terry graziano

{ warmth & style } Incognito

One of my most popular and enduring styles is the Incognito.

  I've been making it for years now, and I still wear it when the weather turns cold because it's warm, comfortable & perfectly versatile.

Incognito was the first style that I really felt I had gotten "right" so it has a special place in my heart.  Every fall I add several versions to my shop in updated fabrics.  Since I'm loving tweeds this season, I thought it would be fun to stitch up Incognito in a couple of my current favorites.

Red tweed wool, with flecks of cream, grey, oatmeal, orange & pink:







And in a super soft tweed wool I call "chocolate medley" - it has a dark chocolate background, and milk chocolate & white chocolate flecks.  Reminds me of Rocky Road ice cream!


 




Available here and here.

Have a great evening!

Terry 

{ new week, new hat } Heady Concoction in blue grey wool

Happy Halloween!

In honor of the holiday, this is a post that has nothing whatsoever to do with Halloween!
Sorry about that, but I hope you had a great weekend and have some fun plans for the day/night.

I spent my weekend with a friend who was visiting from DC, and we managed to pack quite a bit into a couple of days.  Highlights included the awesome Dia De Muertos exhibit at the National Museum of Mexican Art; a thrilling performance by Lucky Plush at the Museum of Contemporary Art; the hilarious and creepy 1970's Spanish movie Who Can Kill a Child at the Siskel Film Center; and the glorious chocolate dipped cannolis at Ferrara Bakery.  The weather was beautiful, we walked forever, and a good time was had by all!

I've got another new hat in the shop for today, a Heady Concoction in the softest blue-grey heather Italian wool that I've ever seen.  I wish I had bought enough to make a wrap too.  So lovely to wear!






Available here and here.

Now I'm off to welcome the undead!

Be careful out there.

Terry

{ cozy & casual } new Fine & Dandy

I've added a couple of new iterations of my most popular style, the Fine & Dandy, to both shops.

In gray Italian wool:

and in olive green plaid wool:

 

Both now available here and here.

Have a fantastic Wednesday! 

Terry

{ more warm hats } Getaway

I wear the Getaway very frequently - it's perfect for taming my hair no matter how windy it gets along the Lake front, covers my ears if it gets chilly, or drapes over like a beret.

I've stitched up a couple in different colorways, both in super soft wool/cashmere blend fabrics.

First, in two shades of blue:

and in purple & brown:








Now available here and here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Terry

{ new fabric } getting over it

You may not know this about me:
I went to Catholic school for 12 years.
The end result was a wonderful education,
a healthy fear of nuns,
and an enduring loathing for any article of clothing that was navy blue, plaid, and/or had brass buttons.

This loathing continued unabated for all of my adult life.  
Until now.

For some inexplicable reason, just this year, I find myself drawn to all things navy blue, and even sometimes plaid.

I have no explanation for this phenonmenon,
so I decided to go with it and
stitch up a Heady Concoction
in the peppiest plaid that ever graced an Italian wool gabardine:  

Now available here and here.

For the record though, I still can't stand brass buttons!

Do you have any fashion phobias?

Do tell!

Terry 

{ new style } Ripple Effect

For this new style, I've took the asymmetrical brim of ye olde Cape Hatter, made some minor adjustments, paired it with the crown of the Salmagundi, and viola!  

The "Ripple Effect".  

 In a perfect espresso Italian wool melton:

Something about the combination and the way the connection between the two pieces makes the brim drape just feels so modern and sophisticated to me. 

 I've added many more rows of topstitching to the brim than there were on the Cape Hatter, 
because it aids in the moldability, 

and also because something about those concentric waves is so lovely to me.

 

I find the asymmetric shape easier to wear than other floppy wide-brimmed hats I've tried,



 and I even like wearing it as a hood.

Ripple Effect is now available here and here.

Have a great weekend!

Terry 

{ new style } Salmagundi

I interrupted my sewing binge to work on a new design.  

After much exploration and experimentation, I finally found this new style hiding in the fabric.  

Honestly, I started this project with a beret in mind.  Ha!  The result could not be further from that starting place, but I followed the path determined to see where it would lead.  Eventually, I came to a destination that in truth incorporated ideas that had been bubbling away in my brain, just under the surface. I've been fixated on the idea of a bowler hat for quite some time now, and was finally able to find the connection from that to a cloche and on to a large brimmed cap.

I am quite enamored with this crown - a lovely domed shape created by seams that mimic the veins of a leaf.  The curved shape of the larger sides of the brim allow you to flip them up very securely (even in the path of a Chicago wind!) as well as curl them down to provide a pretty sihouette or excellent coverage for your ears in the colder weather.

I've called this style the Salmagundi.  

A Salmagundi is a mixture, a potpourri.  I have always loved this word and think it perfectly describes this hat.  

The name also reminds me of the Salmagundi Club in NYC which is one of the oldest centers of art in the US.  You can read about their history here.  The Club was just around the corner from our first apartment in Greenwich Village - I would walk by it daily for 6+ years and frequently stopped in to view their exhibitions.  It was a constant reminder of artistic expression, experimentation, and possibilities.

I love this hat and I hope you will too.

To begin, I've made it in three different fabrics:

a snazzy houndstooth check ultrasuede











next is a luscious rose pink wool










of course, I also had to make one in black - the fabric is a gorgeous wool & cashmere blend.

It's very soft with a slight sheen to it.  Heaven!

All three are available here and here.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Now I'm off to work on that beret :-)

Take good care,

TG

{ hat of the day } part 2: Accomplice in mulberry wool

What to say?  I love this color, I love working with this fabric, and I love this style.
I have a feeling I'll be wearing this one quite often!

Accomplice in mulberry wool:


 



Available here and here.


Now, here's the special offer:

It's already chilly here in Chicago and perhaps where you live as well?
To celebrate the start of my favorite season, I'm offering

20% OFF the NEW HATS added this week to the shop,
this weekend only!  

That means that any hat in the "new this week" section is yours at a special introductory price.
Use code INTROSALE at checkout - sale ends at Sunday at midnight, CDT.

Please note, this discount code is only redeemable in my big cartel shop. 

Thank you for visiting - have a fantastic weekend!!

TG 

{ hat of the day } part 1: Harbinger in grey rainwear

Happy Friday!  Today instead of one new hat, I'll give you two!!  Here's part 1:

I've seldom made rainhats, only because I find it so difficult to find a rainwear fabric that I really like. To be fair, my criteria is rather strict.  The fabric must:

1.  look great not only when it's raining, but also once the skies clear;
2.  feel nice to touch;
3.  actually be water resistent;
4.  not make a crunching sound when it is draped;
5.  not make me curse when I sew it.

It is a very rare occasion when a fabric I come across fits all of those requirements, but happily, the stars have aligned and I've found one - in a beautiful grey that looks like fine mens suiting; in also comes in a perfect navy blue.  Here's the grey, sewn up into a Harbinger:

Available here and here.

I'll be back in a bit with part 2 and a special offer!

TG    

{ hat of the day } Confidante in latte textured wool

The hat parade continues with a sweet little Confidante in the dreamiest of wools!  This fabric is so soft & cozy that I seriously wish I had yards & yards of it to wrap myself up in for the next 6 months.  It was 44 degrees outside this morning!  44!!  I wore gloves on my morning walk for the first time since early May.  Fall is here for sure - let's warm up!!

Available here and here.

I've already had my morning latte so now I'm off to make a cup of tea -
thanks for visiting!

Take good care,

TG