Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Tres Riches Black Fur Hat Complete

I'm not sure why, but at a certain point I started avoiding getting my Tres Riches hat completed.  It's not at all that it was daunting- I just didn't have the urge to think about it.  I got over that, though, and finished it on Friday!

please excuse how tired I look!
Except for realizing that an over estimation of size was necessary after a few trials, the hat went together rather easily.  It's really just a tube of fur (faux), sewn into a ring.  It's capped in the center with a circle of black wool.  I opted for one of each of a yellow, white and pink plume, since that would probably be the most neutral for my wardrobe.  Wish I could figure out an easy way to make the feathers curl backward, similar to the original.  They might not seem so ridiculous that way.


It's ludicrously over-sized, but I don't think it's that far off from the scale shown in the original image.  And it's not really as though I would wear it for a whole day- it's best reserved for court (especially an outdoor spring court) or to wear upon arrival to an indoor event in the winter.


I don't have a single dress in my collection worthy of this hat right now, but the dress I've chosen to create for my garb quest will be suitable (though still not "right").  For now, it will just have to wait for that perfect debut opportunity.

Once again, I have a detailed page brewing for this to share on my new site, which is taking much longer to assemble than I expected.  But good things come to those who wait, you know.
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4 comments:

  1. CathlinDecember 27, 2011 at 2:20 PM

    I love the hat! So dramatic!

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  2. Kathy StormDecember 27, 2011 at 2:32 PM

    I found this link on Google:

    http://www.sempstress.org/2010/how-to-make-crap-feathers-look-great/

    Haven't done anything with feathers myself, but I have a friend who recently learned some things (we haven't had crafternoon yet, though).
    She did tell me that feathers can be dyed with Kool Aid or with procion dyes, so maybe you could get the more vivid colors from the illumination.

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  3. Edyth MillerDecember 27, 2011 at 8:55 PM

    Kathy- thanks for the link, it's very helpful. I didn't secure the feather a great deal on the off chance that I'd be able to "fix" them, so maybe I'll try out those techniques tomorrow. I like the colors- I think the subtle pastels will generally work better for my personal color palette, but now that you've mentioned it, the yellow could use a bit more vibrancy.

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  4. HeidiJanuary 13, 2012 at 11:09 AM

    You can curl feathers really easily with the blunt side of a butter knife, rather in the same way you would do curling ribbon. (Try this first with a spare feather) You take the feather and gently run the shaft over the knife (blunt side, did I mention that?), using your thumb to bend the shaft, but not break it. Just keep doing this until you get the amount of curl you want. Eventually you will be comfortable enough with the process to get the degree of curl right on the first or second pass.

    It's super easy once you get the hang of it. You can do the same trick with the feathery parts (the term is escaping me at the moment) to get a super full and curled look to the whole thing.

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