New-York tribune., 1910-05-22
HAND PAINTEDHATS
Then Come High, but q CleUer
Girl Can Make One.

T,uclv these days is the woman VINO has
skill i'm painting flowers. With few tubes
of color. an untrimmed hat Of fine straw
and little time she can produce a con-
fection for her head such as the less clever
woman is forced to pay $50. SIS or 500 to
secure.
Hand painted hats are one OF the fads
Of the season, a recent fad, for the nrst
of them were only lately imported. Those
that are we'll done are really exquisite and
thev have the advantage OF requiring little
trimming. for the painted flowers are
enough.
The first step for the woman who wants
10 crown her locks with one Of these hand
nafnted hats, and doesn't care 70 pay out
a handful OF dollars. is TO buy an un-
trimmed hat OF some becoming shape II
should be wide brimmed. for toques ana
turbans do not lend themselves TO TINS
STYLE OF decoration. Also it should be OF
some fine straw, Leghorn or Panama or
| something of that sort Rough straw Is
difficult to paint, and would not show on
the design so we'll The color of the straw
should be white or cream, since these can
most easily be transformed to other colors.
| The next thing is 20 make pattern OF
the briro of the hat and the top Of the
|
being the parts that are painted. The
floral design should be drawn on the pat
| tern. and then cut out with a pair Of sharp
scissors, that it may be stencilled on the
hat. The prettiest designs are vines bear
fne lunches of blossoms. Wfstaria, for in
stance, is very effective. Small punches OF
flowers. roses or violets or orchids. dot
| ted at intervals over the hat, are pretty,
too. On one hat Just imported from France
uere painted punches composed Of two or
| three pink roses, a few leaves and some
bright blue forget-re-nots- The punches,
| nv the vay. should not be over three inches
| long
The outlining color used IN stencilling the
design on the hat should be one that will
sink in with the distinctive hue Of the hat
and 1t must be put on with a steady hand,
for a wavering outline spoils the effect.
The outline finished. the body color should
be laid on with a fiat brush, as rapidly as
possible The hat is meant TO appear a
monotone background for the floral deco
ration, ana the color or the background
must be one that VIII harmonic with the
flowers. The flowers may have several
colors and may be very elaborate, but they
are most effective when simple in design
and broadly done, with as few colors as
possible.
The paints known as tapestry dyes are
best for this work: they are inexpensive
and they come ready prepared in liquid
form. so that they sink readily into the
straw, changing its color completely. 4
great deal Of care must he taken 10 apply
the body color evenly 4 blotched effect
makes very unbeautiful hat. 1t is we'll
to practise on some old hat or piece Of
straw before undertaking the new hat
The painting done. the rest Is very
simple. Much trimming would only de-
tract from the real decoration. A charming
model seen at wedding lately had a back
ground of robins egg blue. with little
punches OF pink and yellow roses at inter
walls on the brim. just as If they had fallen
there A wide strand OF blue raline was
/ laid loosely about the crown held in place
, BY small fiat bows of velvet ribbon, yellow,
! to match the soft tone OF the painted yell
| low rose petals.