I think I have fallen in love with millinery and Sean Barratt.....

Now all that is left to do is add my third love. Feathers. By attaching them to these little things it means I can angle them on the hat.


Left me wanting to make more.....

Cocktails, dressing up and champagne afternoon tea.....such fun.

Blitz party. Siren, bunting and ration book fun.

I love 1940s fashion. Love, love, love. Get to dress up like this again in a couple of weeks - beyond excited.

Afternoon Tea has become a habit.

Scone love.

'Free - flowing Champagne.' Oh yeah......and how beautiful is the teapot?!?

:)

All in all a very pleasant weekend.....should probably do more productive stuff with my free time.....

Alongside making our very own tash, we are dabbling with some millinery. I am designing and making a hat for Countess Gertrude of Gormenghast - inspired by my recent dinner party ha! I am now settled on a design and excited about our session with milliner Sean Barratt on Monday.....

'As the candles guttered or flared so the shadows moved from side to side, or up and down the wall, and with those movements behind the bed there swayed the shadows of four birds. Between them vacillated an enormous head. This umbrage was cast by her ladyship, the 76th Countess of Groan. She was propped against several pillows and a black shawl was draped around her shoulders. Her hair, a very dark red color of great luster, appeared to have been left suddenly while being woven into a knotted structure on the top of her head. Thick coils still fell about her shoulder or clustered on the pillows like burning snakes. Her eyes were of the pale green that is common among cats.'

Countess Gertrude.

Some initial research - loving the idea of a veil for this character. Oh and yes that is Kirsty.

Incorporate the Gothic architecture of Gormenghast Castle in the structure of the hat?

Due to her companionship with birds, want to play with the idea of using more then feathers to decorate the hat.....

Final Design.

And yesterday this arrived! From ebay?!? Who knew! Ha.....

Found this material in Oxfam. Perfect for the base of the hat.

And last night I blocked the basic shape for my hat, which will then be cut down to the kidney style hat in my design. I just allowed the buckram to soften, placed it on the block on the bias, tied in place and smoothed out the wrinkles.

This past week has been really lovely and sunny and I made a moustache.....

Simple yet very time consuming! Using a special hook, you just slip knot a hair onto each  little hole in the net.

Halfway there.....

.....Ta da!

Really wanted to go for an eccentric curled number, but turns out curling is not a talent of mine. I call this moustache, 'The Slug.'

The rest of the week has been really nice - had a wee visit from the family, Lucy ran the London Marathon!!! And I got the chance to go to my favourite cafe. 'Maison Bertaux.'

Their almond croissants are delicious and massive.

Lovely stuff.

Afternoon tea time with Lucy and Fran.

I love this teapot.

Taste from the Shire with a bit a Bakewell Tart.

Can't beat a cuppa, cocktail and scones.....lovely stuff.

Gormenghast inspired dinner party fused with Belle Epoque.....Yep.

Foraged the feathers and plants from back home in the Shire. Feathers  inspired by Lady Groan's many birds,  the books and loose pages symbolise the burning of the library.....

Snow in her amazing HANDMADE outfit. Ahhh look at the ruffles.

Beautiful!

Kirsty's lovely HANDMADE outfit!

Costume students = never grew out of fancy dress.