For Karendee!

These are both about a year old. I will update more soon.

Flowers and Leather

This is a miniature picture I made using the same techniques as the millinery flowers 

on leather and arranging them on a leather background. My finger is shown for scale.

Show Time!

The display table with lots of luscious hats and a few Liberty Art Fabric pendants.

A gorgeous girl who tried on a lot of hats that day.

Black tapestry cloche with handmade flowers from hand dyed silks, velvet and lace.

Cotton velvet with a silk band and vintage brooch.

Roses

A Rosebud Tutorial in photos

Making a rose bud:

The square should be cut on grain so that the fold that is wrapped around is on the bias. I had a bias square so I used that but he results are not as good.

 And repeat.

At First Blush- making the hat

 A soft knit covering has been added over the blocked crown to hide the grain of the buckram.

The brim is a finer buckram so it didn't require the knit. Both sections have been covered in blush silk and gold lace has been applied.

I turned a light on to capture the metallic of the lace ad the sparkle of a few scattered AB rhinestones..

I had just enough of this beautiful vine and leaf embroidered ivory satin to  cut the brim lining.

The lining was added after the lace was sen on to hide the stitches.

 Binding the edge. The bias folded, and the raw edge basted together, then stretched slightly and pinned on to check the length. It was sewn into a circle by machine and hand sewn to the wired edge.
I marked the width of the bias on my thumb to keep it accurate and speed up the stitching.

At First Blush

Silk hat with gold lace and silk tulle embellished with hand made, hand dyed silk roses in varying tones of blush, ivory and pink.