A Velvet Bonnet for Agnes

My bonnet-pattern testing phase is still going, although often interrupted by other things. I was blazing away on this project when mom died, so I've only just gotten back to finishing it.  One of my friends from the ORS (she now leads in the WRS group) asked that I make her a bonnet/hat with a triangular top. She asked me this eons ago when I made another one that ended up being super small. She sent me all the supplies for covering and decorating, and it idled on top of my bedroom closet for months.

But finally, when I made the capote bonnet, I decided since I had everything else out, I would go ahead and design this bonnet for her.

The basic frame, assembled. I started with a paper mock up, then a
poster-board model. I used that to cut the buckram.
I wired both ends of the pipe and the outer edge of the brim.
I then shaped the wire into a triangle. Carefully.

I cut the top cap accordingly. Don't mind the small photo-bomber.

It's a little big on the head, which is a good thing. The last one barely fit
her, so that was a problem. LOL.

I put bias tape on the edge of the brim and the top of the hat to avoid
any unsightly wire eventually wearing through.

I hand sewed everything, but for this part, I did cheat and used
rubber cement to affix it there. Sue me.

I then added mulling. I whip stitched most of it in place. I lined the
outer bonnet. 

Then it was just a matter of covering and decorating it.  Agnes sent me some velvet, some moire ribbon that was really wide, some pale slate blue ribbon, an assortment of feathers, and some embroidered thistles.  I tried to use everything in a tasteful way.

I made the feathers into a separate bundle with a ribbon base that can be pinned to the hat, or removed as desired. There is a lovely black ostrich feather, and several small peacock feathers. 

I made some cockades wherein I added little pouffes made from the embroidered thistle.

The most time-consuming bit was the line on the inside of the brim. It is a line of the same ribbon, which frayed. I then stitched a little silver border along both sides to neaten it up. The silver is also repeated in the ruched ribbon chevron on the front of the bonnet.

If I hadn't run out of the blue riboon, I might have taken the ruching
all the way 'round the back between the two cockades too.

You can see, the feathers can be removed.

It's difficult to see, but the inner brim is ruched. I lined the inside of the
hat with the wide moire ribbon, which is black.

All in all, I think it's a lovely bonnet. I kept it simpler, because it is the kind of bonnet you want to add stuff to. I hope Agnes likes it. She waited long enough for it. Sorry Agnes. :)  I think this pattern is a win. I might do several top-shape options on it, as well as a variety of brim-styles.

The finished test capote bonnet

Thoughts? I think it looks somewhat like the original. A few tweaks of the design and it'll be ready to put up as a pattern. The angled arm on the brim is broader on the original. And the back has a bigger area to tuck in the updo. But it is a start! Onto another test with some modifications. I will be bundling this pattern in with another bonnet pattern--and selling them on my blog page along with my other patterns.

I'm auctioning off the test-bonnet. It's not the best craftsmanship, it's a bit sloppy, so I'm making a starting bid of $25. You can bid HERE.

A hat, a hat, what'd'ya think about that? Capote bonnet time

So my funk seems to be lifting a bit. I'm back on Pristiq, since our new health insurance actually covers it. I'm still trying to figure out if Providence covered anything at all, except the most basic stuff, because our time with Providence proved to be the most heavily billed time with an insurance provider, ever, and it nearly killed us financially.  This medical system is a joke. A massive joke.

I digress... enough ranting about the American medical system of shite. Onto better things. Like hats. Everybody likes hats. Right?  Well you should.

I've been a big fan of the capote bonnet. I have for a while, but I've always been a bit flummoxed as to how one goes about making them.  I came close enough to the infamous Kate Winslet sea-grass bonnet with my paper lace one that I made last summer. But this particular spoon bonnet pictured below has been something I've coveted for some time:

It's really unique. I love the shape. So I endeavored to create a pattern to make one yesterday, in spite of the constant, and annoying interference of my little son.  I think I've come close. I will add some trim to this one, and maybe make one more test bonnet using the pattern, so I can lock down the best way to cover it.  The hat frame itself is easy. It's the covering of it that's the bitch.

The pattern was easy enough to come up with.  It's always useful to have a foam head, because it really helps to shape things. But foam heads are also small--so I have to keep that in mind when I'm patterning hats. I started with two pieces of regular paper (where I sustained my project injury in the form of a paper cut -- usually when hatting, I pierce at least one finger with pins so this is an unwelcome change).

