TRICORN HAT

I finished sewing on the trim to the pirate hat last night. The official name for these hats is a Tricorn hat. I did a little research about hat making and found it very interesting. I kind of came up with my own pattern because there really isn't a pattern available for this hat. A true Tricorn hat is made by stretching wet wool over a hat block. My version is just a floppy hat pattern. The crown consists of six pieces and then the brim is sewn on seperately, folded up and stitched in place.



I used acrylic felt because that's what I had laying around and it is only for my three year old. If I made another one I'd use wool felt. All the ribbon and trim is sewn on by hand. I had to hand pleat the red ribbon because my sewing machine decided to crap out on me the night I was using my pleating foot. I only got about 6" of ribbon pleated.



If you are ever looking for feathers like this at your local hobby/fabric store, they are with the flowers.



Hat in action. Let's hope she continues to like pirates next Halloween! I can see an awesome red velvet coat to go with this hat.

PROCRASTINATING A BIT

So I still haven't started working on my monster guys. Ugh! I'm in a bit of creative funk and procrastinating. I decided to reorganize and clean my studio from top to bottom. Sometimes this helps me get re-energized. I decided I disliked my work my table and wanted something new. Unfortunately I don't have a ton of money and everything I like is way out of my price range. The above pick is Pottery Barn's craft table that I've loved for quite some time. My husband and I decided how hard could this really be to make. So we found some building plans on line and decided to tackle it.



Here it is and I LOVE it! It really was not hard at all. It took two weekends to complete. I finished it up last weekend.  It would have gotten done sooner but we really could only work on it when my 3 year old was asleep.



The Closet Maid canvas baskets fit perfectly in the cubbies.



Table top measures 38" x 56". Lots of cutting space. The table is 38" tall. Perfect for standing at, which is mostly how I work.



Here's a few pics of the table in progress.





So my first project on my new table was swing a pirate hat for my daughter. As soon as I finished sewing the hat my machine decided to act up and now needs to be serviced. UGH! The bobbin casing has a crack and chunk of plastic missing out of it. I'll be heading to MoSew next weekend to have it cleaned and fixed. Guess I'll try and get my old Singer out and use it for a while.

I'll post some pics of the pirate hat when I finish it. I've got lots of ruffles and ribbons to hand sew on first.