Getting closer

More work on the straw hat bike helmet! 

I suddenly realized that my arbitrary deadline is drawing near. I had the idea that it would be part of my Shakespeare in the Park picnic outfit, and our tickets are for next week! This is why I need arbitrary deadlines, I guess.

Somehow I never took a photo of the shiny straw capeline I bought from Petersham but it looked exactly like their photo on Etsy:

Shiny Straw Capeline from Petersham’s

I’m sure they won’t mind me borrowing it, since I’m linking back to them (and you should buy one!)

Yesterday, I finally got around to shaping. Lots of steam from my kettle (I steamed the outside, then the inside, then just took the lid off the kettle and plopped the capeline on top), and I got this:

Partially shaped Capeline

It took a lot of work to make it fit around the helmet! I used pushpins (carefully pushed between the strands of straw, not through them) to hold in in place while shaping.

Next, I moved it all to the ironing board, to flatten out the brim, and get a crisp edge where brim meets crown, and heavily steamed the top and shaped it by hand to look more “hat-like” instead of just wonky. I weighted it with what was handy while it was cooling and drying:

Shaped!

Next will be applying a band and stitching in the lining. I’m a bit worried about the pull of the elastic causing problems with the straw. Maybe it needs a permanent hat stand when not in use? Hmmm...