Mini Tricorn, and Pirates!

[izodiea]

I originally started, and abandoned, this tricorn over a year ago. I recently felt motivated to give it another go, and aimed to wear it to an upcoming pirate festival. The end result is probably one of the most Frilly girlie things I have ever made, and I wuvs it -Mission Successful!

Pictures from the Northern California Pirate Festival can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48512843@N04/sets/72157624320314830/ For my costume I wore an all white set of my 18th century Undergarments (Something I had seen several other costumers do) Most of the accessories I own are black, so it made for a nice contrast. I was more of a *cough* Lady than a pirate. At the fair I helped break the work record for most pirates in one place - 2,300 pirates!!!




I originally started with the Lynn McMaster's universal round brimmed hat pattern (View C) and scaled it down 60%. I also cut down the crown height, mostly for aesthetics, and made this tag mock-up.


It was when I started to work on the actual hat that I started to have issues. I did not know how to mull (Pad) hat forms yet, and all the hats I had made without it, the fabric would wrinkle, and the millinery wire would show through. So I decided to fuse the silk dupioni directly to the buckram. What seemed like a simple idea, made this little hat surprisingly difficult to sew. Mostly because the Buckram+glue+two lays of fabric was hard to push a needle through, but because the "Single layer" gave me nowhere to hide my stitches :(

-I have since learned two different ways to mull hats, from My internship at TopsyTurvy Design, and through classes With Lynn Taylor at GBACG. I plan to mull everything appropriate from know on, the extra effort makes everything so much nicer and smoother. For example my berge was mulled:http://izodiea.livejournal.com/11906.html

Anyway, I got about as far as sewing together and wiring the form before I abandoned ship.


When I decided to work on the hat again, I gathered together all the bits of black trim, feathers, ribbons and bobbles I had and played.



To help smooth the appearance of the seam allowances, I applied a self Bias band. This also helped hide the white of the buckram, since the trim I covered it with was sheer. Around the edge I applied a 1/4" velvet ribbon, some braid and a pre-pleated satin ribbon.





The Finished Result:





Most of the cockades and rosette type things I had originally put together for my berge, but never used. The feathers were scavenged from some random item I can't remember. The lining is a Silk Charmuse from the Britex remnant department. The inside edge is finished with the same braid and has loops for catching with bobby pins to hold the hat on. The little cameo in back is actually a button I glued onto the rosette.

I also made little detachable (Velcro) trains/lappets for the back. They are made from left over pieces of net from my caplet. I would like to either make/buy some nicer ones later, out of a material that isn't so...polyester?



and Lastly!
I finally got around to fixing this pretty antique bracelet!

A few years ago a classmate cleanly snapped off the metal clasps :( So I glued/sewed a velvet ribbon on the edges so I can tie it closed. I'm not sure how permanent of a fix this is, but for occasional wear at events I hope it will be ok. (And I used fabri-tac, so at the vary least it won't damage the bracelet anymore).


And now I will go work on my regency stays some more...