Vintage Ties & Recycled Wool Hats

I've been sorting through things in my sewing room recently and found some wool that I purchased several years ago plus a box of vintage silk ties.  Being between weaving projects, I decided to design a hat.  Not finding exactly what I wanted patternwise, I combined two hat patterns and used the ties for embellishing.  Here is the first one I made using three ties and three different fabrics.  On the side, I used the short end of one tie and added a vintage button. 

Some of the ties have wonderful patterns, and I love being able to use them as part of a contemporary accessory. 

The three fabrics I used for this hat (two solids and one heathery twill) are from skirts I found at the thrift store; the lining material is from one of them.

For the second hat, I used three wools that are mill ends from Pendleton Wools in Portland, Oregon.  I think I was there over fifteen years ago, so that tells you something about how long the fabric has been in my stash!  In fact, I don't remember what I planned to do with it.  I guess it was just meant to be made into a hat.

I especially like the red and black tie in this hat, and it still had a tiny paper tag attached with the original price, $3.50.  It's quite narrow, possibly from the 1960's.

Hat number three is almost finished, but since my iron chose today to malfunction, I'm at a standstill.  Quite exciting to be ironing, hear a loud pop, and then see smoke come out of the wall outlet!  My resident mechanic and electrician thinks I just need a new plug; I hope he's right.

So here's number three, in progress.

These are fun to make; combining the different fabrics and finding just the right ties and buttons to make the colors and patterns work together.  Wonder what else lies hidden in my sewing room that might be inspiring?