Hi Everyone! Welcome to Part 4 of Miniature Millinery!
This week we are going to make a simple Breton style hat. A Breton is a type of hat with a turned up brim. Believe it or not, this is just a super easy variation of the Molded felt hat from week one. There is no ironing involved and even the sewing is optional.
For this weeks project you will need:
- 12-inch square of felt, wool or wool blend felts work the best
- 4-inch Durafoam ball, the solid closed cell type... this is the same size we used the last three weeks
- 4.5-inch Durafoam ball, the solid closed cell type
- 4-inch diameter tin can, cut open with a smooth edge can opener so you don't cut yourself or snag your felt. An extra large can of mandarin oranges I found at the grocery store was just the right size and made a great snack while I was waiting for my felt to dry
- Six 1/4-inch wide rubber bands, that fit snugly around the foam ball
- Serrated knife
- Buttonhole thread for cutting the foam ball
- Four pins, preferably T-pins, to hold the hat on the hat block
- Cornstarch or choice of Fabric Starch
- Soap
If you want to apply trim to the brim of your hat you will also need:
- 16-inch square of lightweight fabric for bias trim OR
- Thread
- Sewing Machine
Week Four Task:
- Start your project by cutting your foam balls and preparing you hat stiffener as you did in week one, Then, stretch your felt using a 4.5 inch hat block instead of a 4 inch hat block.
- Once the hat is stretched over the hat block, there is no need to flatten the brim. In fact we get to skip ironing altogether and go right to dipping the hat in the stiffener.
- Carefully squeeze out any excess stiffener and lay the hat out on a towel to dry. That's it. Just walk away until the hat has completely dried.
- Trimming the hat is optional. If you would prefer to leave the bottom edge of your hat raw, you can skip on to shaping your hat.
- Jump over the SWC Facebook Group for conversation and project sharing. Be sure to tag Shari there so she gets notified and can respond quickly!
3 Comments
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Shari
February 26, 2020
Hi Heidi, for the knot at the end of the whipstitch, I guess it is a bit like a french knot. :o) What I like to do is pick up a thread or two of the fabric and then wrap my needle around the thread loop a couple of time to form a small knot that gets drawn tightly to the fabric.