Millinery Course - Week 6

Right, Alion's weekly update part...erm...6 I think...

Arrived tired, grumpy and with shaky hands from the exhaustion of stressful work and not giving myself any down-time. Got my brim out and carried on (very slowly due to the shaky hands) sewing the blue petersham ribbon around it. Quickly relaxed and the troubles of the world (and financial year end with a project with everything going wrong) disappeared away from that little work room with us making our hats. Got the petersham sewed on in fits and spurts throughout the night (to be told by the teacher that it was "pretty much perfect" which made me grow ten feet). Once it's on though, you wipe a damp cloth along it and it shrinks to perfectly mould round the hat - so now it's doubly perfect!!! Sadly no picture as the battery ran out on my camera, but I'll show you some of that complete next week.

Next stage with that hat was to sew some petersham to make a head fitting. I got started (sewed the seam in the back to make it the same size as my head), but no further.

Onto the straw hat. I found a brim (OK I've been coveting it for most the course and it wasn't in use this week) which matches the rakish angle of the crown I chose. Here's the two of them together:

I then totally unpinned the brim, decided that I was happy with the shape even though it hadn't kept as well as I'd wanted (see last week) and chopped off the brim...

Blocking the brim was far easier than the felt one (possibly as the pins went in easier) and with the experience of blocking the straw crown I was really starting to understand how it was working (less of a pull and a stretch, more of an ease and a shape). Sorry no photos here, but it looks grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat

Finally, it was time to take the beige cloche off the block. You may remember that I struggled to get it on, to get the hood to stretch around the block, well it was just as hard to get it back off again! The teacher did it for me in the end as I was so worried about stretching it. It did stretch a bit, but apparently we can ease it back into shape. I bought this one home as I'm keen to embroider on it (the felt's a dream to sew on) and my husband got a gorgeous picture of me in it (his photography being key of course - something to do with focussing on the eye so everything else is soft)

And finally, hat number 4. I had this image of a black hat with a spiral down it in white, with the hood cut and resewn to get the shape. Not sure if it'll work, but I've got a hood sitting here at home so I can try it...

[PHOTO LINKS BEING UPDATED]

Millinery Course - Week 5

Ok, week 5 was the BEST YET - they're really starting to come together...

First of all, I blocked the pale hood (one of these, forgot to take a picture of it before I blocked it)

I really struggled at first to stretch it enough to get it round the bottom of the block, but kept steaming it and pulling it until it finally stretched. As with the straw hat I had to make a strip to pull it into shape. But boy what a shape!

It's got a rolled edge and the head fitting is actually on the inside so all that stretched felt had to be steamed and fitted to the decreasing size on the inside...to show you, here's how I did it first time:

and here's how I did it after some tutoring and practice:

I'm not really sure how to describe the technique, but you just steam it till it's too hot to handle and pull it into position where you want it. Then you can go back and tidy it up until you're happy with it.

Right, so that one's sitting in the drier and it's on to check how the straw one's coming along. While that's dried, the fantastic "dent" in the top has stretched back out. Didn't do anything with it, but think I'm going to re-block it as it did look far better before. It's all a learning experience...

Unsure at the time what to do with that, and with fingers all crinkled from steam I got down to the brim of my other felt hat. First it had to be trimmed and suddenly it looks like part of a hat

Then it had to be tried on to check the fit. This was a little small, but they've got special equipment (hot sticks on a vice as far as I can tell) for making things bigger and it soon fit just fine

I was really pleased with this as I had been worried how the brim in a size smaller than my head and the crown a size bigger were ever going to fit together.

Next job is to reinforce the brim. Using the block as a guide, we had to bend some wire into the shape of the edge of the brim and then sew it onto the brim itself. At this point, we used the hat bands we'd made in previous weeks to support the hat itself.

And finally (and yes I have noticed that my weekly reports are getting longer) we started to sew the petersham ribbon on over the wire. This was far easier than I expected (and sewing the felt of the hats is just dream-like). The aim is to make the stitching on the ribbon invisible and I really couldnt' see mine. I was so proud!

