Fluff, Sweat, and Tears
Since I'm nearly done with the riding habit shirt I thought I'd work a bit on the hat for my Georgiana Fox riding habit.
I ordered this navy rabbit fur felt capeline for my Fox hat. It's super cool, really furry and different from regular felt. Here is the fur felt next to a modern felt hat. You can also see what the hat looks like untrimmed.
And again only close up:
I don't really have the right hat block to shape it, but I don't really think that matters - it's so covered with foxtails and feathers you can't really see the crown of the hat and I wired the brim so it can be shaped by bending the wire. I don't have any navy feathers in the stash but I have black and white and those seemed like the most common colors anyway so I set about curling (which created a lot of fluff) and layering them to get the right plush look. I totally was a lazy bum and just hot glued them together, which led to the tears part. I can't seem to use a glue gun without burning the crap out of my fingers! (And the sweat was because it's still a sauna here in SoCAL despite getting some much needed rain.) I also used the glue gun to "make" foxtails. I had an old fox fur collar that was falling apart that I cannibalized for the fur. I just rolled the fur strips in on themselves then hot glued them to make tails. I think they turned out pretty well!
I ordered narrow silk ribbon to cover the millinery wire on the brim edge and I have some lovely wide navy ribbon from Bulldog and Baum to go round the crown. And so after I make the FOX cockade, I can put the whole thing together!
I ordered this navy rabbit fur felt capeline for my Fox hat. It's super cool, really furry and different from regular felt. Here is the fur felt next to a modern felt hat. You can also see what the hat looks like untrimmed.
And again only close up:
I don't really have the right hat block to shape it, but I don't really think that matters - it's so covered with foxtails and feathers you can't really see the crown of the hat and I wired the brim so it can be shaped by bending the wire. I don't have any navy feathers in the stash but I have black and white and those seemed like the most common colors anyway so I set about curling (which created a lot of fluff) and layering them to get the right plush look. I totally was a lazy bum and just hot glued them together, which led to the tears part. I can't seem to use a glue gun without burning the crap out of my fingers! (And the sweat was because it's still a sauna here in SoCAL despite getting some much needed rain.) I also used the glue gun to "make" foxtails. I had an old fox fur collar that was falling apart that I cannibalized for the fur. I just rolled the fur strips in on themselves then hot glued them to make tails. I think they turned out pretty well!
I ordered narrow silk ribbon to cover the millinery wire on the brim edge and I have some lovely wide navy ribbon from Bulldog and Baum to go round the crown. And so after I make the FOX cockade, I can put the whole thing together!
I'm so curios how your final outfit will look like! The feathers look so soft and fluffy!
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