I am using a brim block that does not have a hole in the middle and because of that I’ve had to first block the crown, and then cut the straw material separating crown from brim in order to block the brim separately.

Having to cut through a straw capeline is a scary thought and it’s important to think it through before getting the scissors. I’ve finally decided to run a row of stitches all around the crown before cutting it in order to avoid the straw from fraying, and also to have a good guide for cutting.

The tricky thing here is to have an even depth all around the crown and that is why I Macgyvered a way to do it. After deciding the desired depth I taped a ruler to the front of the free arm so that when the tip of the crown was in contact with the ruler the needle fell exactly at the point where I wanted my stitches to be. As I was sewing around I kept the flat tip of my crown in contact with the ruler thus keeping the stitching at a constant crown depth.

I will let you know how the hat progresses!

Cocktail: 19 h. C/Rosselló 237, entlo. 1ª (Esq. Rambla de Catalunya)

Estáis invitados, el próximo jueves 17 de junio de 2010, a venir al cocktail que se celebrará en la tienda PARIS VINTAGE de Barcelona, con motivo de la inauguración del nuevo local. Allí podréis ver y comprar maravillosos vestidos de alta costura vintage. Únicamente durante este día también podréis ver y comprar prendas del modisto Paco Peralta, y sombreros y tocados de Cristina de Prada (la que os escribe).

Don’t we just look wonderful in our hats?

Dad we miss you terribly…

Our thoughts are also with Ewald Kooiman, who would have celebrated his birthday two days from today, but who is no longer with us and is also very much missed.

My brother’s homage to our father following this link.

And my mother’s homage to her beloved husband following this link.

Estas preciosas fotos se tomaron 1 mes y 11 días antes de que mi padre muriera de cancer, hoy hace 19 años que murió.

¿Verdad que estamos fantásticos con nuestros sombreros?

Papá, te echo de menos una enormidad.

Nuestro pensamiento también está con Ewald Kooiman, que habría celebrado su 72 cumpleaños dentro de dos días, pero que tristemente ya no está con nosotros y a quien también echamos mucho de menos.

Puedes ver el homenaje que hace mi hermano a mi padre siguiendo este enlace.

Y el homenaje de mi madre a su querido marido en este enlace.

I had a bunch of handsome gentlemen in need of a spring hat for the last Passejada amb barret, and decided to start from scratch and design and sew a stylish hat for them.

Do you remember that a while ago I sculpted a hat with plasticine and extracted a flat pattern from it? If you don’t remember or want to see it again, follow this link.

Well, for my gentleman’s hat I decided to follow the same process. I used a round block as a base in order to save on plasticine (aka Play Doh), and as you can see it starts quite messy and seems hopeless, but little by little it takes shape. I like to smooth it out really well when it’s almost finished. Once the shape is ready I cover it with cling film and ideally I use masking (painters) tape to cover the whole shape, carefully following all the curves. When I made this pattern I was out of masking tape (and it was Sunday, so no hope of finding any) so I used packing tape which is messy and does not adapt as well to the shape, but in the end it did the trick.

Then I drew lines with a felt pen where the cuts (seams) were going to be. I think this is the trickiest part of the whole process, trying to visualise where the seams should be, but it’s a process that can be repeated as many times as necessary, covering the form again if we need to, and marking different seam lines. Once happy with the tape pattern it’s time to transfer it to pattern paper and true it up with a french curve.

I believe I got really lucky because I love the resulting pattern (the crown is made from one piece of fabric), but I should point out that the finished hat is not exactly as the plasticine version… if you check it out carefully you wil see that I marked the seam to be on the top edge of the sideband, but on the finished hat the top edge is a fold and the seam sinks down. When I had the prototype sewn I saw that it had to sink down, there was no other way.

If you check all the pictures I’ve taken of the sewing process you will see that I cut the iron-on interfacing without seam allowance, then iron it to the external fabric, and then cut the fabric with the allowance. That minimizes the bulk, and serves as a guide when sewing… I’m not really sure if it’s a good idea of just a crazy one but it worked for me…

In any case, the pattern still needs some perfecting. The last version is the one being worn by Paco Peralta (my couturier friend, the one on the far left picture), and you can see how the brim curves better than on the other ones (Peter and Joaquín).

