Wonka of Wonderland Top Hat No 7

I made a HAT!

This is number 7 in my series of top hats for a mad hatter.  It is similar to my previous Wonka of Wonderland hats, but I made some minor improvements on the shaping and fit.

I made this hat with traditional techniques.  The structure is stiff yet flexible double buckram, edged with millinery wire around the brim and at the askew oval around the top. The wire makes the hat very springy.  After building the structure, I covered it in deep burgundy red ultra suede fabric.  The ultra suede feels and looks like natural suede, but is polyester.

Here you can see the pretty silk linking.  That's kimono silk, and it's very thick, unusually thick and luxurious.  

 

It has a subtle jaquard weave with a wave design, that has been enhanced by subtle hand painting. Here you can see it is fully lined with my signature tag inside.  

The hat band is a red and gold lame' scarf that I simply tied. The scarf is easily removable so you can add your own band to suit your outfit.  The back:

I added a silk band around the inside. This hat fits a medium sized head. My head measures about 21 to 21 1/2 inches in circumference, and it fits me well. I think it would still comfortably fit 20 1/2.

Because I'm sure you want to know what it looks like on, here's me in it.  Strangely, when I went to find an outfit to wear with the hat, I located this red suede coat that was my grandmother's. I think she bought this coat in the 1950s or 60s. It's a very impractical coat because you can't wear suede in the rain, and it's not very warm.  Plus, the sleeves are too narrow to wear a sweater under it, but the cut is awesome and it fits me perfectly, and it's RED SUEDE! The collar curls something awful, but apparently, I've been saving the coat to photograph with this hat because they match perfectly. 

I only had to take about thirty photos to get a couple good ones.   I took these out in the street to get the clear blue sky behind me. I think a car slowed down to see what the mad woman with an iPad was doing wandering through the streets. Click!