Lulu's Hats

My mother, Lulu, had a pretty good wardrobe of hats the last decade or so of her life. We invited people to take one of her hats at a reception we held in her honor after she passed away, and several people took a hat to remember Lulu by.

Here is Lulu in a hat that I now wear.

And here is a photo of Lulu, wearing a cute little pink number, sitting on Tom's bike in 2003. She looks very cute, like she is really ready to take off on that thing! There is a funny story behind this photo. I can send extra photos if requested.

Lately I have been building up my wardrobe of hats, having inherited Lulu's thinning hair genes. This past summer, on my drive up north, I stopped in Granville, Ohio and took a felt hat making class with Gail Maraman of Windy Crest Designs - click here. Gail is an artist in felt, and teaches classes in the history, culture, nature, and art of feltmaking, as well as the techniques for making traditional felt, nuno felt, watercolor felt, and needle felt.

I got a good start on my hat and finished it when I got home a month later. I did some more felting on the hat and realized it had shrunk more around the circumference, but the crown was a little tall. After I had needle felted yarn embellishment to the hat, to reduce the height of the hat I pinned folds into it, then starched and steamed it. After it had dried, folds intact, I then added a few beads and sequins. A buttonhole stitch was embroidered all around the edge of the brim. I like the way it turned out! Next year, on my way up north, I'm going to take more classes with Gail!