Pensimentos Finales:  What I’m thinking now, when it comes to my dream embroidery machine

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Web Resources

This Steam Punk Sewist
is right at home at
Makers Faire

My Regular Sewing Blog Me Encanta Coser http://www.meencantacoser.blogspot.com

She B. Coole - Barbara is a professional embroideress and textile artist.  As Barbara (B. Coole) reminds us embroidery is “… an art form that’s been going on for thousands of years.” People have sent out their embroidery to be done by professionals,  for hundreds of years.  B.Coole  does detailed projects involving professional couture embroidery to order . She also sells a wide variety of embroidered bits and pieces, parasols and more along with embroidery motifs that sewists and non-sewists can add to their garments, bags, hats, etc.  http://www.bcoole.com
bc@bcoole.com
(707) 575-8924

You’ll find that under-pocket cat embroidery created by Hiroko Kubota, along with other embellishment ideas on this pinterest board. http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/embellishment-sewing/

The Steam Punk Esthetic http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/steampunk-era-or-state-of-mind/

I have several sewing inspired boards at pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/

Maker’s Faires are found in many different cities http://makerfaire.com

She’s Hep With Tech  

Mind of This Maker
http://www.hepwithtech.blogspot.com/2014/05/mind-of-this-maker.html

What Would Beethoven Print? (3D Printing)
http://www.hepwithtech.blogspot.com/2014/04/but-what-would-beethoven-print-3d.html

Draping Lucy - Terminado! New Dress and back to Rec Sewing

Lucy is the first garment I've
created  from a pattern I
made entirely myself, on my
custom dress form.

I haven't done any regular, recreational sewing all semester (one semester = 16 weeks) because I've been focused on the class work and final projects for my two fashion classes at Cañada College. The first class was Pants Drafting, taught by Lynda Maynard (that's the woman who knows what we really want to sew, and teaches us how to do it!).   In that class, I used drafting techniques,  and many fitting followups, to produce inumerable muslin garments, tissue pattern drafts, and my first pair of jeans. Can't wait to use that pattern again and again!

My second class was Draping. This class is excellently taught by Judy Jackson. Again I went through a lot of muslin, this time learning to design my own patterns by draping them in muslin fabric on a dress form, then creating tissue patterns from those draped garments. You may have seen some of my posts this fall that showed off some of the basic garment shapes I created on a standard sized 10 dress form (I called her Babs, a name that seemed appropriate for a mannequin who came to life in the early '60's). I also began draping on my own custom dress form that I created over the summer. 

When I last talked about my custom dress form I was calling her Colette, but I've since realized that she is really a Conchita. 
I found working with Conchita even more challenging than working with Babs, and Babs wasn't an easy customer. Was it because Conchita represented clothing I actually plan to wear? I'm not sure yet. But if I figure it out, I'll let you know!

Starting around midterm time, I spent several weeks creating a muslin sloper (a fitted bodice and fitted straight skirt) for Conchita. For some reason I found this very challenging, though I had produced the same garments for Babs. My teacher seemed to think that there should be the same amount of challenge, if only I was careful with my measuring. I worked very hard to be exact but all I can say is that it was much harder for me and just took a lot of time, muslin, tissue and patience.

Another view of Lucy

As you can see, I moved on from my sloper to make my first garment. I had originally planned to make a traditional shoulder-yoked, dropped shoulder, shirtwaist dress with a collar and front button plackets. I was of two minds as to whether the dress would have a separate skirt joined by a waistline seam or be a one piece dress. I was planning to use a beautiful piece of deep forest green silk noil (raw silk) that I have for that dress. In my mind the dress I was planning to drape was named Ivy. I'm still planning to take up with Ivy in the not to distant future. But I got distracted by Lucy....

I'll be writing more about the process of draping Lucy in upcoming postings in this journal. One thing I know I'll be reflecting on repeatedly, is learning to read the fashion fabric's story. This lesson came from my experiences in both my pattern-creation classes this semester. In both cases I saw that constructing beautiful garments is not just about designing a piece in my mind or on a sketch pad. It really comes down to watching the behavior of the fabric I've chosen to sew with, after it's cut out and initially put together on me or my custom dress form. Creating a muslin test garment is an important part of the pattern making process, but once I start the ball rolling with muslin, I then really have to listen to the story the actual material for that garment is telling me. That's what is going to guide me to bring the garment I'm sewing to life.

Learning to listen to, and read the fabric's story really keeps me

Enchanted by Sewing

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Resources

You can drape on a person or on a dress form. When creating for ourselves, it's easiest to use the dress form approach!

