BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Budget Decor Decorating with vintage hats

When my gramma passed away we were in her house and I found all of these great hats that she had saved from the 40s. I even have a couple of photos of her in them. I was wondering if anyone uses hats for decoration? I know a coatrack would work but I would like something to hang on the wall maybe...anyone have any ideas on how to display my hats?

I have a few hats that are just too pretty, or fancy, to wear. I hung 2 on a mirror that has large hooks on each side. The others I just hung on the wall, with straight pins, around the mirror, to make a grouping. The grouping hung in the entry, so it sort of was a good theme for that room. I loved it.

That sounds just beautiful!

What a terrific idea! I love vintage hats and the idea of decorating with them would keep them out for me to enjoy all the time.

Hi, dont hang those gorgeous vintage hats on the wall. When your grandmother wore them, no woman would dream of leaving the house without a stunning hat to compelte her fashion ensemble. Many actresses careers were furthered by the beauty adn mystery of her eyes benath the brim of a fine ladies hat. Dont you miss those days of femionine charm, allure and glamour? i am so happy that vintage fashion is in again. So many designers are adopting fashion lines, styles and designs from the 1930's and 40's,and I for one, love them. I ama a custom millinery designer and i base my hat designs on vintage hats of teh 1920's 30's and 40's. You can view my hand blocked, custom millinery creatoins at <a href=BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

HOw do you do UBB code? I dont know how? thanks allison

Yes, I have a friend who uses them and hangs them up around her house.

The only hesitation I would have about hanging the hats on a wall would be dust. Probably, though, you may have spotted parts of your house that don't collect dust as fast as others. Maybe one of those spots would be a good display wall.

There's no sense putting them in boxes and not enjoying them, though! Think what a conversation started your hat wall could be, too.

Well, they are all in my closet in a big hat box and my dads little suitcase from when he was a boy. I am thinking about hanging them in my sewing room.

I agree about the dust issue. I like the idea of the being in your sewing room. If you display them you give them more respect than keeping them in a closet, unless your protecting their resale value. I would probably create some sort of hanging pattern you like with them on the wall and cover the with plexiglass for protection from dust. Either way you get to enjoy the memories. Unless you are protecting their financial value, if you have too many to display you could still honor your grandmother by keeping one and have it mounted in a shadowbox frame with her picture you spoke of and take pictures of the others then sell them. You can always revisit her memory then with the photographs of the ones you sold.

Well, I really doubt they are worth anything to anyone but me. I like your idea about the shadowbox frame and her picture. That sounds really neat.

I thought about the sewing room because most of the stuff I have in there was hers. I have her sewing machine, the cabinet, sewing box and some other stuff. No one else was interested in that stuff and one of her favorite things to do was sew.

Your sewing room sounds like the perfect place for that hats. Sounds like such a nice room, too.

Thanks cela...it is a bit of a mess right now as it used to be my sons room and we had painted it dark grey with a red stripe above the beadboard. So I started to paint and then the weather turned cold and so no more painting till next spring. But I managed to get most of that dark grey covered. It was like a cave in there as there are only 2 small windows. But it is perfect for my sewing room!

That reminds me. I used to hang my collection of straw hats in my bebdroom but put them away a few years ago. Right now I am in the process of painting my bedroom. I should get them out and rethink that. I will take a pic of my collection, of which I totally forgotten about until I saw this thread. I may or may not rehang them. I think they all need a good shower first.

Love to see your photos Navigaar

I will get them out tomorrow. I don't know how I forgot I had all these hats. I also have this tiny, little set of hats. Not big enough for a person, that I hung on one small wall. I hung the smallest one at the top then they got bigger as it went down. I wonder if I kept them. Hmmm. I see one here, hold on, let me get a pic. brb......................

