Hi, there! Remember when I made a cloche? Well, it's actually not that hard to do. I was so excited to make one because they are so unique and I have a very large crush on the fashion of the 1920's. First, you need to make sure you have a design in mind. I picked my inspiration from a 1920's fashion magazine (you can also google 1920's cloches for inspiration!) I ordered my hatbody from Judith Millinery. The costume shop has lots of hat blocks which you will also need in order to stretch the felted hat base over.
(my inspiration photo)
After the hat body came in the mail, I took a tape measurer and measured the circumference of my head and found a hat block matching that measurement. I covered the wooden hat block with plastic shrink wrap and taped it to protect my velour hat block from the dirty wood. Then, it was time to stretch the hat body over the hat block to mold it to my own head's shape. First, you spray the inside of the hat with water (be careful to only mist it!) and then place the hat body over the hat block. After pulling and shaping quite a bit, I decided I wanted a little draping at the top. The photos above and below this paragraph are examples of draping on a cloche. I pinched an area and raised it to my liking and then pinned it over night to dry.
My next step was to create the pinwheels I wanted to place on the side. I marked with a 4H pencil on the wrong side of my fabric how far away I wanted the pleats to be from each other with a clear ruler (always the best for sewing!) Then, I folded on the lines and pressed with the industrial iron.
After the strip of fabric was pleated and pressed, I ran a simple loose gathering stitch on the inside and gathered it into a circle.
I attached the circle to the side of my cloche by hand sewing in a decorative color. I just used a simple running stitch. I made a larger and a smaller pinwheel and then I decided I wanted a cluster of buttons in the middle to finish it off..
(here is my amazing friend LIZ in the background!)
I also included bias tape on the inside of the crown to finish it off, but that is a minor detail that you may not be worried about. It's just a professional way of finishing off your hat on the inside, too. You can buy bias tape at any sewing store and hand stitch it in a circle (after steaming it in a circular shape) on the inside of the hat where your forehead rests.
love, polly :)
