I know More Than One Reason Why "The Hatter" Was MAD!

Well, I've had a rather interesting weekend! I have been wanting to add a selection of Cloche' Hats, (popular in the period of the 1920's) often called "Flapper Hats" in my "VictorianFantasy" Boutique! And I would never sell anything that I didn't create myself! I have sewn since my middle school "Home Economics" class! I don't sew very often, but it's alot like riding a bike in the fact that once you've figured it out, you're pretty much good to go!

So, I purchased a sewing pattern for a Cloche' hat! I spent almost the entire weekend trying to figure-out what I was doing wrong! As it turns out, the pattern was for a CHILD'S hat! I am NOT a quitter, so I simply took the pattern pieces and began drawing free hand alterations to make a new pattern suitable for an adult's head! Well, I LOVE changing things and decided that since I was basically making my own pattern, I prefered a different shape to every part of the hat with the only exception being the brim!

I'm over halfway finished with the hat's construction and with my new version of the pattern, I will have quite an assortment of Cloche' hats, in fall/winter colors to add to my Victorian shop by the end of August! Upon the debute of my hat line, I will post the history of Cloche' hats here, in my blog!

I wanted to share the story (facts) behind the sayings "Mad as a hatter" and "The mad hatter" ("featured in "Alice In Wonderland") The information below was taken from "Wikkipedia":

"At one time Danbury Ct. was the hat capital of the U.S. there was about 10 hat factories and they made hats from pelts of other natural hides. the way they kept their shape was to block them and in the process of making the hat mercury was used. The hatters inhaled this mercury fumes and the chemical got into their system eventually killing of brain cells. They would go to the local tavern after work and would start fights because their judgement was impaired. They were called Mad Hatters"