Here are two little porcelan hats. The one on the left has a surprize inside. You've probably seen one of these before or may even have one:



What's This? A BEE in the bonnet??? :Wink:

Cute

Aww, too cute! Navigaar, you are going to have to give me a tutorial on posting photos in your post. For the life of me I can't do it! Connie

Go here [url=www.imageshack.com]Click[/url]

Browse

Select pic

Upload

Take url from very top of results page ie: Highlight then copy.

Click on this icon in reply Eventhough it doesn't work for me here it might for you. I have to type them in. That'd be img in brackets then /img in brackets. If I type them in to show you they won't show. A bracket is this: [ then this ] around img then /img.

Paste url between Image brackets.

[/img]http://img2.imageshack.us/content.php?page=done&l=img2/3554/642009.jpg&via=mupload[/img/]



img in brackets then /img in brackets.

[img/img[img=http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/3554/642009.th.jpg]img/img]

Ok, so maybe you can't teach an old dog new tricks!

[img/]BellaOnline ALERT: For anti-spam reasons, we restrict the number of URLs allowed in a given post. You have exceeded our maximum number of URLs.

Finallly...now if I can only remember what I did!

HEY!!!! You did it!!

Not a trick but on some sites it's Tricky. Just practice and it'll be no big deal.

I went into my room a half hour ago to dig out those hats, they are in the back of a big closet, and ended up doing 6 OTHER things and forgot the hats.

I'll try again in a bit. I know you want to see them.

LOL, I get sidetracked like that all of the time! Some days I wonder how I ever get anything accomplished!

Here ya go c. Most of them. I'm sure there are stll some odd little headware pieces around, vintage, that were in my Mum's things that belonged to her Mum or even GrandMum. I seem to remember some bed bonnets and a couple very old bed jackets and a satin bathrobe. If I come across them I will take pics and show you, o.k.?

Aww, they are just great! I have 2 straw hats. One of them has a huge sunflower on it but it won't stay on my head very good so it isn't much use around here. The wind blows like crazy here most days. Would love to see more photos! Connie

Well c, I see what you did and how it actually showed up is a mystery to me but somehow it did.

So, this must be your little Sweetie? She is precious. Now, is that a REAL dog or a stuffed animal? WOW!!

If you Quote this post you will see how I would have done the pic. I will quote what you did then how I would do it.

Well, it is so long I can't copy it.

Here is what I would have done:



Now click on Quote and see how I did it then got back and click on your post with the pic in it.

Thanks, and yes that is my grandaughter with my puppy. He is 7 months now. A stuffed version would really be a lot easier! He has been through one round of obedience and in August we will go back for another set of classes. Really he is very smart, but just a puppy and gets bored so easily. The two of them are thick as thieves!

Ok, so finally sucess!! Thanks so much!

...the frame with the photo of my house in it I had bought at a garage sale for $5 and I stripped it and redid the frame and added a sepia photo of my house...hung it up yesterday

Well of course. They are both babies and they Love their Mum/GrandMum. What's HIS name? Can you get some more pics of him? What kind is he? A Great Dane? I'm not a big Dog person so I am just guessing. Your grand-daughter is just so cute. I'd love to give her a big HUG.

Pretty. I have an embroidered picture of a house. I think my Grandmother did. If I find it I'll take a pic and show you.

LOL, you may be sorry you taught me how to upload photos!! I just took these two:







Yep, he is a great dane. They are very sweet dogs. He is my fifth. They have a very short life span and which earned them the heartbreak breed of the dog world title...or so one of my vets told me. His name is Morty, short for Morton. We didn't name him, he came with that name and we figured that he already knew it and hated to change it. He was 6 weeks and 14lbs when he came home. Now he is 111 (will find out next week his updated weight) and 7 months.

My grandaughter is a hugger. She loves to walk up behind you and hug your legs. She is too cute. You would just love her!

