Colder Days Ahead

It must have been Nicki's blog that pointed me toward Elsewhen's Craftsy shop and from there, the Daryn cloche.

I thought the lower right toque was a good place to start. 

The crown pieces were cut from the sleeves. (I was practicing my shivering when I took this picture. )

 

The brim from the body. I free handed the curve. 

The cap badge was a wood laminating experiment The Geek did a few years ago. We had no idea what to do with it until now. (We both have strange stashes of all sorts of things. )

The finished object. 

From many different angles. 

The hat is sitting on a balloon on top of a glass. 

It's so much easier to take pictures of something when it is sitting still (on the ironing board) that to attempt selfies of yourself 

The hat made its formal debut as I marshaled for the ShimanoCyclocross  Championships held her this weekend on a lovely fall day. 

How would you like to come down this hill or rather, riverbank, on a bike? (I'm standing behind the barricade that prevents riders from flying into the river. )I climbed down on the right and was so glad I wore my hiking boots. There were crashes only in the first two (of three) races I marshaled  with no serious injuries. 

Scheming and Planning

Now that I am rid of the triad of evil, I am making plans for the remainder of my leave. And while I can't row, cycle, kayak, play soccer, do pilates, drive, lift more than 10 pounds, or do any of the other things that fritter away my time, I can sit. And in the shade I shall sit while I take apart a few items I have found in thrift stores.

First up, this cool wool* skirt. It is a lovely, incredibly full, skirt, very royal blue and, judging by the tag, from the late '80s or early '90s It is destined to to become another Hollyburn with perhaps enough left over to trim something else.

The second skirt is a linen/ rayon blend. Allegedly dry-clean only, but since I don't own anything I can't wash, I pre-washed it. You can tell how much shrinkage occurred by the amount of lining hanging clear of the bottom.

The colours did not photograph very well; it is brown and green striped - very autumnal. I'll try to better shot after it has been remade. I'm hoping to get another Vogue 1247 out of the yardage.

I have no firm ideas about the fate of this skirt. I think it is a wool/rayon blend but the tag has gone missing. Maybe it dissolved in the pre-wash. I would like to get a top of some sort but I'll see how it looks when I drape it around myself, post dissection. It may end up looking too dowdy for a blouse.

It's nice to be able to spend time in the yard keeping busy. I'm pretty twitchy and while I'm fortunate to have a long leave to recover, sitting around this past week has been pretty restricting. It will be good to feel productive again.

*That's the name of the fabric, not how I feel about it.

One Sweater, Two Hats

I have had this sweater for awhile but I rarely wore it because it was a bit too small. I hated to give it away because it was so soft and warm, but something had to be done.
When Pattern Review announced the 'Re-Fashion Contest', I knew it was time for the transformation.

I felted the sweater futher to make the finished headwear even warmer.

After shrinking further.

I'd seen a picture of the Eugenia Kim's Haircut cloche several years ago and immediately bought the book (for awhile I was all though, no action. I'm hoping this is the start of much, much more productiveness).

Saturday Night Hat

This is the cloche that started it all.

The inspiration.

The book calls for a milliner's hood so I made my own using a pseudo-watch cap shape.

Cutting out the haircut cloche.

I tried on the hood to determine how short to cut 'the fringe'.

The Jabba-the-Hut stage.

I cut a wedge out of the back as well.

Trimming to shape.

If I added horns, I think it would resemble a viking helmet, (what's bred in the blood...) but without I think I look like a seal. Considerably less threatening, I guess.

The side view is ok, if a little severe (as if looking like a viking isn't severe enough).

 The pattern for the second cap came from this cap tutorial.The instructions were easy to follow and I found it a simple project. It would have been quick too if the top piece of the brim would have cooperated and stayed in the seam allowance. It lost in the end and really should have known better that to argue with a viking.

I used part of a vinegar jug to make the stiffening for the peak.

A vinegar jug donated the peak stiffening.

I didn't want to risk losing several (?dozen) needles sewing the brim and stiffening together so I drilled small hole in the stiffening and inserted the stiffening into the sewn peak.

Drilling holes to secure the peak to the fabric.

The edge was whip-stitched with embroidery cotton and sewn onto the cap.

I didn't interface the cap band because I wanted a floppy cap, but I used interfacing and a second button to prevent the decorative button from pulling through the band.

Once the button was on, I catch-stitched the inside band to the top of the hat. The original instructions said to stitch-in-the-ditch but it always looks like I accidentally drove into the ditch, and tried desperately to escape when I do that. Catch-stitching, to my eyes, looks much better than the other method.

The button is from a mixed bag I picked up at the MCC.

In spite of my careful measuring, the cap was too big for me. Oh, the fates are capricious at times.

It did, however, fit The Geek nicely and looks very good on her. I would suspect sabotage, but she wasn't at home when this was being made.

Tho' that smirk makes me wonde!