Chocolate Truffle

"The woman who knows how to change the trimming on a hat or make a new one can always have smart millinery to go with her newest costumes or accessories.  From fabric left from a garment she can re-cover an old hat or cover a new shape to make a hat to match."   Excerpt from The Complete Book of Sewing by Constance Talbot, 1943.

Most sewing books at the time included chapters on restyling and remaking garments and accessories.  You could even take an at-home course in hat making.  One of my favorite vintage finds is a book called "How to Make and Trim Your Own Hats" by Vee Powell.  It is soft covered and originally cost $1.00 to purchase in 1944.  Included is a chapter on rejuvenating, re-trimming, and remaking last year's favorite hat.

So where is all of this leading to, and what does it have to do with a Chocolate Truffle?  A recent post at The Studio Commissary had me searching for the 2001 Ashton Drake Madra Lord costume called "Chocolate Truffle" to see if the hat had changed color.  It had.  Not that there was anything wrong with the new color, a dusty slate blue, but I felt this chic outfit needed the more vibrant, jewel-tone, shade of teal.  Well I'm sure you know what happens next.......

Integrity's Deep Rose Madra Lord looks smashing in this rarely seen costume designed by Jim Howard.  The new hat color picks up the color of the tiny teal dots in the dress print.  The fur muff is from PD Root.

Madra's new silk hat utilizes the tip (top portion) of her original hat.  For the sides, I used a new piece of buckram cut to the measurements of the original.  I was lucky to have the perfect color already in my fabric stash.  The hat is trimmed with a simple but elegant fringed, self-fabric bow.