Yes c. Not actually knowing the what and why, I can summize from what you have said so far that her life so far hasn't been too pleasant. Children like that really do touch my heart in the most intimate way. I feel their pain. You kind of want to make things up to them for all they have gone through. But at least you have resucued her from further suffering. I have to commend you on adopting her too. What a generous and unselfish act that is. I just don't know what else to say. I am tearing up writing this post. Thinking of you and what you are doing makes my day. You ARE a Blessing.

I found the two embroidered pic's. One is of a cottage and one is of a sailing ship. I am thinking the sailing ship was done by probably my Great Grand-mother since we had many maritime men in the family. This could date back to the late 1800's, early 1900's. I went to take the pics but my batteries in my camera needed charging, so there ya go. In a while, o.k.?

It took a while for the pics of the puppy to load but NOW I see them. WOW, he is a Big Boy. So tell me, are you going to go into debt feeding him?? Hahahahaha. Maybe you should buy some stock in the dog food company. He is quite the looker. How much does he eat?

Thanks so much for your sweet words. I think anyone would do the same for their grandchild.

I would love to see the pictures of your embrodiered pictures. That is just wonderful that you still have the one your great gramma made. I have one of ducks that my gramma did. I forget what it is called.

Morty eats 33 lbs of dog food in 20 days. My husband is pretty anal about keeping up with stuff like that or I would not even know! He gets 2 cans of dog food a day as well. I mix it in with his dry food. In the am he eats 3 cups and for supper 5 cups of dry. I never thought about it but maybe he could be the spokesdog for that dog food company! It is definately not cheap to feed a large breed dog. What really hits your pocket book is the flea/tick medication, heartworm medication and trips to the vet. It is like buying medication for a small human! He has only been sick once since we had him though, so I feel pretty fortunate about that! The last dane we had needed daily medication for her thyroid and hip displasia. She had a lot of health issues, but was the sweetest girl. I still miss her a lot.

Geeeze. That's a lot of food!!

Just having the Beardies or when I just had iguanas, 6 at one time once, all full grown, they eat what I eat so feeding them was negligable to my food expense. I always give them way more than they actually eat so a lot I just tossed.

Yes, make him get a job to help pay for his food. Hahahahahaha. Don't tell him I said that, he'll be mad at me. :Wink: Let me ask you this. Does he like cartoons?? Does he watch T.V. with your Grand-daughter? I have this little thing I want to look for. I will post it then you click on it with her in your lap. It's really cute. Give me a few minutes to find it.

O.K., back to the embroidered pics:


I found this:



Under this:



In the same frame.

That is so cool that you found both of those in one picture! Too bad the sewer didn't add her intials or the year. Is sewer even a word?!

Mary Jayne doesn't watch too much tv, only if you are watching something with animals in it and she loves Sesame Street.

I will round her up when you make the post! Connie

Ok, so I glanced this on the active topics and realized I wrote sewer, and I was meaning sew-er, the person that stitched the pieces!

Seamstress? Embroiderer? Whatever. I know what you meant. "Sewer" just doesn't look right, does it? down in the "sewer". Hahahahahaaa.

I have tried to find what I was talking about for her to watch but it looks like it's not there anymore BUT, if I look long enough I might still find it. I didn't mean for you to say her actual name. You should probably delete that for her protection. You never know who might be reading this. We have to protect the babies. Go delete that now, will you? Let's call her something else, *****.

O.K., round up the girl and click on this. I hope she enjoys it or at least giggles a little. It's not the one I was looking for but we are getting closer: Click Here

Scroll down so it fills the whole screen OR go to "View" on your toolbar then go down to Full Screen and click on it OR just hit F11. To get back just hit your esc key, upper left on keyboard. If that doesn't get you back go to very top right, where there is Nothing, of your screen with your cursor the go to "Tools" and go down and unclick Full Screen. Maybe you shouldn't try to go to full screen. Hahahahahahahahaaaaa.

I hope she likes this. I am still going to look for the one I had in mind in the first place though.

