Millinery in Miniature

Millinery in Miniature - Lesson 3

Molded Crowns and Wired Brims

In lesson one, you learned the basic construction methods to cover your cardstock base with fabrics, and assemble a hat. You can easily combine these techniques with others to create a vast variety of styles and shapes in your hatmaking. This lesson will teach you to make a molded crown, and also to wire a large brim which can be shaped according to your liking

Tools

Crown Tool - see below for description

Circle Template

Disappearing Fabric Marker

Rubber Bands

Plastic Wrap

Stiffy Fabric Stiffener

20 gauge covered florist wire

fabric, trims as desired,

cardstock,

wonderunder

Tools as listed in lesson 1

Making a Molded Crown

The crown molding tool consists of a 3/4" wooden doll head bead, which has been attached to a short length of 3/4" wood doweling. The bead has a 1/8" hole in the flattened end. Drill a 1/8" hole in one end of the 3/4" doweling, and connect the two pieces using a short piece of 1/8" dowel, gluing pieces together. If you have a way to taper the end of your handle before gluing, this is handy, but not necessary.

Cover your crown molding tool with 3-4 layers of plastic food wrap, and secure tightly at base of bead with a rubber band.

Cut a piece of your hat fabric 2" x 2".
Place the fabric over the top of your tool, and secure with a rubber band. Get the fabric as smooth over the top of the tool as possible. You will have some wrinkles, but don't worry!

Hint: Want lace over your fabric? Cut thin point de'sprit, fine lace, or tulle 2" x2". Apply a thin layer of glue to the fabric, attach lace, and treat both layers as a single piece of fabric. Proceed with the following steps while glue is still wet.

Grab the ends of the fabric and pull firmly, working your way around the tool. This will pull out any wrinkles that remained over the top of the tool.

Apply Stiffy fabric stiffener to the fabric, rubbing to work stiffener well into the fabric., and distributing evenly.
Set this piece aside and allow to dry completely.

Brim for a Molded Crown Hat

and

Wiring a Brim

You can use any shape brim you wish for your molded crown hat. The only requirement is that the center circle is just a hair over 3/4" in diameter. The brim can be round, or oval. For this lesson, I am going to use an oval shaped brim, and also add wiring to the edge to allow me to dramatically shape the brim when the hat is completed.

Select the shape brim you want to use for your hat. Make sure that the circle in the center measures 3/4" in diameter.
Use the link below to find a downloadable, printable copy of the two brims shown here

TO BRIM PATTERN

You will need two of the brim shapes you have selected. Fuse wonder under to the back sides of your brims as you learned in lesson 1. Cut out brims, removing center section. Peel backing off wonder-under.
Place cardstock brims on your fabric, with wonder-under side down. Be sure to leave at least 3/8" around all outer edges of pieces.

Refer to lesson One for instructions on clipping edges if necessary.
On one brim piece, cut out leaving 3/8" fabric around the outside, rather than the usual 1/4". Also, when clipping this piece, do not cut all the way to the card stock. Stop 1/8" from the cardstock edge.

This is the piece to which we will attach our brim wiring.

Place your 20 gauge florist wire around the outer edge of the brim, gently bending and shaping the wire to match the shape of the brim. Allow the ends to overlap 1/2".

Using a piece of sewing thread, wrap the area of the wire where the ends overlap, securing your wire into the oval shape.

Run a bead of Designer Tacky Glue around the outer edge of the cardstock.
Place wire into the glue, and allow to dry.

Apply a thin bead of glue over a small section of the wire, and cardstock just inside the wire, and fold over fabric tabs, wrapping the fabric over both the edge of the cardstock, and the wire.

Continue in this manner around the entire brim piece.
Finish the center circle of the brim in the usual manner, and finish edges of the second brim piece in the same way.

Using the methods shown in lesson 1, apply trim of your choice to the edge of the unwired brim. Fluffy ribbon, or lace works well.

Assembling Your Hat

	When your molded crown is thoroughly dry, prepare it for assembly with the brim pieces. Place your circle template over the tool, using the 3/4" hole in the template. Keep the template level, and push down over the end of the tool. Using your disappearing fabric marker, make a line around the crown, along the edge of the template.

	Remove rubber band from tool. Gently pull the ends of the fabric out from tool, and remove piece from the tool, taking care to preserve the shape of the piece above your marked line.
	Cut away excess fabric from the crown. DO NOT cut on line. Cut 1/4" below your mark.
	Clip around the crown, cutting notches from edge just to your marked line. This will leave an edge of pointed tabs extending beyond the line.
	Fold each tab out away from the edge of the crown, folding on your marked line.
	Run a thin bead of glue around the inside opening of your unwired, trimmed hat brim.
	Insert the crown into the opening, having the molded crown extend up through the brim, and allowing the folded tabs to rest firmly into the bead of glue.
	On your remaining brim piece, run a bead of glue around the outer edge. Run a second bead of glue around the inside circle, and apply a thin layer to the remaining surfaces.
	Place the two brim pieces wrong sides together, and press together firmly.
	Your basic construction is now completed.
	When the hat is thoroughly dry, determine the finished shape you want for your brim. Bending gently, shape the brim, using the wired edge to mold into gently curves. Roll one side up for a flirty look, flip the back up, and place a bow for a perky look, or turn one front side under for a sultry look.
	Trim your hat as desired. Refer to lesson 2 for ideas and instructions on bows, flowers, feathers, etc.

Thank you for visiting my site,
and taking an interest in my class.
Just as a gentle reminder,
This class has been designed
to help you learn the basics of hat making.
Please visit this site as often as you like,
to help you with your hat making skills.
This class, photos, & instructions are
copy-writed & are not to be used
as a tutorial of your own.