MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS® Derby Hat Countdown – 81 of 101

The Derby Hat Countdown continues featuring 101 Derby hats created by MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS®!

Our hat for today is the “Cheryl” wide brim chapeau that is found in Salon 1 of the Derby Hat Collection at maggiemae.com.

The process of creating a custom Derby chapeau can lead to some unexpected surprises!

Last Derby season a wonderful customer named Cheryl asked if I could create a wide brim hat to match a dress that she had found. She wanted a design that would combine the dimensions of my “Chris” Derby hat with the trims of the “Rosanne”.

Cheryl sent me a photo of the dress and I pulled together a swatch sheet of fabrics that matched. I always stress to my custom hat ladies the need for them to see the fabrics in person as computer monitors often translate colors differently. The mailing of swatches is time well spent in creating the perfect Derby chapeau.

When Cheryl received the swatches she found that the red and the tan colors I had sent her were not quite a match to the colors in her actual dress. That’s when she came up with a surprising solution to our dilemma. She bought a big box of crayons, found the “red” and “antique brass” crayons that matched her dress and mailed them to me.

I quickly found a tomato red shantung and a brassy dupioni silk that matched both crayons perfectly and we were good to go!

I began by creating a nearly 18-inch Chris size hat foundation in off-white dupioni silk. I then layered tomato red shantung and red silk organza to create two large rose curls to tie in the trims from the Rosanne design. A medley of leaves and a sash were created out of brassy dupioni silk; soft mocha tan tulle was layered and gathered around the crown. Finally, I fashioned five medium-length black silk organza “feathers” and added them to the rose curls for the understated black accent that Cheryl had requested.

For more views of the Cheryl chapeau shown above, please visit the Cheryl hat webpage.

Please visit our KY Derby Hat Collection for more Derby hat ideas, and enjoy strolling through our four Derby hat salons!

Thank you for visiting us here at Hats and Horses for Hat 81 of our Derby Hat Countdown.

Just 80 Derby chapeaux to go ’til Derby Day!

Sally