All Steam Ahead 2021 – Mad Hatter Preparations Part 4

 All Steam Ahead 2021 – Mad Hatter Preparations Part 4

An easy blog this week if a bit wordy.

Add Glue

 

If you remember I said previously that when putting on the base layer a lot of Glue residue had come through. I have managed to cover most of it with the Cogs.

However there was still a considerable amount on the Brim. Therefore I am going to cover it with Ribbon. So I added Glue to the Brim bit by bit.

Cut and Curve

 

Adding the Ribbon was not as simple as it seems. Straight Lines have a tendency not to like going around Curves. The part of the Ribbon on top of the Brim was Fine but I have to Cut and Curve the Underneath bit by bit.

Add Badge

 

Now I do have to confess that I did not make the Badge. I’m not that clever! It was something that I got off my friend Laura.

I wanted to change the Shape of the Hat which isn’t an easy thing to do without making a mess of it. I wanted it to look more like a Ladies Riding Hat of Yesteryear. I had the idea of Sewing the Brim to one Side (after Laura had talked me out of both sides saying Steampunk is not symmetrical).

I bent up the Brim, held it and put through a few tacking stitches to hold it in place. I then positioned the Badge and Sewed that in Place. A little bit of Trimming on the Ribbon and it was all done.

All Steam Ahead 2021 – Mad Hatter Preparations Part 3

 All Steam Ahead 2021 – Mad Hatter Preparations Part 3

This is a nice quick blog. Adding Cogs.

Add Cut out Cogs

 

I started to Glue the Cut out Cogs to the Hat. I had made quite a few of them now and of different Sizes. For some reason the Base Covering had left a lot of Glue Residue. I wanted to Cover as much of this as possible.

Add Cogs other Side

 

Once I had added a Bottom Layer of Cogs one Side I turned the Hat around and carried on adding.

Add Metal Centre

 

The Black Cog Shapes were only the Silhouette. To give them a proper Cog look I Glued a Metal Washer to the Centre of Each Cog Shape.

Front Right

 

After doing the Bottom Layer I started to fill in the Gaps with more Cogs. 

Front Left

 

When I was satisfied with one Side I moved on to the other. 

Top Cogs

I had used up all the Cogs I had made so I had to make some more before I could add to the Top. I also had to add a few more to the Back of the Hat.

Out of Zone Mask 2020 Part 5

Out of Zone Mask 2020 Part 5

Now I had my design for the Chain I had to fix it in place.

Pin Chain

 

The first thing I did was to Pin the Chain In place. This was easier said that done. It kept moving whilst I was trying to set the Cogs so in the end I had to use several Pins on each bend.

 Sew Chain

 

I decided that I was going to have to Sew the Chain bit by bit. I was going to have to add the Cogs the same way. In the above photograph it shows the first part of the Chain and the first Cog Sewn in place.

I then continued to do this with the second part of the Chain and the second Cog. The third was slightly more awkward as I couldn’t designed whether to have the Chain hanging down on the inside of the Washer or the Outside. I eventually decided on the latter.

I then used the same process on the opposite side of the Mask. This worked out slightly different as there was a greater difference in size of the Cogs.

Mask Back

 

Next I turned my attention to the Back of the Mask. I had made the Hands of the Clock by Sewing Copper Wire. Unfortunately the Ends of this wire were very Sharp. I found whenever I tried the Mask on these Ends were digging in and scratching my Face.

Naturally I would be putting a Back on this Mask as I had the others. However since I use the Inner part as a pouch I had visions of hundreds of pieces of torn up tissue as the result of the Sharp Ends tearing the tissue.

Back Patch

 

I decided that in order to avoid this problem what was needed was an extra Piece of Material. For want of a better term I was going to add a Back Patch.

I found some scrap black material then Cut and Hemmed it. Since it was not going to be seen it didn’t need to be symmetrical just large enough to cover the Sharp Ends. I used Blanket Stitch to Sew the Top and Bottom. I couldn’t Sew the Sides as it would have Shown through.