STUMPWORK TUTORIAL - Millinery and Hat Making

Previous parts of the tutorial can be found here:

Part 7 - Millinery and Hat Making

Here is the seventh part of a tutorial for stumpwork portraits, inspired by Fay Maxwell, whose excellent book Ladies with Hatitude I warmly recommend.

MILLINERY AND HAT MAKING

There are many materials that can be used to make a hat - fabric, felt, lace, yarn, fur...

The simplest of fur hats, a small rectangle!

A lace flower can be cut out and draped over the head.

Let's make a hat out of a piece of felt:

Cut out a piece large enough for the brim and the crown.

Cut out the rounded crown

 Stitch it down around the top of the head.

The brim should now stand out.

With pins, try out how to shape the brim.

Like this? Then stitch it down.

 
 The brim can be decorated with some stitches.

Now, let's make another hat, using the same fabric used for the coat.

Take a strip of fabric, gather it in the middle, and cut off.

Drape the gather over the top of the head.

 Stitch it down.

 Fold in the raw edges to shape the crown of the hat.

Fix the two far edges of the brim to the background so the brim stands out.

For a simple decoration on the hat, take a piece of felt,

 gather it, and stitch down.

Instant glamor, even if the brim has a raw edge!

For ideas and illustrations of various hats check out this list.

I usually make my portraits into cards by stretching the fabric over a piece of cardboard. Click here to see.

Here ends the basics in Stumpwork Portrait making. In future I will post alternative ways to arrange hair, make garments and so on.
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and will have a go!