To Block a Cloche

The CLOCHE is one of my favorite hat shapes. This grey felt cloche with a flower trim is blocked as a one piece instead of a crown and a brim.

The crown block is pushed down inside the brim block as the last picture shows.

Sounds tricky but with a little patience you can produce a really lovely shape.

Once the felt is taken off the block you can then steam the brim wider, then trim into any shape you desire.

A brim reed is stitched around the brim edge to keep it in shape.

Winter Wedding

This is for a wedding on saturday so I hope they can make it to their venue.!! Very cold here in the U.K. at the moment.

It has been made with tangle tuft sinamay which is great for hand sculpting and blocking into twists and turns. The bride has very dark hair so this piece stands out very nicely.

It is worn on the right with the plume of feathers falling over the back of the head.

Little pearls and a vintage button for something 'old' complete the focal point.

Christmas at Hat Therapy

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I wanted to decorate the windows this year a little differently so I found some cut out letters on the Internet, sprayed them with floral paints and decorated then with a permanent gold pen.

They had to be drilled with a fine drill bit so I could tie them together with fine ribbon, I then hung them on fish wire.

There are little lights on the raised area where I display my hats etc in the window which twinkle as it gets darker.

The wire wreath I also sprayed purple and added a copper ribbon which really stands out on my black door.

I am very pleased with the overall effect, hope you agree.
I will be having a celebration at the shop on Saturday as it will mark my fifth year of hatting here in Hebden Bridge, so if you are in the area pop in and join me. Cheers.

NOIR

Two black peach bloom felt cocktail hats that were ordered for weddings this week have now left the shop and will be worn this weekend, but I just managed to get Grace to model them for me before they disappeared for good.
Peach bloom felt is so soft and moulds gently into wonderful shapes, but is particularly good in smaller hats as you can cut really great shapes as you see in the hat with the black and white feather.
I have made a few more felt hats, as this week I was part of a charity fashion show close to home so when they return I will take some pictures and pop them on the blog.