Cushion Your Fall

I've been saving this one. This was the showpiece from "Far Away." The main character has to make it on stage and then it has to be in the parade, so there were four versions of this--three in various stages of development for her to work on and this one. It is, obviously, a top hat base, with three small handmade silk pillows stitched on top. The green fabric is patterned in leaves and I used it for the apron that her aunt wears in the first scene when she's a child. It's stiffened with iron on interfacing and the edge is cut to follow the shape of the leaves. This was a completely planned hat (see the early for designed vs. found), but when it was done I still felt it needed something. At the time I was working during the day as a visual merchandiser for a fabric store and I ran through the aisles looking for something to embellish it. The four points are knitting needles of translucent plastic in various gauges. The title comes from a certain style of ladies riding helmet (the top hat would have been lined in metal to protect during falls) that were worn with a sweep of netting tied round the band often creating the bell shape echoed above. Obviously one would like to fall on pillows and not knitting needles.