Now that I’m done the hand stitching on the applique of the skirt I can start designing the hat. We’re not 100% sure that we’ll have our model wear a hat but we are going to build it just the same. 

The look we are going for is Gothic. Not “goth” as in emo-high-school kids but Gothic as in the new movie coming out about Edgar Allan Poe starring John Cusack, but don’t let me get side tracked…

This is my chance to add plush to the mix. I’ll be making the raven from silk and lace.  I’m thinking of adding branches after looking at a few hats, but there will also be hand stitched feathers.  I haven’t decide if I’ll use any real feathers.  I actually sat down with my bird book to sketch out a pattern. I want the wings to be large enough, and with enough armature to look like the raven is just about to take off. 

I also want to place the raven on a proper hat form.  After quite a bit of searching on the intertubes I settled on purchasing a Vintage Vogue hat pattern (8052), some proper buckram, wire and netting. We’ll see what happens!