I sketched out teh general shape of the brim piece, and then measured out the back neck-piece. I transfered this to poster-board, taking care to make it a bit neater. Then, with a little courage, I cut the pieces from buckram. It does not take too much buckram to make this hat.

My general shape in poster-board. It will be refined and smoothened up later.
This is just experiment time. The top is the brim, the little bit is the
back neck piece. The lines are the general placement of the millinery
wire that will connect them.

The necessary supplies. 

I whipstiched the wire to the brim. The trick with millinery wire is to just
apply it without trying to shape it. I did bend it around the corners, but
that is all. Also, I started on a long edge and then overlapped to maintain
stiffness.

I swiveled it on pins to see if the shape and size were good.

Even as an experimentation piece, I wanted a smooth edge. Some bias tape
was added to the edges that mattered. I glued it on. Cheater!

As you see, the back neck-piece has been added and pinned into place as well.

I measured out four wires to connect the two pieces and create the necessary
support for the fabric and shape. In order to attach it to the pieces of buckram
I turned the tips of each wire by 90º so it won't pull off.

I added the wires to the brim. I did not bend them, but I did use the arc of the wire
to my advantage.

I also made sure that the wire was also firmly sewn into place on the edge so
it wouldn't slide back and forth.

 It's here where I began to think about the covering.  I found some ugly silk from a bag of silk remnants I got years ago. And I was going ot make the lining different and then decided against it, I figured I would just use the ugly silk up.  With trim and such, it might not be so frumpy looking.

I measured my wires, and then used the brim to cut a two pieces of fabric together. I tapered the fabric from the width of the brim to the neck piece, and then slit where the little brim angles were so it could pocket right into the fabric once I sewed it up.

The pencil is the stitching. Once stitched, I
turned it inside out. I curled the brim
and shoved it into the narrow end
and then put the brim angles into
the pockets.

Now the wires are sticking out of the bottom of the covering.

I angled the wires at the bottom and began to affix them to the neck piece.

And done. I then pinned the fabric down in place and whip-stitched the bottom
closed. I tacked the fabric down along the top of the neck piece.

And I did the same for the inner edge of the brim. The trim will cover anything
ugly.

No, this is not a picture of two turtles getting it on. It's just showing how you
take the neck piece and affix it to the underside of the brim angle. 

 This is what I have so far.

Because it's an experiment, I didn't use mulling. It would smoothen the whole
thing more if I had.

I think with trim it will look pretty good and close to the real thing.
We shall see! I just need to figure out the best way to cover this, and we're good
to go for a pattern. I might combine it with another pattern and add it to my
downloadables.  I'll post a final pic when it's done.

The little photobomber chewing a piece of steel boning. Kept me on my toes.

That's it for now. I'll post more laterz yo. :)

Huckleberries, hats, projects and Fort Alexander

Huckleberries are in an abundance I've never seen here before.

It's been a while. I've been away. And by I, I mean the normal me, and by away I mean, I've been a little bit lost.  Being at home feels sometimes that I have no direction. I have begun to experience the crumbling of my sense of self. I have healing moments when I emerge from my cave to spend time with my friends, but not enough lately to keep me from being a grumpy Hungarican.

A douglas squirrel is beeping at me!

But summer is here, and Alex, being the outdoorsy kind of kid, has forced me to come creeping out, shielding my eyes from the rays of the sun, my pallid skin reluctantly absorbing the sun and producing vitamin D enough as to give me a little boost.  I hate summer, but I probably would be under the bed mewling like Gollum if I were not forced outside. I swear.  Oy.

I am trying to keep myself creative. I've been focusing more on writing lately than anything else, but I am slowly transitioning back to the applied arts, thank goodness.

Alex helps me pick huckleberries.

And\by helping, I mean eating them.
They're very tart, but he eats them.

First, I uploaded my vast collection of office and non-office specials (these are drawings, for those of you unfamiliar with my penchant for drawing on my lunch break at my previous employment). I have installed them at ArtPal, an awesome site where one can purchase prints in various forms, from a simple rolled print to a full-on printed canvas; with frame, matting, etc. So please do visit (and buy!). My non-working status has made our finances very tight, and so I must resort to whatever skills I have to earn a few extra dollars here and there.