Ah she loved it! She is not sure what a hampster is though! It was really cute!

Oh, I love the picture of the girl in the straw hat...just beautiful!

Well, I couldn't figure out how to edit that post...

Maybe you could GET her a hampster? But watch out, Big Dog might get jealous.

For sure he would worry it to death! I always feel sorry for the cat. He harasses it contantly. Our cat has claws and is always scratching Morty right in the face and legs but he doesn't care at all.

Hahahahahahaa. Get a llama. They spit and kick. That should intimidate HIM. Hahahahaha. Just kidding. It's at least be Bigger than he is. He is just a big baby, isn't he? I couldn't imagine having such a big animal. Maybe outside, a giraff or something like that. How about a big ape? Hahahahaaaa.

Now, I used to have a male Shitzu. I loved him to death but all the darn Lapping. Lap, lap, lap, lap, lap, day and night, lap, lap, lap........... Drove me NUTS. I figured he was cleaning himself after 5,6,7,8 laps but this guy just went on and on and on. I think it was PAST cleaning and he was only doing it to bother me. Hahahaha. Especially in the middle of the night, lap, lap, lap. I'd have to put him in another room to get any sleep. Does Morty sleep in your room?? He is such a big baby, I'd think so.

I HOPE you clip the cat's claws. You don't want him to get a scratched eyeball or an infection. Get one of those claw trimmers. I, when I had cats, used baby clippers. My Beardies have tiny NEEDLES for claws. I would always keep the iguanas claws clipped too. They can make a real mess of you.

LOL. a llama...might have a bit of trouble talking the hubby into that one!

I don't clip the cats claws, he is outside/inside and his claws are pretty worn down. He is 3 now and I don't know how he would react to that!

That just reminded me of something else ***** might like. Let me go fnd it.

Well, probably the time limit had expired to "Edit". Ask a mod to do it. They can always edit. Just ask her to replace it with 5 stars, like this *****, our little code. :Wink:

O.K., here's another one for the girl. Go get her.

Click Here

Oh well. Just copy and paste the url, from the http: to .shtml, into your address window then click GO. I don't know why that didn't work.

The reason that one didn't work is because you must have hit "shift" while you were putting in the first symbol. See how it's kind of squiggly compared to the other's are straight?

Here, I'll plug it in for you:
The Llama song

Ahh,yes. I often use the { instead of the [. I think it's prettier. I fixed it. But you can't do that with a link.

Thanks Spirit. c, what she said. :Wink: I don't think she's awake yet or she's at church.

Awww, thanks so much, she loved it!

Ok, so now that llama song will be stuck in my head all day. We had to listen to it again while barbie danced to it!

Mr. Stinky enjoying his bath yesterday afternoon, thought you would enjoy!

Also, here is my collection (some hats) in my bedroom. Hanging on hooks: Cowboy hats, one from each of my grandfathers, scarf was my grandmothers, cane was my husband's grandfathers, belt with buckle was my father in laws. Stuff on the top is hubbys and a few of my caps

Hahahahaahahahaaaaa.... Ya, that's a hazard with that song. I have another one in mind. I'll post it shortly. Is SHE having fun yet?

I came across a couple of those very, old bed jackets I mentioned before but they are so wrinkled from being stored for so long, I'll have to wash them before I take any pics. I think I know where the old satin robe is. I want to get that too to show you. I think it's from the 20's, my Grandmother's. I haven't located the Bed Bonnets yet though. Oh and I also found some very OLD baby shoes. One pair and ONE shoe.

We Like the Moon

Hahahahahahaha......

AWWW, he doesn't look too happy in there. Hahahahah. Takes up the whole tubby. Hahahahahahaaaaaa. Must be hard for you to wash him.

Well, I think "We like the moon" was the biggest hit yet! I thought it was kinda creepy lol.

Oh he loves to have a bath. He was laying down because he was tired of standing. Usually he will drink the water from the faucet as long as it is running. He is nice smelling still!

