reality bites

The costume guild has a 20th c. retro ice cream social coming up next weekend, and I decided to make a mid-30's outfit to wear to it.  The dress is coming along nicely, but finding a suitable hat has been a challenge.  I have a number late 30's hats already, but hat styles change drastically at this time, so nothing I have is really "right" for a dress from earlier in the decade.  Plus, I'm picky, and I really want something white, which makes the hunt even harder.

So brilliant me - I decide to make a hat!  I found this fun pattern on one of my favorite sewing blogs, Sewing Vintage.  It only took 2 hours to make, but sadly... reality is not nearly as charming as the picture.  *sigh*

Of course, this happens a lot when working from vintage patterns.  The reality of what the pattern looks like when made up is never as perfect as the idealized illustration.  I could try to shorten the crown so it isn't so puffy, but I doubt the little slit parts will ever stay neatly closed like you see in the original picture.  Maybe I just made the cuts come up too high or made the selvage too big thanks to the vague instructions.  If anything, I'll probably switch out the slit crown for the solid one in the second view from this pattern... or maybe I'll ditch it and try something else entirely.

It was still fun to try though, and I LOVE experimenting with hats, so it was a fun little project even if it wasn't a complete success.