An Unexpected Hatting

My sister came over last night, to drink tea and watch Bomb Girls.  If you haven't watched Bomb Girls yet, YOU SHOULD.  It's a fantastic Canadian series about the women working in a munitions factory during World War Two.  The writing, the acting, the directing, the cinematography, the costumes, the hair, the makeup...it's a fantastically well put-together show.  If you start watching it and you're not too sure about it, I beg you to keep it up - I wasn't sure at first either but I was so glad I kept watching, because it grew into itself in amazing fashion.  Check out the trailer for season 1:

And as usual when I'm watching a show set in a particular period, I drool over the clothes.  It's been depressing me that I haven't been feeling well enough lately to do a big project, so what could I do that would satisfy my need for glam 40's wear but be easy enough for me to create without too much effort?  A HAT.  Because lawks a'mercy, the hats in this show!!  They're beyond phenomenal.  So a hat it was.  Karin decided to make one too, so we used a plate to trace and cut two circles of buckram (I soooo love buckram) and got to it.

I chose blue satin to make my hat, along with some bead trim that I got from someone else who was cleaning out their sewing kit.  And some black feathers.  Just to be fancy.

Circle of buckram.

Plain white fabric for lining.

Black beaded trim.  I love it!

The top - blue satin gathered, with a small blue satin puff in the middle and the bead trim covering the seam.

I never worry about the creases in the buckram.  It's such an insanely magical material - just a little bit of steam and it melts and reshapes however you want it to look!  It's so much fun to deal with.

Once I had the top part looking how I wanted it and the lining cut, it was time to put them together with the buckram in between to hold the shape!

Creating the buckram sandwich!

Arranging the satin over the buckram how I want it...

Tucking and pinning it all to the lining....

Stitching away...

Hand sewing, as long as there isn't huge amounts of it, is very calming and relaxing and enjoyable.  After too many hours on a single project it can get kind of tedious and painful for your arm (RSI from sewing isn't the most badass injury you could end up with but it is totally a thing), but a couple of hours on a hat is quite lovely!

Add some feathers for panache and joie de vivre...

 It was a great project, a couple of hours, and I was very pleased with the results!  It ended up looking possibly more 18th century France than 1940's Canada, but now I guess it could be good for multiple costumes, so...win? 

Sewing is fantastic for calming me down and improving my mood so that was an added bonus.  And fancy hats make me feel pretty which is always good too!  It made me realize how much fun and how many things you can do with hats.  I need to make more of them.  In fact, I think I'll sign off here and go make another.  Au revior mes beaux!