Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A Little Tip: Reviving a Squashed Hat


I ordered a cute synth-straw boater hat from an e-bay China based seller. It came quickly, but flat-packed in an envelope. (Of course, I didn't think to take a 'before' picture.) It was pretty squashed, looking more like a fisherman's floppy hat than a pert boater.
But I had anticipated this, and was ready to steam it back to its prim-shaped glory.
All it took was:
  •  an iron
  •  water
  •  some brown packing paper
  •  a 6 in small round cake-pan
  •  spray-starch (optional.)
I folded and wrapped the brown paper around the cake pan and stuffed it into the crown so it was nice and tight.
Then I set it on my ironing board and went to town! I puffed steam onto the hat on the wool setting, then turned it down to synthetic to iron the brim, crown, and top back into shape.
I made sure to keep the iron moving quickly the whole time to avoid singeing whatever the hat is made of (probably paper or polypropylene).
I had to go over it a couple times, but it looked great once I was done.
I let the hat sit on the ironing board to cool and dry, then applied a coat of spray-canned starch to help it hold its shape.
Forgive the over-brightness. My phone camera isn't great, but this hat is!

It looks great! I'm sure I will be posting pics of me wearing it this summer!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Summer Sewing Schedule

Hello!
It has been awhile since I have blogged... for a couple reasons.
The main reason is that I have been stalled on my Gatsby blouse. Obviously I had tackled a project that is a little bit beyond my current skill level. I am picking away at it now, even though the Gatsby Challenge deadline has passed. However, I think I will post the completed outfit on the Dressing Downton Flikr group. The blouse and skirt were really more inspired by that aesthetic anyways.
In other news, I have decided to create a summer sewing schedule. Most of these items have the outside goal of being completed before I go on our annual family beach vacation in the third week of August. But obviously they will be useful for the rest of the summer as well. Here is my schedule month-to-month:
June:

July:

August:

Looking over my list I think "Wow, that's a lot of chambray!" But really, it's a great warm weather neutral. It's basically like a very light-weight denim, so when I consider how many days a week I wear jeans, it doesn't seem so excessive.
I hope I can keep up a steady pace and get all these done by the time we go on vacation!

Do you like to make a schedule of projects you hope to complete in the coming months?
Are there any summer sewing projects you are excited about?


Have a great Tuesday!
...Amber