Tweed Ride 2012: Triple Houndstooth

Sunday was the Tweed Ride, and of course we were on it!  Nothing is more fun than dressing up retro and riding around town.  Here is the crowd riding about a block from my house.  I admit that we peeled off here--we had to get ready for the party.








 We started off in Franklin Square in downtown DC.  Everyone was in their finest and there was a lot of inspiration to be had.

 I have never been into the tiny top hat for women, until I saw this woman's hat.  Love it!  I think the scale is just perfect--not so small as to be entirely twee, but not so full-sized so that it loses its sauciness.







Cidell and Liz got custom Maryland license plates for their bikes. I was pretty jealous and think I might need a DC one. I just can't decide what to put on it! Any ideas?












I had a lot of fun putting together my look.  I spent the 10 days before the ride working on two different hats, and couldn't decide which way to go.  In the end, I figured that the chance for triple houndstooth (hat, dress, and tights) does not arise very often and must be seized upon.


The dress is Butterick 5520, out of a nice thick wool that kept me warm despite the chilly day..











I am quite proud of my hat.  Judging by the prices for hand-blocked felt hats on Etsy (though they don't seem to have many sales) I feel that I have now *almost* justified the hundreds of dollars I have spent on millinery supplies and a class over the years.












I bought a vintage wooden head form on Etsy last year and spent many hours sanding it down to my freakishly small head size.

After looking at tutorials on blogs and YouTube (tutorials and inspiration photos are on my Hats Pinterest board), I wet and steamed the felt hood.  I started out with the idea of doing a pillbox hot, and used my metal form for that (the linked photo gives you more of an idea of what the hood started out looking like, I didn't think to take a flat photo).  But it just didn't look right.

So I wetted and steamed it again and started over.  The hood was very thick and a little difficult to shape, so I kept it fairly simple.





All my Tweed Ride photos are here and the sewing/hatmaking relevant photos are here.

As I mentioned, I was working on another hat simultaneously.  I decided it was too great not to get *some* exposure, so I did a costume change before the party.  It also involved a new blouse and revitalized skirt, so stay tuned...