Hat Trix....

After all of the fudging I have been doing for the past week, I thought that I should give you something to play with.

This morning, to make up for the shoddy treatment, I made Tessie a new hat. I thought that you would like to see how I did it.

I pulled out the hat straw that was AWOL for a few years( I have been keeping a close eye on it since I found it.) and started pulling strings.

Not everyone knows about the magic string in the edges of straw braid. There is a handy, dandy string very close to each edge. Make a tiny cut lengthwise on the side that you want to pull, so that it will be easier to grasp. Then just pull.

The braid will not gather enough to close a hole in the top of the hat, so be sure to cut off a small piece to glue on the under side where the hole is.

Some people glue the hats all the way. I only do it at the start and finish. I find that I have an easier time of shaping them if I "lace" them together with sewing thread and a blunt tapestry needle. I try to get the needle between the straw.

I pull on the string as I go. You can do this from either end.

On this one, I only did the top round with the thread on that end. I did the rest from the other end so that I could shape it as I went along.

In the third photo you can see that I have pulled the thread for the first and second row and then did one row that was not pulled so that it formed the sides of the crown. Then I started pulling again when I wanted the brim to flair. All the way along I kept shaping as I went. I got it going flat for the brim by pulling the inner side of the straw.

When I finished, I tucked the end under at the back and glued it as well as stitching.

I then decorated the back with roses and a bow......I did say the back. Tessie would only wear it sideways. She said that she couldn't see the roses if they were in the back.....So on the side they went.

You can see where the straw ends and is glued under. Normally I would put some ribbon tails hanging down, but Tessie grabbed it and put it on before I could do so.

OK.....Now you try one! They are pretty easy after you practice on a couple.

See you tomorrow.