Friday, October 29, 2010

YAY X200 !!!

these just came in from HK
also, i just found a source in NYC
these will be in the very next batch of hats
to hit the shelves.
…and next year they will be made in the
good old U.S. of A.


Thursday, October 14, 2010

stitch - stitch, bang - bang!

good evening.
here is how things are going:

i clicked a little harder on the internet the other day and found 2
excellent sources for beautiful wool made here and and
made in england. also i started using a heavier weight of linen
for the headband and brim liner.
the new linen is dove gray or lime green, the wools are houndstooth, red 'buffalo' plaid,
and felted olive.

due to the sheer number of hats i am sewing by myself, the quality of the
sewing is increasing with each batch.

i was invited to sell the hats at the gran prix of gloucester cyclocross event.
i made a big push, sewing all week in preparation for the weekend.
it went really well, and i was impressed with
paul boudreau's really well
run event, and i met some great folks, and got a sunburn.

to change gears after sewing for 5 days i went shooting with dave at the range in
gloucester, i stunk at it, but it had been a while.

on monday
at front street cafe i swapped all of the lightweight hats out for
the most recent hat's i had made.

the boston magazine bit seems to be working as i can not keep
broadway bicycle school stocked with hats. i just handed 7 to them
thursday, i'm delivering 15 more there tomorrow.

sadly i'm out of labels. the new batch with the new design is somewhere on a boat.
i will improvise and keep up the supply until they land.

i have been calculating the exact cost of making these hats:

number of hats cut from one yard of wool fabric at $X py = X
number of hats brims cut from one yard of vinyl at $X py = X
number of headbands, brim linings cut from one yard of linen fabric at $X py = X
number of pieces of elastic cut from one package of elastic at $X = X
labels $0.33 each
thread, rotary blades, wear and tear on the sewing machine = 1% of X+X+X+X
20 mins. of labor costs at $X per hour
marketing and advertising $?

$25 direct retail minus X+X+X+X+X+X+X = the amount of fun i'm allowed to have


Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Thursday, September 16, 2010

WEATHER

it was a good, hot summer.
now it is the time for the hats.

i have a couple hatty events:

the october issue of boston magazine has a small feature on the hat project.

the upcoming gloucester gran prix bicycle race, october 2, 3. i will be the on site Peddler of hats

posibly the Urban Country Fair Saturday Sept. 18, 2010 3-7pm
(Union Square)


next 2 days - sewing like mad.

Monday, July 12, 2010

jo-ann chalange 2010

jo-ann (fabrics) and i are breaking up.
it's over, from now on all of my sewing will be
100 per cent jo-ann free.

it will be hard to kick the zombiecrafter sells china junk habit,
but i've had it with them.

after my mission to lowell last weekend i need to sniff out a tip-
there is supposed to be an excelent fabric retailer there, somewhere.

i think i remember it being called bubba's fabric or somesuch..

Sunday, July 4, 2010

AMERICAN TEXTILE MUSEUM

















19" shuttle woven in 2010. $2.95 py.
i met the weaver, saw the loom in action.

i felt very patriotic spending $9 on
cotton fabric made in lowell massachusetts
i promise to make something amazing out
of it, insofar as i can.

























this will be my definition of business casual



















remember the hat you left at work in 1860?














































know your colors by their crystal structure.




this is what is left of the boott cotton mills.
these shuttle looms are from 1900.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

ALL NEW MATERIALS:

for the time being, let's call this "Hat One".


















the crown and bill are made from Duvetyne - a theatrical backdrop cloth that has the strength of denim and finished on one side as velour.
the
Duvetyne has a slight nap and is dead black.



















the crown is lined with a stripe italian upholstry cotton/linen blend
that i found at Zimmans last year.

















the bill is wide whale corduroy and a heavy weight linen
headband.


















the size is 7 - 7 1/8
it is a fall weight hat and the lining has a wonderful iridescence.
look for it soon on etsy.


Tuesday, May 18, 2010

the swimsuit issue:

in addition to fine tuning the victorian bathing costume
i've been working in refining the visual identity of
the mister nutter clothing line.

this is a new design for custom
labels. (click to make full size)










design for a rubber stamp to be used
to make business cards, ideally on
the back of antique wallpaper samples:













i'm a little behind on a custom order for broadway cycle school,
and some designs for newsound.
PUT DOWN THE MOUSE AND GET TO WORK.

Monday, May 10, 2010

cezanne's bather

the point:
i went fabric shopping in new york city!

























this place rules, i went to a handful of other no name shops
with mixed results. one fine shop sold fabric for men's clothing
exclusively. and i'm not talking about celtics green polyester or
rhinestone and dragon undershirt material.



















i was on the hunt for either jean wool or double knit wool.
the knit wool being for the next project: 1920s men's bathing costume.
























this is a yard of a mistery wool knit, possibly from the 1960's -
there is about 3 yards left, and at $49. per. yard it's going to stay put
until i have a need for it.
it combined with a dark gray heather knit wool will be the second
suit i make.
the idea is that the heavier wool, and victorian style full coverage
will make swimming in the cold new england waters more comfortable.
unfortunately the only suitable fabric for this look is not inexpensive.

i'm still searching for a more economical solution as it takes a yard and a half to make a suit.
there is nobody else who offers this type of suit on the internet, except the gentlemans emporium. a friend of mine has one of theirs and it is 2 piece and made from light weight t-shirt material, and was coming unstitched everywhere, not to mention the poor fit.

