July | 2025 | If I Had My Own Blue Box:

Who likes stripes?

I was in the mood to work with both wheat and abaca plaits this weekend. The result was a sewing fury and not one but two hats finished this evening.

The Mousquetaire style hat combines copper wheat straw and walnut brown abaca plait. I really like how this hat came out. The stripes make the crown look taller than the 5″ it is. One aspect that does make me waver is how much the contrast emphasizes the variations on the copper plait.

The tapered crown hat combines black wheat straw and walnut brown abaca plait. This turned out to be the more difficult of the two styles. While I can probably make this style in my sleep, and often do work in the near dark on this style, it turned out to be a challenge when using two different plaits. I find the stripes throw the eyes, making the tapered crown look more vertical and the crown look more round. Definitely learned a bit with this hat.

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What I'm Working On

on July 28, 2025 at 6:07 pm Comments (2)

4th Hat of Summer

I am excited to share this hat. I purposely sun faded a hank of too-pink straw to get a straw plait with a variety of pinks in more natural hues. It worked beautifully!

Shades of pink wrap around this hat’s crown and brim.

I also have a sewing case for you.

This box style sewing case, aka “housewife”, is a cream silk damask on the inside and a brown leather outside, bound in cotton sateen ribbon. The box for this case is 2″×2″×4″. The wool needle pages are hand embroidered.

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What I'm Working On

on July 17, 2025 at 5:03 pm Comments (1)

If You Could

If you could attend a program, presentation, or workshop in person with me, what would it be?

Why do I ask?

This past Saturday, I participated in GCVM’s Hometown History Expo. The one day event turned out to be an excellent opportunity to network with local history sites and program providers.

I planned a simple make-n-take combining pen wipes and buttons, drawing together fancy work, letter writing, re-use, and Rochester’s button manufacturing history. Last minute, I decided to bring along display copies of my books and one of my pinking machines.

In chatting with people from various historical societies and history sites from around the local region, numerous people asked if I do demonstration, talks, and such.

Of course, I said yes and gave them one of my old cards, which I need to replace.

In the past, I’ve done a variety of programs, including tabled demonstrations, workshops, and presentations.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you likely know promoting myself is not one of my strengths. Thus, this post and question:

If you could attend a program, presentation, or workshop in person with me, what would it be?

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What I'm Working On

on July 13, 2025 at 7:06 pm Comments (3)

Second Hat of Summer

This tapered crown combines a dusty rose with grey vining around they crown and brim. This hat is entirely hand sewn and hand blocked. The crown is approx 20.5″ around the lined inside, making this suitable for a smaller to average size head. The brim is 11.5″ wide. Note: This straw is softer than other straws I offer.