Hot Pink Pillbox Hat
Hot pink velvet and French veil from England make this taller pillbox hat sexy and alluring.
This gorgeous hot pink velvet and French veil arrived here from my sister Norma in England. Veil from England is 12″ wide whereas here it is only 9″ wide.
There’s nothing more sexy than the color hot pink and when I opened the parcel from my sister Norma in England, the first thing that stood out was some gorgeous hot pink velvet with matching French veil. It spoke to me! The velvet felt luxurious but from working with it before I knew it can be a real pain in the you know what. Never mind, I had to work with it regardless of the problems.
The back shows a small velvet bow at the top with a gorgeous hot pink rhinestone hanging from the center. Because velvet is thick I chose to allow it to meet at the back. Then I added velvet ribbon to cover the join. It gave this hat more detail without the bulge of too much thickness.
When using a color this vivid you have to figure out what you can add to tone it done. The obvious choice was to trim this hat in black. I had some black velvet ribbon so decided to use it for a very rich look. I searched through the vintage jewelry and found some gorgeous hot pink rhinestones. Now I had my fabrics so what kind of hat would I make. I love pillbox hats when using veil so the choice was made, however this time I decided to make the pillbox taller and made a 4″ high pillbox frame.
It takes time to learn out how to attach French veil to a hat. However, there isn’t any particular way that could be considered correct. It’s all about how the designer perceives it. I always hand sew veil on to a hat which is very time consuming. I have covered the entire hat before but here I chose to stop it at the sides so as to show more detail at the back of the hat. You can see one of the large rhinestones I used on each side for decoration.
Because this veil is much wider than is available here, I added it on to a taller Pillbox hat and it still reached below the face line. For what I had in mind it was perfect, however, you can cut veil without compromising your design.
You can make your Pillbox frame any height you like, however, don’t make it shorter than 2 1/2″. This photo shows three heights. 4″, 3 1/2″ and 3″ taller. I used the 4″ tall frame for this hat. Most pillbox hats I make are 3″ tall.
Wearing a hat with a veil does not hinder the wearers view. Here you can see how I kept the front very simple adding black velvet ribbon at the top and bottom only.
I lined this hat in black.
Time for my morning cup of tea.
Just wondering what you made the forms with? i bought “Buckrum” and planned to sew it like you did with a circle top. I will probably make it 3″ high.
Was it hard to hold together to sew it? Looks like you used a blanket stitch?