I’m making a hatband for a friend who just moved back to New Zealand this year. The hatband is going onto a very nice black felt cowboy hat said friend found in Goodwill.
If I were demented enough to make more of these, I’d charge around $300 for the finished product. I am being paid for this one, but it’s very much a labor of love. I miss my friend and hope he’s doing well. I also wanted to determine if I had the patience to do this much small-scale bead embroidery. Because if I can do a hatband, beaded book pages are not far behind!
It took about two and half weeks, sewing over nearly 25 hours total. Mostly during TV or music.
The beadwork consists of four stylized Arizona landscapes in bead embroidery, using #14 and #15 beads. For the uninitiated, each bead is around .75 to 1.00 millimeters in length, and a little less in width.
I washed and wet-blocked the embroidered canvas band so it could dry flat. Now I need to put the leather edges and backing into place, and attach the buckle and strap. I’ll have the hat professionally cleaned and re-blocked, because it deserves it.
The whole hatband will be around 25″ (63.5cm), and adjustable with multiple strap holes.
Since I started an amazing new job (living wage! in Arizona! with six-figure potential!) this week, writing and art may have to take a back seat for a while. I am working like crazy behind the scenes, though: there’s book art due for one show in mid-October, both my art reps are having great fall presentations (and hopefully sales), and I have a lot of Lonhra Sequence material to write.