The Darning Foot Cloche

Here are some pictures, which I posted over on BurdaStyle, of a hat I made a few years ago for a magazine submission. The project never landed in the publication's pages, but it sat on my daybed for a while, feeling quite dejected. But now that I have this display head I thought I dust it off for a show-and-tell. The hat is made from a boucle knit from Vogue Fabrics. I essentially emptied out my half-used Metrosene and Gutterman threads onto my sewing machine, attached my darning foot and did free-motion embroidery to create this stiffened fabric.  I just cut a huge chunk of fabric and stitched away, layering color after color on it. It shrank under all that stitching, so I continually had to add more fabric. I'd try on the hat and then add more fabric. The beauty of this kind of stitching, it's almost like felting since it pounds the fabric together while stitching. The finishing touch? A set of 1940s black felt millinery bows along the side. I think the cloche is cute even though the display head wears it more than I do.

Try using the darning foot at home. Remember to drop the feed dogs and set the stitch length to 0 (YOU are the stitch length is how I remember what to do). Pick a woven fabric that can take the punishment of multiple layers of stitching and have a ton of fun. Keep your finger away from the sewing needle.