I WAS a wee bit hesitant to post that one. I was also afraid you or she might find it a bit scary. But as long as she liked it, that's all that matters. NOW I bet THAT song will be going through your head all day too.

Along the same lines as decorating with vintage hats. A few years ago I was at an antique mart talking with a woman who collected Vintage Tea Aprons, of which I had some I inhereted. I knew they would just rot away in the box so I sold them to her. She said I should seal them in some kind of display box and hang them on a kitchen wall. Since I don't and didn't have the space or inclination to do that I sold them to her. Here are a few that resemble what I had. I had about 2 dozen of them, I think. She was very anxious to have them and she paid me a fair price, I think, I was satisfied:

Oh, they are so beautiful! I especially like the first one. I have 2 places in my kitchen that I hang aprons. One is my great grammas, one my gramma, 2 I made for myself (one in home economics as a project) and then some other ones I have came across.

I used to keep them in 2 display baskets in my much larger kitchen I had before I moved to my apt.

Hey c. You said she doen't want to keep a hat on, try this. Buy 3 of these.



One for you, one for her and one for Morty. Hahahahahahaa. You'd need to tie his on I think. Go out for a walk in the rain and see if she keeps it on. I think she might. That'd be SO cute. The three of you walking along in the rain. Does she know what an umbrella is for? Have someone take a picture of you all from the back holding hands. How sweet.

I washed the robe and the bed jackets and a lace blouse I found. EWWWWW, STINKY!! Nothing like 60, 70 or 80 years old satin that hasn't been washed in as many years. I washed them by hand TWICE in hot, soapy water then let them soak in clean water for a while before I wrung them out and hung them up to dry. The robe really is stinking up my whole house. Smells like wet dog. YUCK!!! I think it needs to go through the machine. I'll post them once they are dry.

LOL on the hats...people already think we are crazy for having such a large dog. For sure that would make the front page news here...a photo of all of us in that hat. I don't even think we own an umbrella. It doesn't rain here enough for that.

So now you will have to do something with that stuff now that you've gone to the trouble of washing it!

I must learn to REMEMBER to turn the camera OFF once I download the pictures. I wore the batteries down AGAIN!! I remembered another thing I have, it's Peach satin, Grandma LOOVED her satin, slip. I know exactly where that is.

The sizes of these things vary so she must had had some from a time when she was much smaller so some are older than others. That's seems logical.

Have to wait now for the Batteries to charge, AGAIN.

Here is a cute, little song by one of our local artists. He is on our listener supported private radio station here. I really like this song. Maybe Barbie can dance again. :Wink:

Make you Crazy

It is a cute song...she didn't much care for it though lol.

Well, the best I can do it repackage it all clean for someone else to find someday. It'll all be wrapped in tissue in a zipped up plastic bag in the back of my closet.

I often wonder what will become of all my treasures! I had told my son the other day we should label some of the stuff some how. Maybe make an album with photos and descriptions. I don't think he was impressed with my idea. I think I am the only sentimental person in my family!

Awwww. I told my sister how my son and I had picked out some dishes that we both liked. She just laughed and said when I got a daughter-in-law she was going to throw all my old **** out anyway.

At first I saw the possible truth in her flip remark, but then I remembered trying to get the kid to give up a 10-year-old backpack for a new one. Ha! Future d-i-l will have her hands full if she's trying to get said offspring to throw away anything he's sentimental about.

For years, I had my wedding hat on the wall in my bedroom. It looked very pretty, I thought. Then I put it away to keep it a little while longer, but I don't expect it to become a treasured family heirloom. We carry a lot of baggage in our lives. Sometimes a little less is good.

I guess I'm sentimental too. The things we have that will remind our loved ones of us when we've passed on---or better, when we give those things to them when we're still living---become more important to them with time. Sometimes they just need to settle in their own places to be able to really appreciate having them around.