Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

Today my flickr favourites are about serious hats; being a hat lover myself and wearing more and more hats in order to hide, I confess, my totally grey hair :(
For more flickr favourites see ArtMind's blog.

1. Woman in folk costume from Renchtal in the Black Forest (Germany), 2. Mathias' candy hat4, 3. yellow stripes beret, 4. Mr. John Mod Tall Straw Hat, circa 1960s

Hats : Mongolia

I just received a Mongolian hat I bought on Ebay. I am thrilled to add this beautiful creation to my traditional hat collection. It's made out of straw and leather; there are two knobs that hold the chin strap on to the hat, they look like some decorated nuts. I quickly took some pics to show you.

Tidbits : Flickr Favourites

Inspired by a bonnet I made based on a traditional Dutch pattern, my flickr favourites of today are all about traditional headdresses.
For more flickr favourites see here.

1. Alsace girl (France), 2. the brelot (France), 3. Buckeburg (Germany), 4. Zeeland (The Netherlands)

Challenge : Overview 5

The European street team of Etsy organizes weekly challenges in order to stimulate its members to create other things as usual.
I enjoy these challenges very much; so here again an overview of my entries in the last 11 challenges (I only missed one week because of the hospital stay):



Burst of Colour Messenger Bag
Challenge by JaneBoFelt: Burst of Colour


One Hour Post Dracula
Challenge by toosis: Tim Burton Style Gothic Fantasy


Peppermint Molecule
Challenge by dinafragola: Food


Autumn Leaves on a Hat
Challenge by Sumikoshop: Fall is coming

Enchanted Palm Frond Pouch
Challenge by BlueTerracotta: The Enchanted Forest


Old School Hat
Challenge by alatvian: Old School


Life on Mars Neck Warmer
Challenge by Serpentaires: Life on Mars


Blue Bow Fragola Hat (for dinafragola)
Challenge by LeelaBijou: This one is for you

White Xmas Hat
Challenge by swiedebie: All I Want for Christmas

Back to Nature Necklace
Challenge by Ravenhill: Back to Nature

Purple Gnome Hat
Challenge by Jealousydesign: Gnomes and Trolls

Hats : Tubeteika

I managed to buy 2 skull caps from Uzbekistan for my traditional hat collection. I have always been in love with those colourfull exotic skull caps from Central Asia. They are called tubeteikas (tubete means top or peak in Tatar) and are worn by men, women and children. Tubeteikas are different between regions and vary in shape (round or squared), ornament, colour, embroidery, fabrics, decoration etc. They are made of two or more layers of fabric quilted and fixed by silk or cotton threads. Most often, black satin or velvet are chosen for men's caps, and silk, velvet, and brocade for women's caps. They can be embroidered in silk, decorated with beadwork, gold and silver threads, beads and metal pieces, and the decoration is full of symbols.



The first cap is for a man from Chust, and is the most common one. It is black with four white patterns in the shape of a chili pepper flower capsicum (called "qalampur"); these flowers are supposed to protect a man's health from four sides, while the sixteen small patterned arches, located along the edge of the cap, mean a wish to have a big and friendly family with sixteen children.

The second cap is for a woman from Surkhandarya and has a very colourful embroidery in creed stitch (called "iroki"). Young Uzbek women often complete their modern clothing with a bright elegant scull-cap.


You can see some beautiful examples of Tubeteikas and read more about them here:

Tubeteika suits everybody
Hat Collection from Central Asia
Duppi-A Teapot cover? No, it is national headdress!

Hats : New Creations

I am pretty proud of my last two hat creations; experimented a bit with velvet and heavy wool felt. The turquoise velvet one was made for the European Street Team challenge of last week: AQUA. Especially the wool felt I love to work with; it feels thick and strong, does not fray and is lovely for making decorations like flowers and leaves. Got myself a lot more of this woollen felt,also a bit thinner which is a bit better for my sewing machine who had some difficulties with the thick magenta I used now.

Buttons & Fabrics

My mother and grandmother were both seamstresses. To keep me quiet while they were working, they used to give me the button box. They let me sort the buttons according to colour, size, material, etc. They let me string them on threads to make necklaces and bracelets. So from the very beginning I have been occupied with buttons and their decorative character. I am still much more intrigued by the decorative part of the button than by its functional character. So I call my botton work "button art", because I arrange them in a artistic and decorative way, not in a functional way.

Both variation and repetition play a role in my art. The variation that I encounter while collecting my buttons is enormous; variation in colour, form, size and material. Arranging the butons in such a way that the variation becomes clear and visible in an interesting pattern is one of the ways I work. On the other hand, also the tiniest plain and simple shirt-button can become a work of art when it is arranged in a multi-repetition of vary many identical objects. That's the other thing I am working on.

The "pointe" is that such a bunch of decorative buttons thrown together in a non-functional way suddenly becomes a funcional "whole": a necklace, a cuff, a ring, etc. That is what keeps my inspiration going; I started making necklaces and bracelets out of my buttons, and now pins, rings, and cuffs have been added. And I am working on plans for belts, shoulderpieces, skirts, etc. The possibilities are endless !

As I said before, my mother and grandmother were seamstresses. But they never had the patience to teach me how to sew. As a poor student I still wanted to wear beautiful and special clothes; so I bought a 2nd-hand "how to sew" book and started to make simple hippy clothes for myself, using my grandmother's old handsewing machine. After many years of serious professional life with no time for sewing at all, I have now started sewing again, this time with th super electronic sewing machine that I inherited from my mother. Because I have always been very impressed by the bags and hats that my grandmother and mother were making and wearing, I thought it would be great to be able to make those too. I started with simple flat bags, but got really excited about getting them three dimensional. The architectonical construction of the 3D form, and the challenge to make it stand up all on its own, are still very intriguing processes for me. Especially when I found out that a hat is in fact a bag with the bottom on top. Many bags and hats have the same basic 3D construction, you only have to turn them upside down to give them the other function. Thus in my sewing work I am inspired by the constructional and architectonical part, but I have increasingly added a decorative element to it by means of my buttons. In that way I can combine my button art with my sewing aspirations.