Hats make you professional!

It's my unproven theory that wearing a coordinating hat to a Renaissance festival immediately tags you as a professional, whether you are or not. I've found that they really do make a historical outfit complete. 

In my previous post, I talked about the new skirts on the previously ruined Italian Dresses.  Here they are in all their glory!

Yes, this is one photo of each of us. *sigh* You may insert your twin jokes here.

Anyway, you may notice the turban inspired hat. This is historically accurate! I had some of the most decorated parts of the overskirt silk left over, and decided to make matching hats.

The feathers you see in the full length photos near the top of the post were purchased about half way through the day, and they have a brooch pin on the quill end.  Prepare to see them on other hats in the future!

The hats were fairly easy to make - I didn't even have a pattern - and the veils were tacked in place the night before. Kate and I seem to have to play our own fairy godmothers when it comes to beautiful gowns. ;)

Step 1: Cut out an arc of fabric, at the length that will fit around your head plus at least an inch for stuffing. Sew the two sides together to form a tube.

Step 3: Turn right side out.

Step 2: Put reinforcement along the top curving edge, making sure to work with the natural curl of the sew-in boning.

Step 4: Stuff enough to get it to stand upright and fit snugly on your head, but leave it flat enough to not look like a sausage. Wrap with fancy fabric to resemble a wrapped turban.

And you can see in our hats I also sewed a line of beads at the top for decoration.

Here is our little party at the KC Ren Fest earlier this year - I'd say we make a cute trio! And in reference to the title of the post, we got asked for directions a couple of times. Also, there is a "live chess" game and must be a spot-the-character bingo game because we were asked about that as well.