So the final photos are of that - a prize if you can spot the stitches

Next week we should be sewing the two together. I should be able to block the brim of my straw hat and maybe even decorating the black one (if I can find what I'm looking for)

I just can't wait till Monday!

[PHOTO LINKS BEING UPDATED]

Millinery Course - Week 4 Take 2

Well, after a week off (time to be caught up at the end of the course so no worries there) spent wishing I could be there I had another lesson.Seriously, I'm 4 weeks in now - surely I should be SLIGHTLY less excited week by week, but every night all I want is to be there!So, what did we do this week?Firstly I finished my hat band, which is good as the hats get worked on off the blocks next week



Then it was on to the straw hat. You may remember that I stiffened it last time, well I think I used a little too much stiffener and it's rock solid! So I decided that instead of a summery hat I'd make a much more structured smaller hat. I loved this block (oops didn't get a a photo of that) with a "dent" round the top and slightly asymmetrical. Here's how it looks with the top of the hat blocked:



and here when I'd blocked the whole thing:

I'm loving how the colour's looking with the shape. I think I'm going to do an asymmetrical brim.



Next job was the seam in the back of my felt hat. You may remember it looked like this last time:



Well, it got trimmed, stitched and ironed and now it looks like this:



Ready to cut along the brim and work on making that strong.Lastly, I want to make a cloche in a sort of camel colour and embroider it with an autumn leaf (my major inspiration - you should have seen our wedding!) and I've picked out this block, which someone has already used and has come out like this (without any extra work done to it yet to help it keep the shape):


I'm so excited by it all - and it's wonderful to come on here and write all that excitement down. Next step involves wire and ribbon - stay tuned

Millinery Course - Week 4

Hoping the course is on tonight and that I can get there...London seems to be inaccessible by any means this morning!

Update: Nope - snow stops milliners - I miss it already and I wouldn't even be there yet!!!

Project 8 - Pants - FINISHED

I Have Finally Finished The Pants!

Update: we went away this weekend for the birthday celebrations and he LOVES his new pants! The comments of "wow, you really made those?" are quite possibly the biggest sewing-related boost I've ever had!

AND he says they fit him really well, which is what I was most worried about!

And other than that a fantastic weekend of hiking, kite flying, socialising, games, food and drink - still can't believe we fitted 28 people in that lounge!

Millinery Course - Week 3

Well, week three has been and gone and I've blocked the brim of my hat. Last night's lesson was a lot harder than the previous ones and I've got some concerns, but I can see where it's all going now.

Firstly, I bought a straw hood this week in red and some petersham ribbon for the felt hat. I've got the ribbon in black for the inside (to stop the hat stretching) and royal blue for the edge of the brim to go with this coat: http://www.karenmillen.com/pws/images/catalogue/product/011CG00806/mann_medium/011CG00806.jpg

I knew exactly which block I wanted, but someone else got there first so I had to have a rethink. I ended up with this one (which I might like even better...)

He'd said that we could have a bit of variation in the size block we used when compared to our head sizes. I'm a 22" head and used a 22.5" block for the brim and am now using a 21" block for the brim - it adds up to quite a difference. I've had to put a seam in the back of my brim because of it (to take out the extra felt) but really can't see how it's all going to go together with such a massive difference...

First job was to mark the cutting line on the crown and remove the brim. Very scary to make that first cut...

Blocking the brim was far harder than the crown. With my brim block (which looks like a very funky toilet seat and sounds like a toilet cleaner - oh I was having so much fun with the toilet jokes last night) you have to pin the middle bit first to keep it in shape, then stretch it out over the whole of the brim. I was really struggling to get the pins in due to the angle. Pushing pins into wood isn't easy in the first place and my fingers are really sore today from it!

But eventually it started to work. We removed most of the excess fabric and made a butted seam at the back. By the end of the session I'd blocked the brim and it was looking less toilet seat and more hat which was very satisfying. A lot of people didn't manage to get that finished and were feeling quite frustrated, and I can see why - it looks nothing like a hat then suddenly at the last minute it starts to make sense.

