Ladies in Hats

Ladies in Hats was exhibited at the recent Pacific International Quilt Festival in Santa Clara, California!  Our dear friend, Bonita McFadden, completed these 15 Ladies as her final quilting project of her very creative life.  We helped finish the quilt, and were thrilled that it was accepted for the PIQF show.

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Ladies in Hats by Bonita McFadden (California), quilted by Jessica Gamez (Arizona)

Starting with photos of her many quilting friends, Bonita drafted and appliqued these individual faces. For each lady she created a hat, embellished with feathers, tulle netting, ribbons, and buttons. Special fabrics were carefeully chosen to represent the many details such as the hair, glasses, and hats. Earrings and flowers were also added for a very creative touch.

Quilt Inspiration (Daryl Lynn) designed the setting, then sewed together the blocks, borders, and binding.  The quilted wreaths symbolize the circle of friendship.  Many thanks to Jessica Gamez of Arizona for her expert longarm quilting!

Closeup #1 

A classic and timeless French beret is done in metallic gold fabric with pink and green stripes. To add even more sparkle, Bonita decorated the beret with large one-half inch sequins, and tiny blue seed beads. This three-quarters profile face has one gold metal floral button earring, secured with a seed bead. The mouth, eyes, and eyebrows are outlined in satin stitch. Black print cotton blender fabric with midnight blue highlights is used for the hairstyle with its cheerful bangs at the forehead.

Closeup #2

Fabric printed in tan and gold wavy lines makes the perfect hairstyle for this lady in a cheerful blue sunhat. A large blue glass jewel decorates the striped flower at the corner of the hat. The cheekbones and nose are lightly padded with trapunto and delicate outline stitching. Bonita used blue circular rhinestones for the eyes which peek out from under the hat brim.

Closeup #3

This close-up shows a fedora hat with a taller, oval-shaped crown and brims which can be turned up or down. Purple metallic fabric comprises the body of the hat, with a band of striped fabric outlined in purple satin stitch. For this three-quarter profile of the face, Bonita added a dichroic copper glass bead as a single earring.

Closeup #4 

 For Closeup #4, Bonita used light blue sparkly rhinestones for the eyes and three-dimensional pink and purple silk ribbons folded into the shape of miniature ribbons for the hat. She designed a blue feather plume to adorn the hat and outlined the plume in satin stitch with pink metallic and silver metallic thread. 

 Closeup #5

Here's an example of a cloche hat, popular with the flapper girls of the 1920's. It is accentuated with a satin brim and satin flowers, adorned by pastel aqua seed beads. Bonita added light trapunto stuffing for the nose, clear plastic fabric for the eyeglasses, and tiny gold triangular beads for the earrings.

 

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2024 Pacific International Quilt Festival.