In the September Enchanted by Sewing Audio Podcast Dress Forms Episode, I described my experiences creating two different dress forms. You can listen to this talk either online on the web, or you can download the show to your mobile device (like an iPhone, Android, etc.)
http://www.enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com/2013/09/ench-by-sew-12-dress-forms.html

I'm just beginning to learn the historic and modern art of draping. It's a very artistic experience !  I've begun to develop my skill set in a class taught through the Cañada College Fashion Department. I'll be continuing my draping journey by continuing to follow the richly illustrated draping tutorials and examples in our class textbook, The Art of Fashion Draping. This excellent, and highly regarded book, by Connie Amaden-Crawford has been in use for decades. both within the industry, and by home sewists. 

Thanks Sponsors! 
When you buy products through links in this blog, you support the regular work of this blog and The Enchanted by Sewing Podcast.

Matters Millinery - Making My Own Hats

I created this fabric covered buckram hat
from black silk dupioni in Wayne Wichern's class.
The pink silk band and bow makes  a nice looking trim,
but so far I've only worn it plain.

Have you ever read the fascinating book The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould? The author presents stories about the historical study of phrenology (the Victorian idea of a noble brow is a typical example of phrenology). One aspect of phrenology was that researchers tried to prove that head size was linked to mental superiority.

It didn't pan out.

I'd love to think that my larger than normal head means I have an extra measure of brains. But according to Gould, that's not the case. About the only thing my 24.5 inch head size does for me is make it impossible to find a woman's hat that fits. Gals are supposed to have 22.5 inch head circumferences. Hence the Minnie Mouse look whenever I try on a cute hat. Over the counter hats perch up on top of my curls, making me a perfect cartoon model.

But of course, being a sewist, I can make my own hats and leave Minnie's at Disneyland.

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You may have read a posting I wrote last fall called "Chewing a Bun with Tuppence" (http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2012/06/caps-off-chewing-bun-with-tuppence.html )  about the first fabric cap I made. I also wrote about another cap I made, using the same pattern a month or so later. I wear one or the other of these caps every single day. They protect my skin better than a regular baseball cap and are a lot cuter too! 

But I wanted to know how to make more than caps. I wanted to be able to make a structured hat.

I like my black silk duping hat plain

I took Wayne Wichern's Millinery class at Cañada College last spring. It was a lovely three-session, weekend class, perfect for full-time workers who want to squeeze in some creative time with recreational and artistic sewing. We had a lot of fun chatting while we stitched away - the majority of this kind of sewing is by hand. By the way, Wayne is not only a fun person, he's also a great teacher.


Most of our time in class was devoted to making fabric-covered buckram hats. I made a simple style in black silk dupioni. I played around with trims for this hat, but mostly I like it plain. It will be easy enough to add trims anytime in the future. I bought the fabric at Thai Silks in Los Altos. If you stop by their shop, ask about special discounts for fashion students and Cañada fashion students. It's a really nice store. They've been there a long time and have a good reputation in the area. They sell online too.

We also learned about the process of making straw hats. We didn't have the resources and room to block our own, but we gave Wayne our measurements, choose colors and styles and he blocked them for us.  We did the really hard part - we trimmed them with ribbons, lace and anything else we could come up with :-) So now I have a straw hat that fits, in addition to my black silk hat!

In addition we made fascinators or cocktail hats. I gave mine to Holly the Dolly to use as a regular doll's hat. I'll put up a picture of that in a future posting.

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We loved showing off our creations at the reunion
in Wayne Wichern's Burlingame studio

In late summer Wayne invited us to his Burlingame studio for a follow-up party where we showed off our creations. Wayne teaches a variety of workshops in his studio. If you live in the area, or might come for a visit, I can promise you'll have a wonderful time in this sociable setting. Warning! These popular workshops fill quickly.

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Whenever I see an appealing hat, cocktail hat or fascinator on the web, I pin it to http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/hats-and-other-millinary/

Wayne Wichern Millinery http://www.waynewichernmillinery.com

Wayne's Workshop Schedule - Burlingame CA (San Mateo County, San Francisco Bay Area) Follow the link to classes for the current year at http://www.waynewichernmillinery.com



Thai Silks
252 State Street, Lost Altos, CA
http://www.thaisilks.com

Hats Off (Part 1): Sampling of Millinery Books

I just finished a 3 day millinery class at Cañada. There's so much to say and so much to learn!

For starters my county library system has a wonderful collection of books on millinery (a good subject search in your own public library) . Here's just a a sampling.


The hat book : creating hats for every occasion / Juliet Bawden

Classic millinery techniques : a complete guide to making & designing today's hats / Ann Albrizio ; coauthored & illustrated by Osnat Lustig ; photographs by Ted Morrison.

Hats! : make classic hats and headpieces in fabric, felt, and straw / Sarah Cant.