Here's a plump one mommy. 

I've also been obsessing with tea-cakes for some reason. Okay, I found an online recipe that is so good, I can't stop making it, and trying it with various berries. So far, I've made it with the recommended blueberries, and with Marionberries, and with Hood strawberries, and even chocolate chips at one point. If I can find good delicious red currants, I'll make it with that too! There's a reason why I've gained back 30 of the 40 pounds I lost with Weight Watchers. I'm out of control! I use breastfeeding as an excuse, saying it makes me voracious, and part of me feels like it does. Just like how I immediately get thirsty the moment the child 'locks on'.  But yet, you're supposed to LOSE weight when nursing a child. It burns calories! Nope, not me. It might, however it probably has to with my penchant for overdoing it food-wise at any given chance. And my complete lack of discipline has derailed my husband too, but he has only gained back 15 lbs of the almost 70 pounds he lost.

We have about five bushes in our front yard area. Two of which
went from five feet to almost eight in one year, and they're just
exploding with berries.

I will get back on Weight Watchers if it kills me! After seeing photos of myself at the most recent ORS picnic, I am now doubly determined! Damn it!

So to begin this new resolution of disciplined eating and healthier foods, let's talk about this tea cake recipe! It's SoOoooooo good. I make it so much. I made it for a neighbourhood 'block party' last weekend, and made it again this weekend for the picnic.

Top: Marionberry tea cake
Bottom: Standard Fruit Tart
My spoils to share at the neighbourhood block party.

Just a brief moment or two of picking huckleberries yielded what I needed.

Here are the basics: 

Cream together: 1 stick of softened butter, 3/4 cup of sugar, and one large egg, and 1/2 a teaspoon of real vanilla extract. Mix until fully blended.

My friend Stephanie II gave me her old Professional 600 KitchenAid.
I am so happy! ::lovelovelove!::

When the butter, sugar and egg are smooth, then go to the next step.

Sift together: 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Blend for a few seconds then add an 1/2 cup of milk.

Mix until it's a smooth, consistent texture.

I love looking at it at this stage. It's a beautiful, thick (if not sticky) batter.

I recommend you parchment up your pans (use a thin layer of butter to
make the paper stick). Unless you have a particularly deep pan,
I suggest you use parchment on the bottom and also to extend the sides,
or you'll get brown-sugar topping all over your oven floor. 

In go my berries. I doubled the recipe so I tossed in a cup of huckleberries,
and a cup of blueberries to balance out the tartness of the huckles.

Then add 1 cup of your desired berries. Blueberry is really great, but you can use any kind, really.  This time, I doubled the recipe so I could have 1 tea cake for home and 1 for the picnic at Pittock Mansion. I also blended one cup of huckleberries, and one cup of blueberries.  I blended the berries in on the slowest speed for only a few turns so the berries didn't get smashed to bits.

Alex dragged his rocking dolphin out
to the kitchen to be there with me while
I baked.

Weeeee!

Almost looks like Christmas.

This is a heavy, sticky dough, and not the most pleasant to work with. You have to plop it into the pan and spread it evenly. I find a common butter knife to be the best tool for the job. The silicone scfaper things like to hold onto the dough too much.

Now, onto the topping!

1/2 stick of butter cold and cut up.
1/4 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
pinch of salt
and 1/2 cup of brown sugar.

All the necessary ingredients are gathered along with the balloon whisk.

Run it at a medium speed for a minute, or even two or three, until you get
this texture.

Sprinkle liberally on your cake(s)

 Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes (use a toothpick in the very center to determine if done, it should come away with no batter).

Let cool enough so you can remove them from the pan. With the parchment,
it should be a simple task. You can peel away the parchment and allow them to
finish cooling on a rack.

A sumptuous cake, perfect for tea or coffee. And addictive so beware!

While I baked these babies and they filled the house with their amazing aroma, I decided to pick up that false-start project of the spoon bonnet I aspired to make using some cheap paper-lace hatting I found at Mill End for cents a yard. I had been daunted by the project when I started hand-stitching it, so I threw it aside and forgot about it for a few years. No, I'm not kidding. Then I just got a wild hair on Saturday. I decided to attack it, but this time, just give in and use the machine. So when Alex went down for his nap, and the cakes were baking, I sat down and just started sewing around and around, pinching little 'pleats' into the hatting to shape it.

