Issue 56, November 2010 Next issue due 17 November 2010 HATalk the e-magazine for those who make In this month’s HATalk...

Millinery in Practice People at work in the world of hats. This month: Alison Bailey Smith - working with recycled materials.

Hat of the Month A delightful sinamay by Sheila Shannon.

Focus on... The inaugural Bridport Hat Festival; N and O in the A to Z of Hats.

How to… Use crochet, trim hats with zippers and try alternative hat bands.

Plus – Letters to the Editor, this month’s Give Away and The Back Page.

Published by how2hats.com click here to turn over i Issue 56 Contents: November 2010 Millinery in Practice People at work in the world of hats. This month: A look at the work of Alison Bailey Smith, milliner extraordinaire and recycling queen.

Hat of the Month Learn about this lovely hat and something about Sheila Shannon, its creator.

Focus on... The Bridport Hat Festival and competition - the first event of its kind in the UK.

The A to Z of Hats Needle, Newsboy, Optimo and more - learn hat words that start with N and O.

How to... Use millinery crochet to add texture to your hats.

Something new to try... Make a multi-coloured zip and use it as a hat decoration.

Another Way... Two more alternatives to the classic petersham hat band.

This Month’s Give Away We’re giving you the chance to win an old How2hats classic in a new form.

Letters to the Editor This month: When can you call yourself a milliner?

The Back Page Interesting hat facts; books; contact us and take part!

1 previous page next page Alison Bailey Smith Recycling Technology Alison Bailey Smith, the self-proclaimed Techno Cannibal, has been making hats for over 20 years. The materials she uses are found inside old television sets and on rubbish piles. Using copper wire, sweetie and crisp packets and other recycled materials, she creates one of a kind hats and other wearable art.

“Hats were the main thing I made initially when I started working in wire in 1989,” says Alison. “I was allowed to finish my jewellery degree if I made jewellery as well. I have always loved hats and was going to study costume but fell in love with the jewellery department at Edinburgh College of Art.”

After completing her studies, Alison (pictured below) began exhibiting and selling her work throughout the UK. She was named Scottish Fashion Designer of the Year in 1991 and UK Recycling Designer of the Year in 1992. Following her marriage in 1990, she spent time living in Australia, Canada and the USA. Each new location gave her the chance to develop and expand her work in new ways and find fresh influences. In 2002, Alison moved back to the UK and is currently living in the Wirral, in North West England.

The wire that Alison uses comes from televisions that are at least 20 years old, as newer models don’t contain enough. The televisions are left unplugged for a few days before she begins work on them, to make sure that any stored energy has been released. She then takes the back off the TV, removes the circuitboard and breaks into the glass TV tube, exposing the lacquered copper coil of the TV’s neck. After pulling off the coil, Alison removes it from its plastic casing and cleans it with soapy water. She also utilises the smaller coils which are found in other parts of the TV. The coil is usually golden or coppery in colour, but over the years Alison has found more than a hundred different colours of wire. After much practice, it takes Alison about an hour to take a television to pieces.

2 previous page next page Taking a television apart is one thing, turning a pile of wire into a hat is quite another - most of us would not have a clue where to begin! Yet this is exactly what Alison does, coming up with stunning designs which the most discerning of fashionistas would be proud to wear. So, how does she do it?

Using her jewellery training as a springboard, Alison has developed her own unique techniques for working with wire and the other unusual materials she unearths. As you can see from these photos, she creates intricate and beautiful patterns and textures which she describes as “reminiscent of brocade and filigree work”. These particular designs were made, respectively, with television wire and toothpaste tubes (top right), sweetie wrappers and television wires (middle right) and varying colours of wire (bottom right).

To create hats like the one pictured below (modelled by Anh), Alison manipulates wire by knotting and looping it. She starts with one loop and the piece develops from there. The wrapping technique which she uses to incorporate sweetie wrappers and crisp packets is done as one continuous coil, starting at the top, a series of coils joined together or a combination of the two methods.

To shape, or block, the of her hats, Alison uses all kinds of objects, including her head, the floor, a metal hat block and a bedpost. Sometimes the hats are all one piece, with the brim being made as an extension of the crown. For other designs, the brim is made separately and then joined to the crown by overstitching it with wire.

