The Saga of Aunt Mary's Hat

My husband has a relative going through chemotherapy right now, and some of us crafty girls in the family were tapped to come up with some head coverings to make up a little for the scalp side effects that go along with that treatment. When I took this on I thought 'A hat should be easy. If I make dresses a hat should be a breeze.' Wrong. Very wrong. I had never made a hat before and this has been a huge learning process.

My goals for what to make were these:
[a] a color that would bring out some color in the cheeks, rather than drowning out what little color is left in someone who is ill
--> I hear teal is a universally flattering color because it is supposed to bring out rosiness in cheeks
[b] a shape that would frame the face well, since usually we depend on hair to do that
--> I thought a 20's style cloche would do that since those always look so flattering to me
[c] try to hid as much of the hairline areas that would make it obvious hair was absent

After I got a confirmation of her head measurements I started making this hat from Weekend Designer. I thought that should work out well and I imagined that I would be done with it in no time. First off, I don't know if it was me or the design that was at fault, but it did not work out. It took forever to sew 90% through this pattern, and by the time I got that far and was able to try it on to see how it was going I discovered that it looked ridiculous. The brim was way too long and misshaped, and in order to fix that I would have to tear out 2/3 or my work and redesign it. This was a painful realization being that I hand-stitch everything and thick layers of materials like this are particularly painful on the fingers. But I finally sucked it up and tore out all of the work. Then I had to redesign it in order to not have to tear back even further. What I came up with still in the spirit of a 20's cloche, but much more asymmetrical and edgy. Hopefully not too edgy for her.

back, left

front, right

I haven't sewn the lining for the hat yet, but I'm so close to being done I can taste it. It has been a fairly disheartening process being that I've been working on this hat for...two and a half months! How can that be? I took a break and made a dress to reassure myself that I could still sew. I hand sewed that whole stinking dress in two and a half days...and this hat has taken me two and a half months! That's ridiculous.

Anyway, I will try to finish up the lining and get it mailed out to her as soon as possible. And I'll hope to get finished photos of that 2.5 day dress soon.