driving to new york to shop for fabric is highly recommended - just bring a fully loaded wallet.

i'm totally stoked about this stripe - here is a sketch:


Monday, May 3, 2010

NEW LINEN HATS:

here are some linen hats i'm making for broadway cycle:




















they are 100 per cent linen

or

sumer weight worsted wool.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

RETAILED

the clothing by mister nutter hats are now available at:

Broadway Bicycle School

Broadway Bicycle School is located at 351 Broadway in Cambridge, MA, near the intersection of Broadway and Inman Street. We are close to Central Square, Inman Square, and (a little bit farther) Harvard Square. The closest T-stop is the Central Sq. stop on the Red Line.

broadwaybicycleschool.com


Friday, April 2, 2010

mister nutter at FRONT st. COFFEE HOUSE









































here is a little off the cuff setup i have at the front street coffee house in salem MA
the first retail appearance for this project. it will be interesting to see how it goes.





Tuesday, March 30, 2010

EVERY TIME

every time i make myself a hat, someone buys it off of my head.
so i'm making myself another one.




















also someone asked for a corduroy hat - i found some nice material at zimmans:



















the alternating color motif seems to be well liked.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

wide angle lens

























going back a few months
here is the 'jules & jim"
suit i made and it's owner, musician
and chemist Dr. Zachariah Hickman.

it is made from Italian knit wool.
i drafted the pattern from measurements.


















scene from the movie













Friday, March 12, 2010

GETTING READY FOR THE SHOW


















i'm almost ready for the show tomorrow at eastern boarder in danvers.
all is swell.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

THE JO-ANN REGIME

sadly, where would we be without the JO-ANN concern out here in the suburbs?
i will tell you:
in new york city or los angeles where there are amazing fabric stores in high concentration.

that being said, i am thankful for very small mercies.
as i make these hats i think of the "joann content". i'd say the joann content of my hats is about 10%.
unfortunately that also makes the materials content:
10% chinese - the linen headband and brim liner.
1% greman - gütermann thread
89% vintage U.S. fabrics.

i'd rather it be 100% vintage U.S. origin, for the sake of quality & aesthetics.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010
























made a hatstand today -
for the show on march 13.

now i must get back to sewing,
i got some embroidered panels back
from "theological threads"
i'm going to make some 'left handed' hats.

Monday, March 1, 2010

THERE CAN BE NO GOOD REASON


















custom order.

IT'S A SETUP!



MARCH 13

























i've taken several days off for birthday festivities in maine and massachusetts. it is time to get back at it.
mark lovett is having another show of "art", art, Art, and in my case, something a little less practical - craft. the show is called 'brainfood' and is being held at his eastern boarder location in danvers, march thirteenth.

i have some sewing to do and therefore i have to set the whole mess back up. the new tags came in and i'm going to retire the remainder of the 'made especially for you" tags.

i need a head model for smaller sizes and larger sizes. so i can photograph more hats for etsy.

i added a photo of my logo from the "matt hatter" era, at that time i was making hats from malden mills polar tec 200


Sunday, February 21, 2010

ALSO:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/misternutter

JUNKBOX


















i'm going totally mathematical on the sizing.
&
i made eve a hat from the hem of a handmade skirt from the 1970's:

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

UNION BUG


















sending out the first ETSY sale!

Monday, February 15, 2010

ANSWER TO MY QUESTION

Q: i've been sewing for a while, why am i not better at it?
A: because i typically make just one of any given item.

a partial list of sewing projects:

peg existing jeans
peg antique tuxedo pants
attempt to make tailcoat out of billboard material
goretex bivy bag
1 - 6' long stocking cap, polar fleece - rust red
aprox. 750 "matt hatter" polartec 200 6' long sticking caps
aprox 750 polartec 200 "matt hatter"headbands, ear warmers and scarfs.
aprox. 30 polartec 200 sleeping bag liners.
aprox 300 polartec "bag project" cycling water bottle bags.
BFA thesis - inflatable movable type 6' tall
misc. involvement with "armadillo cycle covers"
blue plaid bondage pants
"nutter amature wallet company" vinyl wallets - possibly 100
"matthew nutter apartment made goods" roughly 100 leather wallets,
50 small pouches, 40 handbags, 40 bracelets.
leather hearth mat "N" for the folks, for christmass.
1 male and 1 female 1440's costumes - winter - including all accessories.
tailor victorian pants and shirt.
fix roomates pants
make and install lining for civil war shell jacket.
tailor shirt and make vest from pattern for wedding
fix thom's pants
make another vest just for practice
make wool houndstooth riding pants
make eve a vest
make eve a vegan anarchist cyclist hat
make 6 more hats and list them on etsy.

there is a whole ton of other miscelaneous fixing and tailoring that i missed or can't type with two fingers well. most of these things are prehistoric, i will scan polaroids of the rest.

good night.


Sunday, February 14, 2010

I SOLD THE FIRST HAT

do you know what this means?




















i sold the first hat - right off my head to E. Benjamin Smith
while walking around gloucester.

i will list hats on etsy as soon as i can.

starting a micro business on the internet is
incredibly convenient.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

SEVERAL HATS

i bought some wool at beverly bootstraps.
it came in the form of some crummy old clothing:



















































'pattern matching' on large patterns:


















here are a few hat crowns - made from the wool coats,
and the pattern matched fabric.


















scrap.


















the sacks fifth avenue overcoat yielded a nice hat or 2:
(in combination with the hagar sportcoat)