3 previous page next page Linings, one of which can be seen inside this wire and peacock fringe hat (right), are sewn in after the hat has been completed and can be made to accommodate special requirements. When creating a hat for cabaret star Holly Penfield, Alison designed a removable lining to allow the singer to perform in her various wigs or with her own . Panne velvet is Alison’s first choice for linings, as it allows for stretch and manipulation, but she also works with more structured woven fabrics.

Masterpieces like this Peacock Feather Hat (left) and Phoenix Hat (below) take Alison about one week to complete. She told us, “It’s a very creative, organic process with decisions being made constantly about which direction to take the shape. I can work to design and often do designs for clients beforehand, as it is often hard for them to visualise, although generally they try on the many hats I have and say what they like and don’t like about each hat.”

In a society where the cost of materials usually determines the value of an object, Alison is determined to prove that it is possible to create highly desirable art and fashion objects using materials which are deemed by most as completely useless. She also makes sure that her hats are both durable and wearable - except, she is quick to admonish, in a thunderstorm!

As well as hats, Alison also creates wire jewellery, corsets, waistcoats and even shoes. She continues to show her work in exhibitions and teaches workshops on creating art with salvaged materials. She also runs an agency for other artists. To see more of Alison’s work, visit her blog or website, www.abscraft.com. Her hats are for sale on Etsy and Folksy.

4 previous page next page Hat of the Month by Sheila Shannon

Many milliners were creating some form of art long before they ever made their first hat. Whether sculpting, painting or working with textiles, any type of creative work can form a brilliant foundation for making hats.

Sheila Shannon, who lives in County Wicklow in Ireland, has always had a keen interest in anything artistic. As well as working as a nurse caring for elderly people in a local hospital, she has sold many of her original paintings over the years. In 2007, she was looking at the she had purchased to wear to her son’s wedding and was unimpressed with the way it was made. Sure that she could do a better job herself, Sheila enrolled in some day courses in Dublin to learn basic hat making skills.

Working hard since then, Sheila has continued to develop her millinery skills and is now making hats to sell. She mainly caters for mothers of brides and grooms and takes orders for other special occasion hats. All of her hats are one off pieces, with no designs repeated.

Sheila recently finished a painting based on one of Claude Monet’s water lily pieces. Monet is her favourite artist and doing the painting inspired her to try and create the same scene on a hat. A friend had brought her some sinamay and abaca, also known as medley tuft or tangle tuft, back from the Philippines and this seemed the perfect use for it.

5 previous page next page The headpiece itself, which represents the ‘pond’, was made from two layers of sinamay, one green and one blue, covered with red abaca. These colours were chosen to depict vegetation in a pond. The layers of material were sprayed with water, pressed together, wired and then trimmed with a piece of blue sinamay which was about 1/2 inch in width. No blocks were used. This section was then attached to a circular base, about 6 inches in diameter, made from three layers of sinamay.

Sheila then created a ‘bank’ for the pond, using red sinamay trimmed with blue abaca, and attached it to the hat. Green and red coque feathers and cerise ostrich tips became the ‘overhanging foliage’. Red and blue beads were added to complement the feathers and achieve the effect she wanted.

Sheila had a clear idea of what her water lilies should look like but wasn’t sure how to go about making them. She then thought of origami and decided to try the same technique on sinamay. As you can see from this lovely photo of the hat, modelled by Sheila’s daughter Sarah, she was successful - making five gorgeous water lilies in various colours.

Finally, the water lilies were sewn on and the completed hat was attached to a 1 1/4 inch hair band covered with blue silk ribbon. The finished headpiece is 15 1/4 inches in diameter.

We think Sheila did a great job of turning a Monet masterpiece like the one pictured above into a beautiful headpiece. When we asked her if she was pleased with her work, she said “This hat has let my clients see that I am capable of creating some unusual individualized pieces. I showed the hat at some fashion shows and recently at a local craft fair, where I got second prize for the best craft overall. I heard a young boy among the spectators say “Oh Mum, look at Monet’s water lilies!” I then realised I had achieved what I set out to do.”

Find more of Sheila’s work at www.sheilashannonhats.com.

