I taught a spinning class this weekend in Lansing Michigan and had a wonderful time with some lovely women. While they were spinning, I had the opportunity to make a needle felt hat, which I later wet felted. The colors are from some of the hand dyed fibers I'd dyed up earlier. The inside of the hat is all merino wool, while the exterior is a combination of merino and corriedale with a bit of mohair in it. It is a bit fussier that I like to have on my hats, but I think it will be ok for the style. I might give it a quick shave as well.There are many designs going through my head, but the challenge is to find the time to get them on the table, laid out, rolled, shaped, pressed, dried and sitting on someones head!
5 comments:
Great shape to the hat. Very clever.
Thank you. It was great fun to make.
Oh I love this one Suzanne! I wish I could take a hat course..... I find getting the finished shape hard....
Suzanne, interesting shape. What did you block it on? Pat
Pat and Ilana,
The top knot is actually all wool. When I made this hat, I used my extra large needle felt hat form, then added the knot, which was made of wool that had been needle felted into the shape I wanted. I then covered the entire top of the hat with the colored wool and needle felted it into place. I then wet felted the entire hat.
About the shaping, I used what I have handy...my head. I rinse well, wring it out well and then pull it down hard against my head, and from there I begin to shape the entire hat. I know that a hat block might be easier, but my head is always with me and that seems to work well for me. I do however have a very small head and have to stretch them out a bit after I've achieved the desired shape so that they will fit on regular people.
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