Melbourne Cup millinery in two minutes #2
How is it that nearly a whole month has gone past since I last posted? Possibly my holiday to Queensland has something to do with it… or the fact that I just haven’t really got around to making anything recently.
Anyway, I have been meaning to post about this hat that I found at the Salvos a while ago, and given that it’s now Spring Racing season in Melbourne, it seems like the perfect time. So this is a styling post rather than a DIY post – although there is a fair bit of DIY in this hat, as it happens.
I’m not sure where it is from originally, although I’d guess somewhere in Central Asia. It seems to be completely handmade: embroidered all over, lined and sewn together, probably by the same person.
I’m a sucker for anything handmade, colourful and from another culture, and this hat ticks all those boxes and I think was only $5.45 so there was no way it was staying at the Salvos! One problem though – it is too small for me.
Faithful re-enactment of me trying the hat on at the Salvos, including sceptical face about whether I can justify buying something that doesn’t even fit just because I love the handwork it took to create it.
My head is not exactly huge so this hat must have been made for a child! Although I have dismantled a child’s hat before so that it would fit me, I didn’t want to rip into this one so had to find a way to wear it as-is. Once again, a scarf came to the rescue.
Obviously I need to do something about my hair when I wear this style of hat! But you get the idea of how the scarf works, at least.
This is super simple and pretty much the same idea as this post from two years ago. All you do is wrap a scarf around your head with the knot either at the top of your head and the ends tucked under, as shown here, or with the knot at the base of your neck – you can then leave the ends trailing for an exotic look or tuck them back in to the rest of the scarf.
Then all you need to do is place the hat on top at a flattering angle and pin it to the scarf if you like, to stop it falling off.
You can fiddle around with the scarf to create different looks, too.
There’s a fair bit of I dream of Jeannie going on here! But it totally depends on the colours in the hat and the scarf. If you have a too-small hat in race-wear friendly shades, this kind of styling could be the making of your Spring Carnival outfit. Let me know how you go!