Abigail Hat Pattern Review

I made a lovely Victorian skirt and bodice, but because I'm a bit crazy, I still wanted a hat to complete the look.

The bodice still needed some work on the hooks and eyes in this picture.

So off I went to see what sort of hat patterns are available! I've done many fascinators without any patterns, but I was looking for a pattern with a crown to make it fit better with the rest of the outfit. I probably could have come up with a pattern by trial and error, but ready-made patterns are so nice and easy to work with that I decided to go that road. After some pondering, I settled on the Abigail hat pattern by Harlots and Angels.

Sadly I have to say that while the pattern is very nice and works just as it should, the instructions are a bit unclear. There was a mention of a tutorial with photos on the site, but it was broken and only showed the first three or so steps, which was not very helpful. When I contacted the store, the owner responded quickly and eventually sent me the instructions with pictures. The tutorial on the site is still broken, so if you want to buy the pattern, you should also ask for the tutorial to make things easier.

My main problems with the hat were that there was no thin, stiff buckram available, so I went with iron-on felt. The glue on it was very weak and resulted in my hat having small wrinkles when I bent the brim to shape and the fabric occasionally got loose from the buckram. On taffeta it shows, but if I had some patterned, less shimmery fabric, it would not show much.

I used copper orange taffeta, the same stuff I made the skirt and bodice from, satin binding (I picked it without seeing the fabric, so it doesn't match exactly, but it's close enough for me) and cream coloured satin lining fabric. The decorations are from Kangadzungel and Karnalux in Tallinn. The black ribbon was found in my stash.

My stitches on the crown are not the neatest ;P I had to re-do it twice and was annoyed!

One of the reasons I chose to put on big decorations was to hide some of the wrinkles. There
are two fabric flowers, three pheasant feathers and a black ribbon with bow.

One the underside I glued two ribbons that I can attach hair clips to. If I had been clever, I would have placed the ribbons between the crown lining and the outer crown to hide most of them. Maybe next time!

I am happy with how the hat looks, but I could have done better with proper instructions. Attaching the brim lining to the crown lining was the trickiest part, as the instructions that came with the pattern were a bit hazy on it and I didn't yet have the tutorial pictures when I worked on it. In the end I just winged it and used lots of glue ;P 

If I ever make another one of these, I'm sure it will look better and be less nerve racking to make! I was ready to throw in the towel at a few points, because I couldn't understand the instructions, but I'm happy I made it to the end. Adding decorations has been a real saviour more than enough times, from this wrinkly hat to the blood stains on my snow queen corset! My general advice to anyone doing crafts: if something doesn't look right, add something on top to hide it ;D