This diary became way too big for one page! See the rest of my CanCan Ensemble making-of page [here].

I originally thought to use a vintage Vogue pattern for the hat, but the look was more 1950s rather than turn of the century. So taking inspiration from two 18th-century hat tutorials (here and here), I instead covered a straw hat that I found in the doll section of Michaels. Here's the original hat.

   

I first covered the hat with black cotton twill so that the straw would not show through. The thicker twill wouldn't stretch completely over the crown without a few folds, which I slit open and stitched flat to prevent any lumps underneath the fashion fabric. Then, I cut a hole in the middle of a large square of twill and fit it around the crown of the hat. The edges were trimmed to match the straw brim and then secured in place with a buttonhole stitch. The underside of the brim was finished in a similar fashion.

       

   

I then stretched black satin over the crown and pleated matching satin to the brim, stitching everything in place by hand with a regular needle and thread. I made sure to tack each pleat in place so they would stay neat and tidy. I fray checked all of the raw edges and covered the inside with white bias tape left over from my corset (I didn't finish the outside edges because they would be covered by the trimming). I was originally going to line the inside with white satin, but it wasn't working, so I just cut it out halfway through. However, I did glue a piece of black felt to the inside, so the straw doesn't catch on my hair. You can see this in the final hat pictures below.

       

   

I trimmed the hat with white and green satin ribbons, and a rhinestone buckle that was a gift from one of my best friends. I had a hard time deciding just how I wanted to trim it; the pictures below show one of the first trimming ideas. The final trimming scheme can be found [here]. The black crepe was left over from my ruffles and the ribbons were extra from my corset and hair decorations, so that color and texture would be consistent. I tried pleating black netting onto the brim to act as a veil, but in the end decided against it (see the trial run in the last picture, with the netting pinned in place).

       

[up]   [finished costume]

To see the reference images used to make this costume,
check out my CanCan Research.