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| Shaping a hat. |
Duchess AnneMarie and I, with the assistance of Lady Claricia and Baroness Antonia, were able to lead a class of (at least) thirty people in making (at least) thirty-five hats. The class session held several repeat attendees, much to our delight, plus many new people eager to try their hand at new accessories. It was great success with many learning opportunities on both sides.
Thanks to Sir Bran for the pictures!
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| During the lecture. |
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| Shaping and ironing. |
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| Midrealm Coronation. |
I acquired a yard and a half of the wool then created a classic 14th century dagged hood, courtesy of Opus Elenae's base pattern paired with the dags expansion. After some back and forth thinking each dag would be turned into a strawberry, I opted to let this bold and beautiful wool stand on its own, especially after adding the printed diamond weave cotton as the lining.
Sir Bran was kind enough to take a picture (or three) of its premier at Midrealm Coronation. Here it is paired with a charcoal bycocket adorned with peacock feathers, green pin on sleeves, and the pewter plaque belt created by Crispin.
Resources:
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| Inking the dags. |
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| Instagram teaser! |
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| The dagged hood is finished! |
The Fellowship of the Traveling Hat recently held session at the Midrealm Harvest Days in South Oaken (OH).
My meager display of hats.
When Crispin and I decided we were attending Harvest Days, I reached out to the event steward to see if I could secure location indoors to hold session, despite the classes being themed after games and we were quickly scheduled! Shortly after arrival Mistress Aveline showed me the space, I set out a meager display of items in advance of the class. Little did I know that throughout the day people would stop me and ask when we were starting, which started to make me a little nervous.
Thankfully, Lady Miriana was in attendance and was gracious enough to be my assistant during class. Because we needed it! We had a much larger group of people in attendance than expected! We were able to make between 25-30 hats in the time allotted which was incredible, considering I only had one iron! (Insert a very long story about my new steam iron missing a part.)
I consider this a learning experience - one iron is definitely not enough! And in order to not limit the size of class, an assistant is definitely needed. I cannot thank Miriana enough for being such a rock star! And thanks to Raziya al-Zarqua' for photography!
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| Shaping hats. |
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| Blessing of the hat. |
The Fellowship of the Traveling Hat held the inaugural session at the Midrealm Mounted War Games in Constellation (IN).
The class session was held in the main populace building near the far back corner of the room and was our first official outing as the Fellowship. Duchess AnneMarie and I were trying to figure out the best method to present the class materials as well as get the hats created for the attendees. (And holing up in the building with air conditioning was certainly a perk...) Ultimately, we led a class of around ten people in making hats, including a gentleman at his first SCA event!
Thank you to all who attended and cheered us on and through this session.
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| A collection of hats. |
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| A collection of embellishments. |
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| Drafting a pattern for the brim. |
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| Attaching wool to brim of hat. |
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| Finished hat, right side. |
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| Finished hat, left side. |
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| A pelican in piety. |
A few months back, the Barony of Cleftlands had a yard sale in which I scored roughly a yard and a half of a lovely deep purple lightweight wool from a dear friend who said she thought I would love it and it would make a beautiful hood. Challenge accepted!
I washed the wool to felt it more then quickly transformed it into a 14th century hood. After a quick throw over my shoulders, it was confirmed that I would need to line it, but with what color? I parsed through several linen candidates and settled upon a moody dark teal color that really popped when paired together.
The color combination inspired my aubergine needle felted hat.
Resources:
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| The finished hood. |
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| The hood and hat. |
Rather than curse myself with a monthly project update post, I humbly offer a list of garment-related items I have been working on for the two of us or for kingdom projects. My stretch goals for the winter were a bit stretchy. It isn't that I lack the skills, I lacked the spoons to do an awful lot during the winter. (Without getting too technical, I spent from August to April working on an exceptionally large project at work and it was very time, labor, and spoon intensive.)
Regardless...
Crispin Wardrobe Refresh
Gianna's Wardrobe Refresh
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| The completed screen. |
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| A lady hawking. |
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| The lord lurking. |
A couple of friends asked for a needle felting demonstration at my local baronial meeting, so I gathered my supplies and headed off. Instead of a scrap of wool felt, I grabbed one of the felt hats I picked up at the thrift store intended for steam block restructuring. I spent the requisite 3 minutes explaining and demonstrating how to needle felt, then they were off! Another friend joined us and tried in vain to resist the lure of crafting. A few laughs later, the traveling (itself) hat was born!
This lovely hat will serve as a demonstration piece and will travel to events for everyone to add their two cents (of wool) to while they learn how to needle felt. I'm so excited to see how this will be decorated!
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| The Traveling Needle Felting Demo Hat is born! |
The second needle felted hat was created using a wool felt body/cone from Agnoulita Hats (Greece) in the purple colorway. The hat blank was a demonstration model during a private hat making session with a friend and has an exceptionally proud beak (point) to it and was sized to fit over a cap and veil.
I expanded the color selection of wool after a quick trip to Joann's where I picked up four different colorways offered in a commercial brand that were slightly heavier weight in some standard heraldic colors. (Gold, red, green, and a turquoise blue in lieu of a standard royal blue. See also: a project about half done for later!) The pattern is a simplified version of a sleeve found online, so I take no credit.
The interesting thing learned in this hat creation - the small fill areas are deceptive! It takes far less wool to create the accent turquoise centers to the petals than I expected, perhaps a half inch of material, tightly packed to integrate the loose ends of yarn.
I am overall satisfied with the hat and can't wait to see what's next!
