Tea Hat

I recently went to a ladies tea party at my church with the girls from our small group and as soon as I heard about it, I decided that I was going to wear a hat. Of course this idea spawned from my infatuation with the royal wedding and all of the amazing hats there. I wish our Western society hadn't lost the factor of sofistication that our English counterparts still possess, but that's a whole other tangent. Back on track. Hats. Okay, so I searched and searched and searched for a Kentucky Derby-like hat and decided that there is no place local that carries such hats, even in Pasadena! So I went online and I found that I could order them online but they ranged from $150-$700!!! Definately was not going to pay that.....so I found a couple pictures of sample hats I loved and decided I was going to make one myself.

These are the materials that I started with: a simple sun hat with a wide brim, black thread to match, 2 different types of tulle (one stiff and one decorative and flimsy), a piece of black satin, feathers to match the dress I was going to wear, and embellishment for the center of the fabric flower, glue gun and some pink material that I ended up not using.


First, I removed the little bow knot that was orginally around the side band where it met the brim and laid out the decorative flimsy tulle on top of the hat.


Next, I sewed little pin-tucks all round the base of the side band to secure the tool to the hat and have it take its form. Notice that I did not make sure the material was flat. I wanted to overlap it at places to add character.


Next I used the stiff tool and gathered it rather haphazardly to create a poof. Once gathered, I sewed the base just itself to keep it together then I sewed it to the base of the hat side band.


Next, I used that poof to determine how the hat would sit on my head. Based on that, I sewed the flimsy tool underneath the left side of the brim (the part that would be down) and then I evenly cut and left loose the remaining edge that would be positioned and tilted upward. I left about 1 1/2 to 2 inches loose. By created the pleated gathers earlier when securing the tulle to the bottom of the side band, it created a nice wave to the tulle when left to lay freely on the brim.

Okay, I skipped photographing a couple of steps because my hands were full. For the flower, I took the underside of a piece of silk (because I didn't want the sheen) and folded it over and then started gathering it in the center and worked my way around. Once I had it somewhat looking like a flower, I sewed the center to secure it to itself then I added the silver embellishment to the center. Then I started to add feathers.

Ta Da!!! The finished product in all its glory!

And here it is on....

A little blurry, but here's a side view.

Another view of the finished product.

At the Ladies Tea Party with Michelle and Meg from our small group.