Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Sew Frustrated

Decided it was time to get in gear and finally start on the hat I've been wanting. I've been collecting the necessary materials over the last couple of weeks, and been girding my loins for an assault on them. Tonight I made an onslaught on the project.

My goal is to create the dinky little toque that Dudley wears in all his portraits. He tended to favor smaller hats with very small, shaped brims.


Robert Dudley by Nicholas Hilliard

I chose for instructions this page: http://www.sempstress.org/2009/the-jiffy-pop-hat/#more-2525

I found the description of how to create a wired brim useful and somewhat easy for my inexperienced head to wrap itself around.

I was doing pretty well, even though I had to start over on the brim. I hadn't left adequate seam allowance around the outside to accommodate the rolled seam around the edge. My second try was much better, as I left way more than I needed. However, pinching and rolling that seam turned out to be a serious pain in the ass. Semptress warns us of this, but, she says, you could use seam binding or ribbon on the edge....if you want to be completely anachronistic. So, I made the effort.

After much confoundedness trying to make that seam work out, I am going to save myself the trouble, and I'm buying some grosgrain to wrap around the edge of my hat. Semptress can bite me.

3 comments:

  1. yeah....that looks like one of those things that's super simple in concept....super freakin' difficult in execution.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My dear, don't use grosgrain. MAKE SURE it's petersham ribbon http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/2012/03/v80-petersham-vs-grosgrain-ribbon.html

    Grosgrain will not work and you will be very upset. Petersham will, and you will be very happy, even though you have to special order it online, or maybe go to Lacis to buy it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good to know.

    It has been suggested to me by Scott Perkins (http://garb4guys.blogspot.com/) that I simply use the instructions for an unwired brim, and wrap it around my stiffened brim structure, with the seam on the outside. Which is what I wanted to do in the first place, but my inexperience made me listen to the expert.

    ReplyDelete