A dust bowl hat in the works

Hi all.

It's been an interesting week. I hurt my foot braking in my Muffy's saddle shoes and didn't realize I was getting a blister until I had walked about a mile or so in the shoes.  Now I have a blistered heel, and I have a dance class tonight! The good news is I danced last night and it didn't hurt at all, so I'm gonna stay hopeful that I don't get kicked in the heel tonight.

On another note, I've revisited that hat mock up I made a few months ago. I always thought that cloche would be perfect for a cool day with a handkerchief linen 30s dress.

Drafting the pattern myself was quite the challenge. I wanted to make sure I didn't get the pieces mixed up so I placed markings where I thought the most complicated positions were. I also marked the center back and front.

I then untaped the hat and laid it out on a green wool blend skirt I got in a rag pile last year. I backed it with washed muslin for reinforcement. The hat is three pieces and they are arranged in a rather unconventional way. The pleated side part I cut on the bias so I pleat that side as well as curve it. I did have to do some soft gathers on the pleated side because they not only pleat and curve, but curve upward. Geeze, will I never learn?

The entire left side of the hat is basically a circle notched to have a slight cup. That sits over 2/3s of my head on top of a gathered pillow type section to complete the look of the hat.

I had to do some shaping and on the next hat the center gathered section I'll shape more toward the back, but for a first try I really like the style of this. I have to line it and do some more tweaks, and those I'll do tomorrow. Now I gotta start getting ready for dance class. I'm having a lot of fun, I just wish I had a regular dance partner to practice with.