6 previous page next page The Bridport Hat Festival In the past, we’ve reported on some of the fabulous hat festivals which take place across Europe each year. Now, we are thrilled to be able to tell you how hat lovers in the UK finally got the chance to celebrate millinery at home last month. A team from How2hats travelled down to the Dorset coast to be part of the first Bridport Hat Festival, held from September 17th to 19th. Roger Snook, mastermind of the new Bridport Hat Festival, claims that the idea for the event came to him during a “flash of inspiration” five years ago. His establishment, T Snook of Bridport, has been a Hatters and Gentleman’s Outfitters since 1896, so he is well qualified to head up such a hatty event. At the beginning of this year, word started to get out about the idea and interest within the millinery community across the nation, and further afield, was sparked. The weekend had a busy line up, with live music and entertainment put on at various times and venues. There were a number of hat making workshops and talks, including a workshop with Oonagh Stewart and a class on how to make headdresses for theatre with Sarah Butterworth. Mrs Joan Cool, who worked at Christy’s in London in the 60s, gave a fascinating talk on the history of this remarkable millinery house. A trade fair was held across two locations in the town - the Bridport Arts Centre and the Electric Palace - on Saturday. How2hats were well represented with a HATalk stand, How2hats books and DVDs on sale and a large collection of Guy Morse-Brown hat blocks on display. Catherine, of GMB Hat Blocks, poses here with with hat maker Carolyne Hay (left). Other talented British milliners like Fern Berreen (above), Catherine Povey, Fiona Neylan, Molly Bruce, Alison Tutcher, to name just a few, were showcasing and selling their hats.

7 previous page next page It wasn’t just UK milliners exhibiting at Bridport. An international contingent added variety and imagination to the hats available and the general atmosphere of the Festival. Tracy Thomson of Kabuki Hats (right), for instance, had travelled all the way from New Orleans with her unique creations. There was also the excitement of the hat competition finals, with shortlisted hats being judged by Carole Denford, Editor of The Hat Magazine, and Nicki Ilnicki of hat company Whiteley Fischer Ltd. The first and second prize hats are pictured below. The judges commended both winners for their high quality craftsmanship, both inside and out, and for the way that both, in different ways, had created something very British.

1st Prize Winner 2nd Prize Winner

‘Yellow with Bird’ ‘The Full English’

by Susan Hughes by Julie Price of Fareham of Bridport

Prize: £500 Prize: £250

The first of any event comes with a lot of unknowns. How many people will come? Will they wear hats? And, most importantly in the British Isles - what will the weather be like? Due to the hard work of the organisers, not to mention a bit of help from above, the answers to all those questions turned out to be positive ones. A gloriously sunny weekend greeted crowds of visitors who turned out for the Festival. And best of all - they were almost all wearing hats! At Saturday lunchtime, everyone was asked to make their way to ‘Bucky Doo Square’, in the centre of Bridport, for a mass hat wearing photo shoot. What a brilliant experience to see so many people out and about in town with hats on their heads. Many people had just come out for a nice day and had rarely, if ever, worn a hat - and yet they were loving it! What great news for hat makers around the world - let’s all keep encouraging people to give hats a try. Well done to Roger Snook and his team for doing their part - we can’t wait for next year! See more photos on the Bridport Hat Festival website.

8 previous page next page The A to Z of Hats Part 12: N & O

Needle - An essential item for any milliner. Special millinery needles, also known as straw needles, are long with round eyes and usually come in packs which include a variety of sizes from 3 to 9.

Needle Board - A pressing tool which is used to protect the pile of fabrics such as velvet when ironing them from the back.

Newsboy - A casual hat with a stiff peak which is similar to the , but rounder and with a fuller body. Newsboy are panelled and have a button on top which often attaches the front to the brim. Originally worn by boys and men, this style has gained popularity with women in recent years.

Niqab: A worn by Islamic women with the head-covering. Ostrich Feathers - Three types of ostrich feathers are commonly available for millinery use - the large, floaty and full prime feathers, the smaller, more rigid spadones and the stripped spines.

Ombré Ribbon - Named using the French word for ‘shading’, this type of ribbon has graduated colouring, dark on one side, gradually changing to a lighter colour. It can be used very effectively for hat trimmings like these pansies (left) made by Tina Giuntini. Tina teaches courses on working with antique ombré ribbon at Atelier Millinery in London.

Optimo - The oldest style of . These hats have a ridge going from the front to the back of the crown. This ridge was originally created because these hats were folded when being exported from South America. The ridge is now created intentionally during the blocking process.

Next Month: P & Q are for Pillbox, Pork Pie, Press and Quoif. Don’t miss it!

