Day 8

The Buckram Frame on top of the sequined fabric I'm going to use for it

The first part of day 8 was spent working some more on our parasisals.  I rolled my brim over the wire I had stitched in the day before and did some pretty awesome, and not so slow, invisible sewing to keep it down.  Then I attached the crown to the brim and had it all ready to go by lunch.  It is now how it was in the pictures from last night and just needs to be trimmed.

Then came wrestling with the dried buckram, which became seriously solid.  It was quite a struggle getting it off the block, involving the removal of sweaters and shirts down to my tank top and spending a half hour tugging and pulling and beating it against the table.  I am proud to say that I didn't have to hand it over to the instructor for her to do it for me.  I heard someone asking if there might not be a machine for this purpose.  Then came trimming it down to the size and shape we wanted it, I wanted mine to tilt forward at an angle, although I'm now wishing I had made it steeper.  

We finished the edges, stabbing our needles through the buckram, which is much like trying to pin into the old wood blocks.  Since I picked a nice, tiny shape, this whole thing didn't take me as long as my classmates who chose bigger hats.  I therefore spent plenty of time draping and pinning cloth on the hat and taking pictures of the result so that today, I can do a final drape and pin and start sewing it on without worrying about how it's going to come out.