THERE IS MORE…

What I found (and still find) more difficult is to get the right brim and crown pattern measurements, which have little to do with the final hat size (meaning that if you want a 60 cm hat, the crown will not be 60 cm, nor will the brim). There are many factors at work here, the main one being the accumulated thicknesses of fabric which vary depending on the fabric, and also important is the order in which all the parts are sewn together, because they have to fit like a puzzle.

Regarding the thicknesses, you have to think that the brim will have two thicknesses (upper and lower brim) and the crown will also be two thicknesses (because it will fold inwardly). Finally think of the lining (which also folds in,  so two more layers) and the sweatband (grosgrain sewn on the inside for finish).

If the brim is too large or to small, and you try to adjust it on the go at the moment of joining crown and brim, you will not only sweat profusely but you will also be changing the profile (curl) and width of the brim, which is not something you want.

Above is a picture of the assembled hat. By the way, on the latest version I decided to sew the lining by hand, folding it under so no unsightly fabric edges are visible , which made the inside of the hat look much neater.

And here is the finished hat (the beautiful fabric is from GRATACOS):

5/5/2010 Oops, I made a big typo and fixed it today!!

Today I gave the first class, 3 hour long , in which the ladies attending learnt to make a fascinator. They were supplied with a kit bag containing instructions, templates and the material needed to make the fascinator that I designed for the occasion. This is the table just before the class stared:

Here’s a picture of the ladies that have attended the course with their fascinators on (I’m there in the center):

It has been a very interesting experience and I’m really happy with the results, and really lucky I met such wonderful ladies!

Today, Barcelona has a flower stall on every corner selling roses, and many shops have book stalls on the street. In the spirit of the day I have put on a little rose fascinator and have been to Gratacós (the fabric and accessories shop)  where the author of the book “Barcelona alta costura”,  Josep Casamartina, was signing.

Here you can see me with my new book (on the right), “Barcelona alta costura” (sold internationally as “Barcelona haute couture”). It is a gorgeous book showing both haute couture dresses and hats from the Antoni de Montpalau Textile Collection. This hardcover book is packed full of wonderful full page color pictures, and very little text  (three introductory articles, the cataloguing and biographies). Both versions (the one in Catalan with a green dress cover, and the Spanish with a pink dress cover)  have full English text, which is wonderful. Some of the couturiers shown are well known (Balenciaga, Pedro Rodriguez, Pertegaz, Lanvin), while others not so much, but throughout the book the constant is incredible quality, design and workmanship. These were the dresses worn by the Barcelona elite and it shows they had excellent taste.

Here is the dedication from the Author, Josep Casamartina i Parassols (I love his curly hand):

The other book in my hand is my Mom’s book, “Joaquín y Loli. Un encuentro de cine”. Those who have been following me for a while know about this wonderful book, written by my mother as an homage to my father, and they also know that my mother was sued because of it by the surviving brothers of my dad. The book is wonderful, and I want to repeat this to my mother, I LOVE YOU MOM, and I think your book is beautiful, innocent, romantic and fun.

This is the dedication that my mother wrote to me in my copy of her book, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

A mother’s love, what can I say!!

SPANISH TEXT follows… for my Mom, and her friends, and my friends, so they can read it without using a silly online translator (just this once).

Haz click en “More..” para leerlo en castellano…

Sant Jordi es el patrón de Cataluña, donde vivimos. El 23 de abril chicos y chicas intercambian rosas y libros respectivamente, por eso se conoce también como el Día de la rosa o el Día del libro.

Hoy Barcelona tiene un puesto de rosas en cada esquina y muchas tiendas tienen un puesto de libros en la calle. Atendiendo al espíritu del día, me he puesto un pequeño tocado con una rosa y he ido a Gratacós (la tienda de telas y accesorios) donde el autor del libro “Barcelona alta costura”, Josep Casamartina, firmaba hoy ejemplares.

