Last weekend I found myself for once with hardly any commitments so I spent a couple of lazy afternoons with a kettle, blocks and pins and turned out some little hats.
This is a copy of the one I made last year for a lovely colleague. I learned that although it helps a lot to have a vague idea to work towards, an exact copy is difficult and annoying! Felt just wants to move the way it wants to move, and that won't be the same twice in a row.
With some of the leftover felt from that one, I churned out a little pillbox hat. Don't have a pillpox block? Me neither. But I do have a cylindrical plastic pasta container. It worked like a charm. Just use rubber bands to hold the sides in place as you steam and stretch.
I want to move away from using feathers, but I've seen some beautiful vintage hats with felt feathers, and with a bit of guidance from this paper feather tutorial and pattern, I used some of the scraps from previous hats to make some.
This next one is from leftover felt too. It wasn't looking quite right without any trim, so I added some more feathers.
Another empty weekend is looming, expect more hats or soft toys or soft toys in hats!
