Peacock Top Hat

 Smaller sized hats were quite the norm in Victorian days and were designed to perch on ones hair do. Hair was piled up and the hat was nestled on top of the hair and anchored in place with hat or hair pins. In our modern era, woman love this look so I designed a top hat to meet modern times. Steam punk and other styles reflect this style so I decided this week to design a top hat in two styles and offer both hats and the pattern to the public. This is the first of the two hats, to show the kind of looks you can get from my pattern and downloadable tutorial.

This hat screams “Look at me” and I can assure you that you will be the belle of the Victorian/Steam Punk Ball when you wear it. I covered the buckram frame with dark purple crushed velvet because I wanted to add peacock feathers as the theme and purple enhances the color of peacock feathers. This is the shorter of the two hat styles.

The back of the hat sports a rhinestone peacock so that the wearer of this hat will be appreciated whether she is coming or going.

A side view you can see how the peacock swords curl over and around the sides of the hat.

This close-up shows you the hat has several things going for it. A single peacock feather is nestling in among the curled peacock swords.

Here you can see a close-up of the peacock. It has several colored stones all of which complements the hat and the feathers.

I added green velvet ribbon around the base of the vamp, topped by purple French braid. The final touch was to add tiny Austrian crystals for a tiny bit of glamorous glitz.

A perch hat should be worn slightly tilted to one side. You can wear your hair either up or down.

The pattern and extensive step by step photo tutorial PDF download is available for $19.95. I will teach you how to make the buckram frame and how to cover it with you choice of fabric. The pattern is for two different heights of top hat. The next blog will show you how I covered the taller hat.

Tags: goth, halloween, peacock, steampunk