Next week we will put wire and ribbon round the brim to strengthen it, and start blocking the straw hood. Apparently that's quite a different process and gives very different results despite being done much the same way.

Project 8 - Pants - Update

After a very successful weekend I can report that the orange pair are FINISHED!!!

I made the bias binding and bound the legs of the yellow pair, but didn't think about stretch so they ended up really wide and i'm currenly unpicking them to redo that. Wonder what people thought on the train this morning?

I also need to unpick the brown pair and sew them together again introducing stretch.

I've learned so much the last few weeks and I'm really happy with how they're coming out. I reckon 2 more evenings and they'll be done (good thing too as I only have 3 evenings left!

Project 9 - Heart Shirt - Update

It was just as easy as I'd hoped. Got some red jersey off the market (1.5m for £3 - gotta love the market guy who always gives more or charges less) and the leftover fringe from my christmas dress and really pleased with the outcome. If I did it again I'd make the heart a bit smaller though - it looked right when it was just the fabric cut out, but it's a bit large with the fringe as well

Project Number 9 - Heart Shirt

Just a quick one today - was flicking through the London Lite on the way home last night and saw this pic article here

Loving the t-shirt. Going out with my mum tonight so thought I'd have a go at it. Not much time with doing the pants, so am going to use an old t-shirt rather than starting from scratch, but reckon I could get something nice in an hour or so

Project 8 - Pants - Update

Well, I've had an hour or so on them tonight - we'd organised a movie night for my scouts so I sat at the back and cut out the pieces for the other two patterns...

Then when I got home I made up the rest of the first pair, but without binding the legs yet...here's a photo for you...feeling very happy with how this pair's turned out and confident I can get most of this done this weekend...

Project 8 - Pants - Update

Right, a bit of an update...after the sewing machine breakage (now working better than ever with the spare part my daddy got me) life is moving decidedly back towards having time to SEW!!!

The birthday party is a week on Friday (and Saturday and Sunday) so I only have one weekend left to complete them. Got the pair that I've sewn the pattern onto sewn together (mostly) last night. Just need to put an edging on the legs, sew the crotch together and put the elastic on. Discovered that the pieces didn't fit, but had drawn marks all over the pants before taking them apart and realised that I needed to stretch the bum piece to make it fit to the side piece. That worked really well (I wasn't sure what I was doing, but made it up) and they're really starting to look like pants now.

Have looked up what I need to do for the legs and "bias binding" comes up a lot so I'm going to have a play with that. It looks fiddly but I figured if I did it fairly large it'll work ok. We'll see. (Going to make it out of the contrast fabric I've got)

And that's about it really...can't wait for tomorrow to get started!

Millinery Course - Week 2

Oh I forgot - aladin's cave of hat blocks - I so wanted to show you guys this!

Millinery Course - Week 2

Week two and I had even more fun than week one! This is my hood I mentioned last week:


And this is the band I'm making to support it while I'm working on it


Today we started blocking the crown of the hats. This involves taking the stiffened hood, spraying some water in it then steaming it until it gets soft. It is then stretched over a block. My block is the one on the left:

I like it because it's a little squared at the top, but not too much. I like a slightly masculine edge to my hats.


Here's the hat stretched over the block after the first pull:


Then you steam sections of the hat and pull them down to stretch them over the block. You use pins to hold it in place. Here's a photo of me doing just that:


And finally here's the hat all pulled into place. It doesn't sound like we did as much today, but it was really nice sitting there chattering away and getting to know eachother as we pinned our hats into place. Next week we will block the brims and get started blocking the straw hats. No rest for the milliners!

Project 8 - Pants - Update

Well I got the picture of the tattoo yesterday and here's what I've done with it (photoshopped the picture so it's really clear then printed two copies, cut out one and used it as a pattern and used the other to show the positioning. For the loopy bits I didn't cut out fabric but sewed freehand)

I'm really pleased with how this has turned out and really enjoyed doing the sewing (although the cutting out was dull). I'm going to try to get this pair all sewn together today, do the rest of the cutting out this week and put the other two pairs together next weekend. They'll be complete well before they're needed the following weekend.

