Millinery class: My straw hat

Now that you know how to block a hat, here is the first hat I did block:

The teacher asked us to bring an old straw hat to refurbish it. I was lucky enough to get one for free and not having to drive all around town 'cause the school was giving away this one just the day after!
You can see the before/during/after here:

I think it was some kind of gardener hat, but didn't have any shape anymore. I first wanted to make a cowboy hat out of it: it was rodeo time, here in Houston. But after blocking it, I realized it was kinda awful.

So I blocked it again, and made a more formal hat. The formal look is due to the shape of the wood block and the satin trimming. This hat would be perfect for a wedding!

Even though it looks easy, I'm still amazed by the amount of time you have to work on a single hat! Just to hand sew the sweatband always take me forever!