Running the machine with the arm off the edge of the table made maneuvering
and shaping much easier.

Hatting lace, which I initially thought was raffia, is actually just paper. So
no biggie if it fails.

The gold lace to finish it off.

Soaked, shaped, and left in the sun to dry.

It was quick, using basic white thread and a zigzag stitch.  I achieved almost a flower-pot, cloche shape.  I trimmed a good wedge off, folding it flat and cutting a neck-access for it.  I then sewed the cut edges down with one course of the hatting strip, and then edged it all with a gold lace before folding the bottom back a bit to widen the neck access. It created a great spoon shape to accommodate an updo as necessary.  I wet it all down to lock in the final shape, tugged here and there to adjust things, and set it in the sun to dry.  Et voila. A genuine spoon bonnet. My husband says it looks like Andy Cap's flat cap.  Oy. His comments on my projects, sometimes ::wags fist menacingly::.

Yesterday, I attended the seventh annual Pittock Mansion picnic, and I arrived laden with things promised to a variety of people. I said on Facebook that I felt like a summertime Santa, carrying her ho-ho-hobag. Yes, I'm classy like that. Anyway, let's see, what little things did I create and bring?  Well, I made another Dormeuse cap, which I did in just plain white organdy with lots of decoration around the band.

Cynthia models her commissioned dormeuse cap. She had requested
off-white trim on it, but with the particular ivory tone of the off-white lace I had,
it just looked dirty. So I opted to go all white, with a band of poofs, rosettes and a bow
in the front.

I also made another dolly, commissioned for the lovely Miss Theodosia, who wanted a red-haired version of Caroline. She requested that she be unclothed for Miss Theo intends on making the dolly a lovely trousseau.

Miss Caroline's scandalously independent and fiery, ginger haired cousin did not
wait about Johanesen Cottage to be dressed in inferior togs. She threw a mere scrap of a shroud around her
delicate shoulders and whisked herself away to live with Miss Theo, where she is sure
to have the finest attire any lady could ever desire (only AFTER idling an entire afternoon
in the gardens of the mansion in nothing but a slip of fabric! Scandalous!)

I brought the tiniest set of stays I've ever made for a Miss Lily, who was to wear stays for the first time.

I think a single gusset on each side ought to suffice.

Yes, these did actually happen. They are minuscule.

And finally, I brought a tracing of the stays pattern I created long ago, and customized to work with my very, very large bust.  I will be tracing this pattern again, probably neatly, we'll see, and I will be scanning it and posting it up with the rest of my patterns to sell soon enough! I promise. ::hur!::

FORT ALEXANDER

Weeks ago, I presumptuously set up a GoFundMe campaign for Alex to have a play set.  Okay, I know, it's obnoxious isn't it? Asking friends to buy my kid something this big and decadent when our finances are in the toilet and we're scraping by.  But you know what? The stress of everything is getting to us all, and Alex feels it. And his happiness is our happiness, so I did it. I trawled my friends for cash, I panhandled for funds, so I could give my kid a good, happy place to play on our property, which is otherwise quite unsuitable for outdoor play.  We still have to furnish it with a nice soft footing (it's mostly on gravel right now, eep!), but at least with us close by, he has this great place to go during the day, where he can deplete some of that never-ending child energy and get some great exercise! So I am enourmously grateful for the contributions from my friends and family for this play set. The donations were enough to get the set, and Dan picked up Friday and busted his ass building it all weekend, finishing late Sunday night, dehydrated and exhausted by the heat. He ended up being sick today because of it. :(  But that's fatherly love for you. And this morning, Alex was able to play on his set for the first time, and I cannot describe how excited he was. He played after breakfast, lunch and dinner, and he cried when we brought him inside. Outside! he cried standing by the door before bedtime. Nope, Alex, tomorrow you can slide on the slide.

Happy hardly describes it.

Is this really all for me?

Yep. Happy.

This is my fort.

This afternoon, Daddy felt good enough to clean up
the tools and paraphernalia and to help Alex on the slide.

So much awesomeness.

Peace out for now, folks. :)  Buy my prints! Buy The Wizard King!