Traveling Hats at Grand Day

The Fellowship of the Traveling Hat recently held session at A Grand Day of Tournaments hosted by the Barony of Cynnabar in Pentamere (MI).

Rather than a traditional class session, Grand Day was advertised as an all day hat salon strategically located in space between armored and rapier lists. Over the course of the day, Her Grace AnneMarie and I were able to guide participants through the construction of thirty-five hats in all colors, shapes, and sizes. We saw many familiar faces over the course of the day which yielded very few pictures! 

Special thanks to everyone who showcased their hats throughout the day.

Photograph by: Duchess AnneMarie de Garmeaulx

A Hat for Crown Tournament

On Thursday night, I was preparing for Crown Tournament and decided to throw together a more interesting black hat without the usual pink accents. I stretched the hat once on my head using the steam method to elongate it, then proceeded to shape the rest to the desired fit. I marked a 2.5 inch brim line from ear to ear, then tapered down to the front point, however I added a partial scallop to it after cutting an index card to a desired size and shape, then carried the pattern around the brim. 

While at the hotel, I tacked down the center peacock feather, but wasn't pleased with the slight turn of the feather, so I pulled two off of my charcoal grey hat and tucked them under the brass finding Sir Amadon Raudbjorn of Northshield gifted to me at Pennsic.

Overall, for a few hours of work it turned out nicely!

Fanciful Flowers

Per fess indented
flory at the points
sable and argent 

My husband and I have been entering Middle Kingdom Crown Tournaments for about the last five years. I've traditionally dressed in his heraldic colors (black and gold) which can lead one to feel like a marshal, however this year I decided I wanted to spice things up and dress in my own!

For the average bear a change from black and gold to black and white isn't much, however the color scheme in the Midrealm is all but synonymous with a household I am not a member of! And the line of division on my heraldry is striking, but exceptionally daunting to recreate - the dance, or dancetty was fitting at the time of heraldic inception as I was heavily involved in the dance community and my name in the Society is from Florence, Italy whose heraldic identifier was an exceptionally fancy fleur-de-lys! 

I chose to attempt the line of division using wool and used the familiar Londinium Hood pattern. I changed it up a little; instead of the inverted gore installation (Opus Elenae) I chose to try the method as described by Morgan Donner in the hood video linked below around minute marker 14:15. The gist being you lay the right side of the gore under the basted edge of the hood. It's hard to explain, see video for details! Ultimately, I found the Donner method of construction to be quick and easy to do, especially with with hand sewing.

After the hood was constructed, I went back and measured the average width of the dags from the expansion pack and created my own dance dag for the zig zag, which was about 4 inches in width. Prior to cutting, I added a the natural Pendleton wool of a similar drape underneath, then tacked it all down with an inverted hem stitch. Then I proceeded to add the laser cut fleur-de-lis tips in position with a similar stitch to keep them in place.

Resources:

• Morgan Donner Hood Video (14:45)
• Opus Elenae Londinium Hood Video
• Opus Elenae Londinium Hood Pattern
• Opus Elenae Londinium Dagging Expansion

Inspiration doodle.

A heraldic dance.

Fleur-de-lis tips.

Flory at the points!

Finished project!