Millinery Course - Week 1

That was the BEST fun ever! I got there nice and early (in case I got lost on the way) and was chummy with 2 other girls before it even started. Almost everyone was there on their own so everyone was keen to get to know each-other and it showed as we were all nattering away by the end. There’s 14 people on the course, mostly in their 20s and 30s, only one guy. The instructor is quite possibly the most enthusiastic person I’ve ever met (but not in an overpowering way) – he was very keen that we got started and he explains things as we go on rather than sitting around listening. He’s also really good at encouraging people to talk about what they’re doing and really helped the group bond (already!!!)

First off we measured our heads, then cut two strips of buckram on the bias to form a wide hat band. This will be used to keep the hat in shape whilst we’re making it. We sewed the strips together, then got a piece of wire, flattened it and shaped it into an oval using wooden blocks as a guide. That is being sewed onto the band – there’ll be one at the top and one at the bottom. And it’ll be the shape of my head.

At the same time we went off in small groups with our “hood” – the felt hat-shape that the hat’ll be made from (mine’s black and soooooooo soft) and used felt stiffener to stiffen the crown before leaving them in the drying cupboard.

I really didn’t think we’d get so much done in one session...and three hours went past like a flash. I’m so excited about next week, but in the mean time will be doing lots of research on hats. I’ve been designing for a while so I think I know what I want to make, but I’m going to get drawing it to visualise it.

Oh and there’s a room that’s full, floor to ceiling, of hat blocks. More than you could imagine in every shape you could think of and many you couldn’t. I can’t wait to get in there and find the shape my hat’s going to be. My first hat that is – we’ll make a felt hat and a straw hat on the course, and if we wish to use the blocks for hoods we bring in ourselves, we’re allowed to on the proviso that the main course hats have priority. That’s brilliant news – we can block the hats then take them home to do the rest of the work.

First thing I did when I got in this morning was to check if there’s still places on “Millinery 2” next term! Not sure I can afford it yet though!

Millinery Course

2 hours until it starts - I'm so excited I've not been able to concentrate all day at work! I've worked out how to get there and got my bag packed and time won't go fast enough!

Project 8 - Pants - Update

First picture of the first pair of pants. They're a bit crinkly as they're still drying from the red wine incident...but they're looking a pretty good shape. They're rather a bit too big for my Martha (modelling) but I'm sure once they're sewn together at the bottom (not done that yet as I want to leave them open to make sewing on the tattoo motif easier) and have elastic on they'll look the part

Project 8 - Pants - Update

It's been a busy week so I've only really got started today.I unpicked the pair of pants he'd given me and made patterns and started to make up the first pair today. I've got brown, orange and yellow cotton jersey to make them and matching thread. I decided to make them up using one colour for each with constrasting stitching.

So I got the pieces of the brown pair cut out, overlocked all the edges in orange and was pinning them together to work out how they connect (having forgotten how the pieces went together) when my husband called me to say dinner was ready...at which point i stood up and kicked a full glass of red wine over them!they're on soak at the moment...fingers crossed!

Millinery Course

I can barely hold in my excitement - having booked it back in August, my millinery course starts on MONDAY!!!My bag's been packed almost a week!

New Year's Resolution

This year I won't buy any clothes what so ever. I'm going to make EVERYTHING (except undewear and knitwear unless I get considerably better!)

I've bought some jersey knit today for plain T-shirts (which I'm always wrecking), got a birthday present to make for Andy, dress for Aileen's birthday party and something for Suz to wear for a wedding just before Littlemore's due. And that's before the millinery class I start in just over a week.

And I'm going to try to record what I do on here. I'm hoping to put up what I've done in the last couple of months of last year as well as I've kept good photographic records.

Well, here goes...when I'm not feeling rubbish...I'll start tomorrow...