Challenges of the Crazy Vegas Flower Hat

Ideas Sprout – a Flower Hat

The Crazy Vegas, Creamsicle-colored, Flower Hat began as a breezy ‘why not?’. It was to be fun – a creative, boundary-pushing challenge, similar to my Earth Day Headdress. (I like to give myself these challenges!)

This time I asked myself, "Could I make an over-sized, felted flower which sprouted from the wearer’s head?"

Right? You probably have seen some of the fantastic floral hats worn at horse races. I wanted to make an oversize, felted version.

In theory, my idea was easy; excepting, that this felted flower hat morphed into an almost insurmountable engineering challenge.

The Power of Felt

As you probably know, wool felt can be a super strong non-woven material. But, when used to support, it’s usually thick or wide.

However, as you can see, the neck of my flower hat is rather slender. It indeed wasn’t able to hold up the heavy, multipetaled, flower on its own. It drooped quite sadly and resembled a sleeping python instead of an upright flower hat. Why hadn’t I envisioned challenging gravity to be an issue? Perhaps, because my hats don’t typically become heavier the further, they get from the head! After all, flowers are supposed to be light!

But, as you can see my felted flower is enormous and thick. Here’s a top view of the flower.

Solutions Sought

After brainstorming through the millinery techniques that I know, I ended up using the following THREE methods to help keep that flower up: wire, stiffener, and stuffing! (Not the kind with celery).

First, I tried using millinery wire. Even doubled up, the neck still drooped pitifully. Desperate, I went down to my garage to see if there was anything useful. Maybe it was there, but I couldn’t find it in the mess.

The Solution is Near

Later, while putting away shirts, I realized that ‘help was near.’ A white coat hanger! While ‘No Wire Hangers’ might be what Hollywood Stars (and milliners) shout, it worked for me.

Of course, I had to handle it just like the way I would millinery wire. I smoothed it out so that there were no kinks. Next, I bent the ends back on itself so that they wouldn’t poke through the hat. Then, I wrapped the ends in wool and covered that with strips of cotton fabric. It was a bit of a process. Through much trial and error, I figured out that wire needed to spiral up and be hand sewn to the inside to support the heavy flower.

More Help Needed

Still, it didn’t seem to be robust enough. There was a bit of wobble.

So, my next millinery tool was used: Hydrolac stiffener which I painted on the inside of the neck of the flower. (I had first done a test on pale colored felt to see if it would drastically discolor. It didn’t).

After the stiffener dried, I stuffed the slender neck with quilt batting, covering my somewhat unsightly engineering work with a ‘cap’ of matching orange-colored felt.

It looks okay. The grey is the adjustable headsize ribbon.