Altering Vintage Hats

Do you have your Easter Bonnet picked out?

I love altering vintage hats....Anyone can be a hat milliner!

I Pick up hats anywhere I can, estate sales, antique stores, thrift stores etc.  I look for the totally unadorned ugly ducklings that are in good shape.  These are the hats that can be picked up really inexpensively.

Then with old millinery flowers, netting, feathers and jewels, along with trims and lace.... I get to work playing milliner

I added a vintage flower, leaves, and netting to this pretty pink hat

I use a combination of hot glue and a needle and thread to attach everything

The hat below I added a little pin with flowers, sometimes it is just a little detail that makes all the difference

I added a couple big pink vintage flowers to this black hat

For this hat I switched the bright flowers to softer pinks and blues....Psst.... Can you tell by the pictures which were taken on a sunny day and which were taken on a cloudy day lol!

This is one of my fabric flowers (tutorial HERE), netting and feathers

Another fabric flower, feathers and netting

I get most of my flowers from vintage hats that are a total wreck, I look past the mess they are in and look for great flowers.  This hat was  full of great flowers....Even though it was a hot mess! 

Now, don't let a whole bunch of old smashed flowers scare you away!  You can fluff them up and make them as good as new by setting your iron to the steam setting, then putting your flowers on the ironing board and giving them a big puff of steam.  Set the iron down and quickly start reshaping the flower, you will probably have to repeat this 2-3 times.

These flowers were totally flat until I steamed and reshaped them

I get my netting at JoAnn's Fabric, you will probably have to ask where it is, because it's usually hidden.  I use vintage netting from old hats any time I can . 

I sell these in my antiques booth at Orange Tree and price them between $14.00 and $24.00.  I always sell out, I guess there is a lot of ladies like me that use them for decorating and college kids who buy them to wear. 

If you would like more ideas on altering vintage hats you might enjoy THIS previous post I did 

Are you going to wear an Easter Bonnet?

Blessings and Wishing you and your families a wonderful Easter weekend.  

Happy Creating

Carol

Altering Vintage Hats

It's so easy and fun to alter vintage hats 

 I sell a lot of hats in my booth at Orange Tree once I get them all fancied up!

The key, is to find plain hats that are inexpensive  

No one wants unadorned vintage hats......But me!

And now maybe you...With very little effort and skills you can fancy them all up!

I gather up my supplies, hat netting (Purchased from Jo-Annes Fabric), Various trims, velvet ribbon, and vintage jewelry.

I also use fabric flowers, the tutorial is HERE

I altered this plain white hat by removing the tattered vintage netting and reattaching it under a vintage earring...Easy!

I added one of my fabric flowers, netting, leaves and a vintage earring...This is one of my favorites

This pink hat had great bones, I added a fabric flower and vintage pearl pin

This is another of my favorite transformations.  I added ruffled trim around the top of the hat then added netting, a fabric flower, and rhinestone pin

Oh, I like this one too!   I hand stiched a shinny trim around the front rim and a black fabric flower

Here I added a velvet ribbon and vintage rhinestone buckle

Sometimes adding matching vintage pins is all a hat needs

The back of this cute vintage straw hat got a bow of vintage lace and a vintage earring

I usually price my hats between $15-$20.  There is so much you can add to plain vintage hats, I added some feather to a couple of them before I packed them up

I am taking all of these hats to the Fancy Flea, a show I'm doing April 28th in Lakeland florida

Oh, look what I found to transport my hats to the show....

...Fabulous vintage hat boxes I'm going to sell too

There you have it, a few ideas to get your wheels turning

It's easy and fun  

 Everyone can be a Hat Milliner!

Happy Creating!

Carol

Joining the party at BrambleBerry Cottage