Costuming.....: Millinery

8/10/13

Well, Uni has started up again and my first brief in my Millinery class was to choose my own theme and create a collection of 5 - 6 hats! After about 2 seconds thought (!) I decided to go with a Military theme for my hats and include a variety of caps, berets and bonnets from all over the world.

Here are a few of my ideas so far.........

An Irish Guards bearskin cap (made with synthetic fur!);

A french bicorne (as modeled by Russell Crowe in Les Mis);

A stetson style hat worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police;

A Victorian Royal Artillery pillbox hat;

An Australian slouch hat;

A sky-blue beret worn by the UN forces;

A Native American war bonnet;

A Royal Navy Seaman's cap.

My final decision on the hat collection was the RCMP campaign hat, the 18th C bicorne, the Native American War Bonnet, the Victorian Royal Artillery Pillbox, the Australian Slouch hat and the U.N blue beret!!! Here goes................

I started with the U.N beret!

I took a pale blue wool felt hast base/hood and blocked it over a wooded hat block. the way to do this is to take a bowl of very hot water (be careful!!) and dunk the hood into it for around 10-15 seconds. Next, lift the wet hood out ant quickly place over the wooden hat block. Make sure the block is cover in a layer of cling film first though as this will be much easier when taking the dried hat off!

Next I stretched a hoop around the hood and pinned it as tightly as I could to the block. This was then left for 24 hours!

Once the hood has been taken off the block. I trim the edges to the size I want. I then added felt stiffener and left to dry for another 24 hours!!!

Once the beret shape had dried, I attached leather binding to the brim leaving the inside open while I attach the lining.

i made my own pattern for the lining which was a simple circle measured to fit and a long strip for the edges.

Once the ling was added, I simply finished off the bias binding on the inside, moulded the beret to fit and added a U.N badge! (To mould the beret I reverted back to my past life in the RAF and wet the beret whilst I was in the shower, shaped it and stood with it on my head for a while!!!!!)