Goodbye My Pretties ... (Letting My Hats Go)

A few years ago I became obsessed with vintage hats.  It started when I purchased a portion of a collection of fantastic Edwardian hats. Soon, the closet was loaded with hats & hat boxes and there were full bins in my storage area. Kathy also had loads of great styles and we began to feature them in our space at the Elkhorn Antique Flea Market. Here's a snapshot from last year.

One of the best moments of that show was when a young customer named Chloe purchased one of Kathy's hats to wear in a July 4th parade.  Isn't she adorable? (It was fun to see her again at Elkhorn a few weeks ago!)

Hats have been good to me and I feel a little disloyal in saying that I'm going to let them go, in the interest of creating space for other things. While I still admire their beauty and unique personalities, there are other types of old things that are calling to me now. I'm realizing that having too much inventory can become a burden and stashing things away for "some day" is not the right course of action for me.

Our neighborhood rummage sale is  tomorrrow. My hats will be out with hopes that they will find new homes where they can be loved.  Goodbye my pretties...

Vintage Children's Hats

There's something about an old straw hat in a small size that charms me.  

A few of them are hanging in the sunroom.

Last summer my granddaughters borrowed two of them for a bit...

...to keep the sun off while walking Gracie.

The favorite of my small collection is this one.

I call it the "coming & going hat", as it has a brim front & back.

 It's tattered and worn...

 ...and has a little surprise inside.

Sweet!

I Saw Her From Across the Room

She had a dirty face and looked as if she'd had a rough life. Her hair was disheveled and she was wearing a bizarre-looking helmet that did nothing for her fine features. Her nose was scarred. I knew I had to bring her home. She would be the perfect girl to model some of my vintage hats.

The auction lasted about four hours. It was a strange mix of traditional, bizarre and just plain junky items. A few things were worth bringing home, but truthfully, if it wasn't for her I'd have just left. Finally she came up, and I was victorious.

She's now had her initial clean-up and I think she looks pretty good in a hat. Getting the gunk off her face without damaging her further proved more challenging than I would have imagined. Finally, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser did the trick. I touched up her nose with a little makeup and will work on a better fix one day.

Her name still eludes me. She's not whispered it to me and I haven't come up with anything that feels right for her. If you have any suggestions please let me know!