Today I finished my Lady Tremaine hat!
The hat is made of two layers of sinamay with one layer of organza sandwiched inside. My friend Lynne, who made my beautiful 1840s bonnet, helped greatly with the patterning of the brim and loaned me a wooden hat block.
Behold, awkward bathroom selfies!
The hat brim is bound with bias trim I made from velveteen. The same fabric is used for a band around the bottom of the crown. I upcycled the crown from a wool felt hat I no longer wanted.
I took some liberties when it came to the exact placement of the flowers and birds, and the type of flowers. The flowers are made from heat-transfer flocking, like the flowers on my skirt.
The only black birds I could find in the craft store were large Halloween ravens, so I bought smaller birds and spray-painted them black using Krylon Hobby/Craft paint in gloss black.
I don’t have pictures of the process, but the general steps were:
- Make a cardboard pattern for the brim.
- Cut out 2 layers of sinamay and 1 layer organza according to the brim and pin together.
- Sew rayon-covered millinery wire to the edge of the brim.
- Bind the edge of the brim with velveteen bias.
- Cut and apply floral appliques.
- Cut out center head opening and make tabs.
- Sew the crown to the tabs.
- Add grosgrain hat band to inside crown.
- Add velvet band outside crown.
- Trim with birds and feathers.
Supply costs (including Amazon affiliate links):
- 2 yards sinamay: $25 (from Judith M Millinery)
- 3 yards millinery wire: $2.85 (from Judith M)
- Shipping: $8.10 (from Judith M)
- 1 roll black heat transfer flocking: $15.32 (including tax from Amazon)
- 1 small can Krylon spray paint: $2.42 (including tax, with coupon from Michael’s)
- black ostrich feathers: $8.20 (from Amazon)
- 2 fake birds: $6.15 (including tax, with coupon from Michael’s)
- Wool hat for crown: $9.52 (from Amazon)
- vintage veiling: $0 (gift from Lynne)
- velveteen scraps: $0 (gift from Lynne)
Total: $77.56
It’s not exactly an inexpensive hat, but much nicer than the plain black straw hats I was considering at first, and much cheaper than the $300 Kentucky Derby hats I kept seeing when searching for large sinamay hats!
I look forward to wearing this hat with the rest of my Lady Tremaine ensemble at Costume College this year.
Fresh Frippery 
Stunning! And it looks even better on your head. 🙂
Thank you Cindy for your kind comments! =)
When I made this for a client of mine, she wanted it to be much larger. Holy cow, was it ever hard to ship!
~Aria
I bet! And then you have to wonder how she would even fit into a car wearing it. Or through a doorway.
Wow, that must be a sight to see! I plan on wearing this hat to an evening event with a dinner, so I needed it to be small enough, and tilt-able, so that I can sit next to someone. Like Cindy I wonder how your client plans to navigate!
Oh holy cannoli!!! That hat is EPIC!!!! I soooooo cannot wait to see you in the whole ensemble! I know I am going to squee with delight!!! It is HUGE! And I LOVE a HUGE hat!!! You did such an over the top fabulous job on this!!! SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!
Blessings!
g
Thank you Gina! I love how excited you are! I know you love big hats; you have quite the hat collection yourself!
So excited to see this, I love Lady Tremain’s outfits!
Thank you! I hope you do end up making her evening gown someday!
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Your hat is beautiful. I love the way you have used the layering technique.
Thank you Isabella!
Hi Vivienne! I just wanted you to know that I’ve been totally using your work on this costume to help me with my own version. I do have a specific question about the hat – how did you end up holding it on your head? Is here a comb or combs inside? That was my original plan but I’m also looking into using hat pins because fancy hahaha. Anyways, great work on this!! ❤
Hi Josh! I’m so glad my blog is helping you make your own version! I sewed a comb into the crown of the hat. I didn’t use a hat pin because the hat sits pretty far back on my head and the pin wouldn’t have gone through my wig, plus I had all these decorations that would be in the way.
I haven’t had time to go back and make the improvements I’ve planned and post about it (like boning the bodice and more embellishments on the skirt), but when I get the chance to revisit this outfit one thing I’d like to do is actually add some more small combs on the sides for stability. The hat is pretty light for its size, but it’s so wide that if it catches a breeze it wobbles a bit.
I hope that helps and feel free to ask me anything else.
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