Make your own hats

by Gene Allen Martin

Flowers

Material required: Tie wire, green Gum tissue, brown and green Cotton batting Milliner's glue Yellow stamens Dark green tissue paper

Flowers may be made from almost any fabric—satin, velvet, georgette, maline, ribbon, soft leather, oilcloth, yarn, and chenille. A scrapbag for odds and ends should always be kept for small pieces of materials. Any piece two inches square may be used for flowers or fruits. Such a bag of pieces will prove a veritable gold mine to use in making flowers and fruit trimmings. Each year brings out novelties in trimmings, but hand-made flowers are always worn more or less on hats, gowns, suits, and muffs. They are especially beautiful on evening gowns. A generous number of the best examples are given here with illustrations.

To prepare the petals of any flower is not difficult, but to arrange them is another matter. Study the face of any blossom which you are making and try to make it look as natural as possible. Pinning the petals in place before sewing them is of great value, otherwise they are apt to slip back on the stem as they are being sewed.

American Beauty rose—

This rose may be made of silk or satin; it may have as many petals as desired. Each petal is cut from a piece of folded material like the diagram (1). It is highly important that the folded edge be on a true bias. Begin the rose by cutting three petals like the illustration, with the bias edge one and one-half inches long. Run a gathering thread one-eighth of an inch from the curved edge, leaving a thread one inch long so that the petal may be adjusted as it is pinned in place. Make a loop one inch long on the end of a piece of wire six inches long. Cover this loop with a small circle of the material like the rose. It is sometimes found to be advantageous to fill this circle with cotton to make a soft center for the rose.

For an ordinary-sized rose there should be eighteen petals. The first three are already described as having a one and one-half-inch bias. The next larger in size should have a two-inch bias and be correspondingly wider; the next five should have a two and one-half-inch bias, and the next five a three-inch bias. The three small petals should be arranged around the covered loop of wire and pinned in place before sewing. Sew securely. Each row, as it is arranged according to size, should be pinned in place and scrutinized carefully to see that it is placed effectively. Each row should be placed a little higher than the preceding one. See that the face of the flower looks as nearly like a real rose as possible, allowing the back to look as it will.

With a little experience one soon becomes efficient and learns how to adjust the different materials. Some materials being more pliable than others, the shape of the petals may be changed slightly to meet the need. The back of the rose may be finished by adding a sufficient number of green leaves taken from some discarded flower or bought for the purpose. A small green cup is also added to finish the base; these may be bought at ribbon counters. The bud used with this rose may be made by using the three smallest petals. Some green foliage must also be used with this rose and the stem bound with a narrow gray-green ribbon, or with gum tissue which should be warmed before using. The inside petals may be of a darker shade than the outside petals.