Mockups and bustles and hats.. oh my!

Had a weekend full of sewing...  bless Jay for being content to stay in most of the weekend to give me lots of time to sew and try and catch up on my backlog of projects with deadlines!  I got his size of the vest pattern traced out onto butcher paper and a mock up cut for that.  This vest for him is planned to be my HSF #5 submission.  (Clearly my plans to only do the half marathon have failed spectacularly  *wry chuckle*)  Maddeningly, a size 40 fits him with next to no alterations needed.  If only I were so lucky!

My bustle for my Victorian Undergarments class got done with a certain amount of self induced extra work.  The center back seam is significantly curved and being smart, I clipped the very edge of the center back edges so I would know which side was center back.  Foolishly, I was so sure I knew which side was center back that I didn't look for my clip.  It wasn't until I had 2 channels of bone casing stitched on that I realized my error.  At that point, re-cutting and remarking the boning channels on a new pair of back pieces seemed like less work than picking out all the stitching on the boning channels.  On the upside, I'd been thinking I liked the contrast of the boning channels on the fabric and wished they were on the right side of the fabric to be a bit decorative, so I got to do that on v2.   I do think the precut hoop wire I bought might have been a trifle short though.  There's about an inch of space in each channel not filled with hoop wire and it makes the sides pucker a little oddly.  There will be skirts over it anyway, so it won't be noticeable.

I got an idea of the direction I wanted to proceed in as well as my fabric and core trims chosen for my hat for my 1880s Bustle hat class.   My inspirations are these 3 later 1880s hats:

From the Met.  c 1885  
I love the tilt of the brim and the huge bow

Found on Pintrest and I can't seem to track down the original source

I love the big  what appears to be rhinestone  buckle on the hat in the top right corner

From Flordiamemory.com.  Love the huge bow!

I've been in love with striped ribbon lately and serendipitously, when I was in Hancock Fabrics looking for pale blue 1/4" grosgrain for my chemise,  I found some lovely 2"  black and white striped grosgrain having no idea at that moment what I would use it for.

A focus for this hat was kind of difficult initially because I don't actually have an 1880s dress with which to coordinate the hat. (All in good time!) After thinking I would play it safe and go with basic black which goes with everything, I remembered some gorgeous dark teal silk that I'd seen fabric shopping the previous weekend so I went back and bought a yard of it to cover the hat...  as well as the other 7 yards left on the bolt for when I get around to actually making a dress.

Fabric and basic trimmings for hat

Most importantly, I came up with what I think is an absolutely wonderful idea for HSF #6 Fairy Tales. I'd been struggling on this challenge for a project that was manageable within the time frame and with everything else I had going on.  Then I read an excerpt of an new book, which is essentially a classic fairy tale updated to a modern (but still suitable for HSF) period and something totally FUN hit me as an idea.  I don't want to spoil the surprise until I submit the actual challenge but I am squirming like a little kid on Christmas eve right now.  If I can do my idea justice, I will have a (hopefully) pretty unique submission.