Reblocked and ribboned - first time

[buler]

So I posted an old dirty 6 7/8 Royal Scot hat that I found a while back. I've finally reblocked it to 7 1/8 and made a ribbon for it. Its my first try so be gentle. I found some great deep plum ribbon that I thought looked good with the grey.

I tried some slightly unconventional techniques (shortcuts, I'm lazy) with the ribbon work. I hope its not heresy.

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So first the reblocking:

 

[buler]

Now the ribbon

Here are the unconventional items I used.

Some iron on glue strip fabric joining stuff...

Some 1" elastic...

And some hook and eye fasteners...

 

[buler]

Now to the ribbon

First I made the bow:


I used the glue strips to hold the folded ends of the bow:

Then another glue strip to glue the bow shut:

And sewed a pinch in the middle to "start" the bowing:

 

[buler]

next....

Glue strip to attach the bow to main ribbon:

Sew hooks to elastic (yeah, I can't hand sew....):

Sew eyes to back of bow area:

Line up and sew elastic to other end of main ribbon:

 

[buler]

finish ribbon

Use more glue strips to create bow tie:

Bow tie in progress:

Sewed bow tie shut and slipped over bow and hooked ribbon on hat:

I think it fits pretty well considering I haven't ironed a curve into the ribbon yet. I need to make the bow tie wider so it covers the eye stitches and looks centered. But the beauty of the hook/eye setup is I just unhook the whole ribbon and work on it. No sewing thru the felt.

I have no idea if this is worthwhile, but maybe it will give someone some ideas (at least of what not to do).

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[Chinaski]

No one's bitten yet, so I'll wade in with some feedback. That's a creative way of doing the ribbon treatment. I'm not sure what the drawbacks are, but you may be able to tell us after a while! There must be a reason they're usually sewn on! Your equipment seemed to handle the blocking with aplomb. I'm sure it's a good feeling to take a smaller hat and reblock to your size. Pretty cool.

 

[buler]

No one's bitten yet, so I'll wade in with some feedback. That's a creative way of doing the ribbon treatment. I'm not sure what the drawbacks are, but you may be able to tell us after a while! There must be a reason they're usually sewn on! Your equipment seemed to handle the blocking with aplomb. I'm sure it's a good feeling to take a smaller hat and reblock to your size. Pretty cool.

The one drawback with my idea of no stitching thru the hat is the bow not laying flat to the hat. I still need to iron the curve into the ribbon and I'll iron the bow on a block. If the bow still isn't flat enough I may try some velcro behind it. The idea of no stitching to the hat and the hook/eye system is to have an interchangeable ribbon. With a grey hat I could have the plum ribbon and also a black, brown, etc.

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[Chinaski]

If you can solve the other problems, (getting the ribbon curved correctly and the bow flat) it sounds like a good idea. You can have one hat, but change up the look in seconds. For the record, I know you have more than one hat, Buler And by the way, I miss Eva in your avatar.

 

[buler]

If you can solve the other problems, (getting the ribbon curved correctly and the bow flat) it sounds like a good idea. You can have one hat, but change up the look in seconds. For the record, I know you have more than one hat, Buler And by the way, I miss Eva in your avatar.

I'm sure Eva will make a comeback. I believe Megan is next in the rotation...
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