9 previous page next page Using Crochet Adding Texture to Your Hats

Getting the texture of a hat right can be just as important as getting the colour right. Mixing and contrasting textures can make an otherwise ordinary hat extraordinary. Adding embellishments like feathers or beads is one way to add new textures but you can also use the basic materials themselves. Here, we look at how Nigerian milliner Daba Iyeimo uses crochet alongside sinamay to give her hats more dimension. Millinery crochet is less used and less widely available than sinamay and so creates quite a unique look. Daba Iyeimo, who was featured in HATalk Issue 38, has been experimenting with crochet, making hats like the one pictured here (right). As you can see, the design of the shell crochet is really attractive and is set off nicely with sinamay trimmings. To get even more texture contrast, Daba also makes hats with crochet and sinamay brims, like this turquoise one (left). She usually matches the colours, but two different colours could also be used. Many people don’t know how to block crochet, as a layer of the material on its own is not very strong and is quite transparent. Due to the patterning, it would be hard to match up more than one square of the material well enough to block together. To overcome this difficulty, Daba lines the crochet with matching sinamay, invisibly strengthening the crochet and making it much easier to work with. To do this, a perfect colour match is needed between the sinamay and the crochet. Crochet is generally only available in black or neutral colours, so Daba uses Dylon dyes to get the look she wants. Jacquard dyes also work nicely on both crochet and sinamay.

10 previous page next page Daba chooses her colour, makes up the dye solution in a large container and then dyes the crochet and sinamay at the same time, to ensure that the shades are exactly the same. She dyes enough sinamay to line the crochet and, if she is planning to do an all sinamay brim, as with the two hats pictured here (right), she also dyes the three layers of sinamay that she will need for this. To block the crochet, Daba waits until the dyed materials are completely dry and then places the crochet on top of two pieces of sinamay, which have been cut on the bias. She holds the three layers together, as you would with multiple layers of sinamay, dampens them with steam or immerses them in hot water and pulls them onto the block. She pins the materials to the block as normal and, when dry, applies stiffener. This should be enough to hold the layers together and create invisibly reinforced crochet. Daba sources her crochet from local suppliers who import materials from China and the Philippines. In the UK, crochet hoods and cones can be purchased from Milliner Warehouse, which sells both shell and sampugita crochet made from natural straw and imported from the Philippines. Their sampugita crochet is sold in form (near left). The shell crochet, similar to the kind Daba uses, can be purchased both as a cone (far left) or as a hood. Inspired to have a go with some crochet? Do let us know how you get on!

11 previous page next page Zips as Hat Decorations A Novel Idea

We’ve featured buttons on hats in the past, but have you ever thought of decorating a hat with a zip? Follow these instructions to create multi-coloured zips - an unconventional and fun trimming! 1) Buy several short zips in different colours (A), ones which will tone or contrast with your hat. Make sure they are the same brand and length. The teeth size and zip pull should be identical. 2) Using sharp scissors, cut the bottoms of the zippers off just above the metal tab which holds the two sides together (B). Slide the zip pulls off. To prevent fraying, you can tape a short length of masking tape over each cut end, although this isn’t essential.

A

B C D 3) Take a zip pull and one side of a zip in different colours and hold the pull upright as you slide it onto the cut ends of the zip teeth. Now take another zip side in a third colour and, again keeping the zip tab upright, push this side of the zip into the pull. Be patient and it will go on. A bit of practice works wonders! A pin can help to push the teeth into the pull (C). Work at the pull and the sides until they are correctly aligned. Now tape the open (cut) ends of the zip to the table, and slide the pull up and down a few times. Note: If you don’t tape the open ends down, the chances are that you’ll slide the tab off by accident and have to start all over again! 4) Sew the end of the zip neatly together over the teeth with a few stitches in a matching thread. To replicate the original look and prevent fraying, you can cut the ends of the zip fabric with pinking shears (D). 5) Now use your imagination and your funky new zips to liven up your latest hat or fascinator!

12 previous page next page Another Way... To Make a Hat Band Last month, we showed you how to use straw braid to create a braided hat band. Here are two more ideas, both modelled by Colette Conaty, for alternatives to the traditional petersham band. Plaited Shoelaces Twisted Cord

Shoelaces are inexpensive, readily available Twisted cord looks great on this . The and can be a great way to finish off your hat a little cord, made from smooth fashion yarn intended bit differently. There are lots of ways shoelaces for knitting, has been wrapped around the could be used. In this example, we’ve plaited hat twice and half twisted at the centre front four laces together, loosely knotting them on for effect. The knotted end was tucked neatly the side as part of the decoration. To learn how behind the cord at the back. Hat bands can to plait with more than three strands, revisit our be secured to the hat with a few neat stitches article on braiding in HATalk Issue 4. hidden by the inner petersham band.

