Hi Everyone!
Summer is here! Yay! We hope you are able to get out and enjoy the great outdoors, but of course still find a little time to get to those sewing projects too! The good news is, if you miss any of the content posted here in Sewing With Cinnamon, you can revisit it at ay time in the future when the time is right.
This is the 5th Tuesday of the month, so we don't have new content to post, but we do have a few updates to share and a bit of info for the July topic to give you time to gather up the necessary supplies.
Update #1: We are postponing our Fairytale Wedding Theme once again, so sorry, but we're just not as prepared as we'd like to be for this one so we are going to push it back a bit. In August we will feature "Sewing With Zero Waste". This topic will highlight the use of design that eliminates excess fabric waste. It'll be fun and interesting to focus on. We will also include fun and easy projects to use up those tiny scrap fabrics!
Update #2: Our July topic is another installment of Miniature Millinery with Shari Fuller - Yay! The topic will kick off on Tuesday July 5th. This time we are going to focus on making straw hats in miniature. The most interesting part is that it's also an upcycling technique that produces a few adorable miniature straw hat designs! For this topic you will need a few supplies ahead of time if you want to follow along with the tutorials, the main ones being a straw placemat and a human size straw hat.
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For Week 1, Shari will show us how to turn a (paper straw) Braided Circle Placemat into a darling set of girl and doll matching hats!
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For Weeks 2, 3, and 4; We will be experimenting with reshaping full-size raffia straw hats to make doll-size hats. In the demonstrations, we will be
using one ladies sun hat to make three different doll-size hats.
- In the meantime, you will need to procure and prepare a few specific
supplies.
- There are some instructions below showing how to prepare your hat for use, but you can save those steps for later if you want to watch a video to see this done in more detail. For right now, we recommend you look for a hat to use! We found ours at Kohls for just $15, but you can look at places like Wal-Mart, Goodwill, Thrift shops, Garage sales, etc. Maybe even the Dollar Store!
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Choosing Your Hat: After collecting an assortment of straw hats from thrift shops and department stores, I quickly learned that all straw hats are NOT created equal. Real straw hats can be reshaped to some degree, but they are not as pliable as hats made from paper raffia straw. Paper raffia straw hats are woven with thin strips of paper raffia that is often strengthened with a thin strand of polyester filament. These hats are usually lighter in weight and respond well to reshaping, especially those that don't have the polyester filament woven into them. Plastic raffia straw hats are similar to paper raffia straw hats - only plastic. These hats are not recommended for these projects because they won't stand up to the heat and steam used in
the shaping process.
- Consider all the characteristics of the hat you are working with as you decide on the style of doll hat you want to make. Look for different weaves and consider how they can be incorporated in your project. Depending on the style of straw hat you want to make for your doll, child size hat crowns usually work best for straw bonnets whereas adult size brims work better for most visor type hats. This is a great project to repurpose thrift shop or dollar store straw hats.
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Preparing Your Hat: Remove the hat band and any embellishments from your hat.
Separate the crown from the brim by removing the stitching from the row of braid about 1/2” up from the brim. Most straw hats are sewn together with a looped stitch which can be undone simply by pulling the thread. If not, use a seam ripper to remove the stitching. Cut the braid to finish the separating.
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Cleaning Your Hat: If your hat is soiled from use, take the time to gently hand wash the crown and the brim in warm soapy water. Rinse well. Lay the brim flat and allow to dry. The crown does not need to dry before starting the hat or bonnet project.
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Saving Braid For Trim: Carefully remove a few rows of braid from the outside edge of the brim and the lower edge of the crown to trim the brim of the doll hat. You will need two 15” lengths each for the Summery Sun Visor and Soft Crown Regency Bonnet and two 18” lengths for the Poke Bonnet.
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Choosing Your hat Mold: For this project I found that a 4” - 5” diameter Terra Cotta flower pot gave me just the right size and shape for the hat I wanted to make and the surface of the pot provided a solid surface to work on.
Similarly sized and shaped plastic containers, like yogurt or sour cream containers, also work well. I also found that stacking the container for my hat mold on top of a slightly larger plastic container worked nicely to raise my hat mold up off my work surface, making it easier to work. DO NOT use metal containers for your hat mold as they are liable to create rust stains on your hat during the drying process.
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Melinda
July 28, 2021
THANKS EVER SO MUCH for pointing us in the direction of Kohl’s. Not only did I find the hats but they were on Clearance!! my favorite word ;) Initially I had purchased the harder woven type hat, that is more like straw, and I thought that definitely might be too difficult to work with. Is it??