Aquí me podéis ver con mi libro nuevo (a la derecha), “Barcelona alta costura” (vendido internacionalmente como “Barcelona haute couture”). Es una delicia de libro que muestra tanto vestidos como sombreros de alta costura de la colección textil de Antoni de Montpalau. Este libro de tapa dura está lleno de fotografías color a toda página y contiene poco texto (tres artículos introductorios, la catalogación y biografías). Ambas versiones (la catalana con un vestido verde en la portada y la española con un vestido rosa) incluyen también el texto completo en inglés, lo cual es genial. Algunos de los modistos/as que se muestran son muy conocidos (Balenciaga, Pedro Rodriguez, Pertegaz, Lanvin), mientras que otros no lo son tanto, eso sí a lo largo de todo el libro las constantes son calidad, diseño y manufactura increibles. Estos son los vestidos que llevaba la élite Barcelonesa y se ve que tenían excelente gusto.

Esta es la dedicatoria del autor, Josep Casamartina i Parassols (me encanta su caligrafía de caracolillos):

El otro libro en mis manos es  el libro de mi madre, “Joaquín y Loli. Un encuentro de cine”. Aquellos que me siguen desde hace tiempo ya conocen este maravilloso libro, escrito por mi madre como homenaje a mi padre, y también saben que los hermanos supervivientes de mi padre le pusieron un pleito a mi madre con motivo del libro. El libro es maravilloso, y quiero volver a decirle a mi madre, TE QUIERO MAMÁ, y creo que tu libro es bonito, inocente, romántico y divertido.

Esta es la dedicatoria que mi madre me escribió en mi copia del libro, y espero que vosotros la disfrutéis tanto como yo:

Amor de madre, qué he de decir!!!

Last Sunday, April 11 2010, we celebrated the VI Passejada amb barret (Hat stroll) in Barcelona, and that was an excuse for a couple of friends to stop by, try on some hats and decide which one they wanted to wear for the event (about which I will blog shortly).

Above you can see the lovely Helena (a wonderful storyteller, checkout the blog that she writes along with my brother José Manuel: http://escuchandoconlosojos.blogspot.com/), she’s in front of the harpsichord which is serving temporarily as an exhibition area for my hats (I knew it would come in handy one day… naaah!! just kidding!!! Sorry Peter!!).

My friend Eulalia also visited me to try on hats and they both had a great time, and had to try every single hat (some of them more than once!).

It was a pleasure for me to see others taking pleasure in my hats. Thank you Helena! Thank you Eulalia!

The vintage style Loewe umbrella on the other hand was a gift, a couple of years ago, from my wonderful mom. The umbrella has a green leather handle and luscius fabric that is green on the inside and shocking pink on the outside, with the lettering LOEWE making a repeated circle pattern. I believe these umbrellas are still available, although from looking at their website I think the handles are now all brown, which is a pity.

Funny enough, after having bought the hat box I happened quite by chance upon the corresponding patents, one for the manufacturing process and one for the design.  The patent allows us to date the design to 1955 (that’s when the patents were filed, although they were granted in 1958). I’ve also found an old ad for the hatbox, dated 1955, already with the famouse catch phrase “… it’s strong enough to stand on!”.

If you check out the patents you might be surprised (as I was) that they are not under the name of Samsonite but Shwayder Bros. Jesse Shwayder founded the company in 1910 and Samsonite was a trademark (that was first used in 1941). The name of the company was not changed to Samsonite until 1966.

All pictures can be seen in more detail on Flickr if you follow this link.

And here is the cloche of Emilia while on the block. It’s a 5 piece puzzle block, and all went dandy, including unblocking (a miracle how when you pull out the middle piece the whole thing collapses and you can take out one piece at a time) until I folded the bottom edge in, and it buckled!!  there was too much felt!! It was supposed to fold in nicely but it didn’t and I had a hart time shrinking the felt so that it stayed flat… I’m thinking of modifying the block shaving off the extra wood, so that the next time it will work properly.