13 previous page next page This Month’s GIVE AWAY

Fantastic Feathers, How2hats best-selling ebook written by HATalk founder Ann Morse-Brown, has recently been made available as a paperback and we’ve got three to give away this month. This new edition of the popular book has been revised and updated and now includes a much more in- depth section on creating a cocktail base for a feather fascinator and a new section on adding veiling. Feather techniques like dyeing, burning, curling, knotting and making poms are all explained in Fantastic Feathers. There are also instructions for making a range of different kinds of mounts. Rather than showing you how to make just one particular type of fascinator, which can be quite limiting, this book teaches you lots of basic techniques to enable you to make any number of different . There are also lots of photos of fascinators which other people have made using feathers - a great inspiration for your own work. The new paperback costs £12.99 plus shipping and handling, but three of you can have a copy free of charge - just email for your chance to win! To enter the draw to win one of the three paperbacks PRIZE DRAW RULES we’re giving away, email us before 3 November, 2010 at Entry to the draw is free to subscribers to HATalk and no further purchase is necessary. Only [email protected] one entry per subscriber. Entry is not open to with ‘Fantastic Feathers’ as the title. employees or associates of the publishers or to their families. The winners will be drawn by an Please include your name and full address. independent person two weeks after publication date. They will be notified by email and their The winners in last month’s ‘ebook’ draw were: names published in the next issue of HATalk and on Facebook. The organiser's decision is final. Carly Greenan, Azemina Šabotić and ZaZ Hats Couture.

14 previous page next page Send us your questions and comments! Do you have a problem needing a solution? Or Letters to the Editor... information that you’d like to share? Email us! [email protected]

Problem: I’ve learned hat making via one short course and several of your ebooks, which are great! The hats I’ve made have been much admired and I’m beginning to get orders for more. I’d like to make this a business, but with so little training behind me, can I really call myself a milliner?

Solution: In our experience, people will come to you for a hat because they like your work, not because of the training you’ve had. If you are satisfied that you can make the kinds of hats that people want to buy, then you are a milliner! The Cambridge English Dictionary defines a milliner as ‘a person who makes or sells women’s hats’, so you certainly qualify.

We do recommend, however, that you buy another of our ebooks before setting up your business officially. It’s one thing being able to make hats and quite another being able to make money doing it! If you don’t want to end up working for nearly nothing, then you need to understand how to market yourself and your hats to the right public. After all, even if you enjoy the work, what is the point of doing it for peanuts? Profit from your Hats will give you clear, understandable guidance which will enable you to start off on the right foot and not make expensive mistakes. We have put these principles into action ourselves and know their benefit, so learn from us! You won’t regret it - indeed, you will recoup the money you spend on the book in a very short time, and go on making money thereafter. We are so sure that your business will flourish if you put what the ebook offers into practice, that we offer you a money back guarantee - that’s how confident we are!

15 previous page next page The BACK PAGE

Shopping continues to become a more and more web based activity and those of you who run your own businesses will be aware of the importance of internet marketing. Basically, the more places that people can find you and your merchandise online the better. Individual websites can sometimes fall to the bottom of the Google search ‘pile’, hardly getting any visits from potential customers browsing the web. Registering with online directories, which provide a list of businesses and website links, can be a good way to gain exposure. A brand new online directory for people making hand-made items - which obviously includes milliners - has just been started by Sharon Speed, a jeweller and web designer. Crafters R Us, as she has called it, is a website where artisans can list their businesses indefinitely for a one-off fee of £10. Launched only a couple of weeks ago, the site has already attracted thousands of visitors by using a Facebook marketing campaign. Business listings include a website link, up to three additional links - to a company’s Facebook page for example - a description of the business, a thumbnail image and more. For further information visit the Crafters R Us website. Speaking of online directories, don’t forget that millinery teachers can get listed on www.hatcourses.com, our international directory of millinery courses, at no charge.

A book to enjoy: Headfirst: Hats and Poems by Sylvia Fletcher; New Cavendish Books; 2009. An aesthetically appealing book of poetry by Sylvia Fletcher, milliner at London’s prestigious Lock & Co. The book is beautifully illustrated with photographs of Sylvia’s custom made hats.

Contact Us! Have you signed up with any online business directories? Are there any that you would recommend or perhaps warn against? Get in touch - email us at [email protected] or by findingHATalk on Facebook.

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