Issue 60, March 2011 Next issue due 16th March 2011 HATalk the e-magazine for those who make hats In this month’s HATalk...
Millinery in Practice People at work in the world of hats. This month: Maxim - promoting millinery fashion in Japan.
Hat of the Month A twisted toyo hat by Tracy Thomson.
Focus on... Landelijke Hoedendag 2011 - National Milliner’s Day in the Netherlands.
How to… Create a layered effect sinamay brim without a block.
Plus – S in the A to Z of Hats, Letters to the Editor, this month’s Give Away and The Back Page.
Published by how2hats.com click here to turn over i Issue 60 Contents: March 2011
Millinery in Practice People at work in the world of hats. This month: Maxim - a profile of this successful Japanese millinery firm.
Hat of the Month Learn about this colourful hat and something about Tracy Thomson, who created it.
Focus on... Landelijke Hoedendag 2011 - National Milliner’s Day in the Netherlands.
How to... Create a layered effect sinamay brim without using a block.
The A to Z of Hats... More hat words that start with S - continued from February.
This Month’s Give Away A chance to win 25 HATalk Back Issues on CD!
Letters to the Editor This month - a tip for getting your petersham headband sewn in neatly.
The Back Page Interesting hat facts; books; contact us and take part!
1 previous page next page Maxim Millinery Fashion in Japan This month, our spotlight is on a millinery dynasty which has worked tirelessly for the last seventy years to bring hats to the forefront of Japanese fashion.
In 1929, Toshitake Watanabe joined a firm in Yokohama to learn the millinery trade. Eventually, he was appointed as manager of the firm’s branch in Kobe, Japan’s sixth largest city. When the company subsequently took a decision to close Watanabe’s branch, his customers were really disappointed. Seeing a gap in the market, he decided to begin his own millinery business in Kobe. Watanabe began his new company, Maxim, in 1940, both making and selling his hats from a premises on Tor Road.
Since its inception, Maxim has grown steadily and has done much to raise the profile of millinery in Japan. In 1957, they organised a millinery fashion show in Kobe’s Asahi Kaikan Hall, the first of its kind for the Japanese millinery industry. Maxim have been involved in making hats for historic events, including Olympic Games, World Expos and National Athletic Meets, for many years. In fact, they were commissioned to create a commemorative beret for the 1970 Osaka World Expo which has been preserved for posterity in a sealed time capsule.
As well as fashion shows and other high profile events, the management of Maxim have always believed that presentation is one of the most effective ways to promote hats. Much time and effort is put into the shop’s lovely displays (right), which keep customers updated on the latest millinery fashions. This elegance and attention to detail allows visitors to imagine that they’re shopping in a Parisian hat salon without having to travel across the world.
2 previous page next page Maxim present two new collections each year, including both formal and casual styles. Each and every hat is designed and handmade by their in-house millinery team, who also make customised hats to order and accept alteration requests. As in the shop, an attitude of total attention to detail pervades the workshop (right), which is also located in the Kobe Head Office. The experienced artisans use only top quality materials to design and create beautiful hats in modern, chic hues which they call the ‘Kobe colours’. Two of Maxim’s best known milliners include Iwao Yamaguchi (bottom left), who has won a number of awards for his work, and Chizuko Odaira (bottom right), who has taken home prizes from the last two Hat Competitions at Les Estivales du Chapeau in Septfonds, France. You may remember Chizuko’s latest prize- winning hat, Anniversaire - an impressive effusion of cream sinamay lilies which was featured in HATalk Issue 54.
As well as creating hats for their own shop, Maxim also fills large orders of uniform hats, for example for airlines and hotels. The quality of their hats is well known and their lines have been carried by Japanese department stores since 1945. They can currently be found in big name stores, such as Takashimaya, Daimaru-Matsuzakaya, Sogo-Seibu, as well as a number of independent millinery shops throughout the country. Maxim hats have also been favoured and collected by members of the Imperial Family of Japan.
Throughout the years, Maxim has remained a family affair. In 1984, Hiroyasu Watanabe replaced his father as company president. His wife, Yuri Watanabe (above), took over after his death in 1992 and has held the position ever since. Their daughter, Lisa Sugihara, is also involved as the Retail Manager. The company is constantly expanding and they now have a branch in Tokyo as well as Kobe. To learn more about millinery in Japan and to see some of the hats available from Maxim, visit www.maxim-hat.jp.
3 previous page next page Hat of the Month by Tracy Thomson American milliner Tracy Thomson, of Kabuki Hats, sells hats from her studio in the Dutch Alley Artist’s Co-op of New Orleans, Louisiana. She created this month’s featured hat especially for a trip to the United Kingdom.
As Tracy planned a holiday to England during Autumn 2010, she was thrilled to learn from the How2hats newsletter that her trip would coincide with the first ever Bridport Hat Festival. She immediately got in touch with the Festival’s organisers and was accepted as an exhibitor. As well as bringing along her normal stock, she wanted to make a special new hat to show at the Festival. She had already created a Seaside series of straw hats and felt that an addition to this collection would be most fitting, as the beautiful Jurassic Coastline is just moments away from Bridport.
Tracy wanted her hat to incorporate “crazy, contrasting, bright colours”. She decided to use twisted toyo, a paper straw combined with a bit of cellophane, her normal choice for straw hats. This material is a favourite with her because it takes dye well and she finds it really fun to work with. Above, you can see some of Tracy’s twisted toyo hoods and brims, freshly dyed and hanging out to dry. No hat blocks were used to make this striking straw hat (right) - it is completely hand manipulated. To get this look, she spritzed the toyo with water and then stretched it, pressed it, steamed it and stitched it. She then stretched the material even more to force a long length of millinery wire into a channel which would not normally accommodate it, the most challenging part of the process. Once wired, she could twist and bend the hat into this pleasing shape which looks good from all angles and is comfortable to wear. Finally, the hat was starched and trimmed with matching ribbons.
4 previous page next page Tracy, who established Kabuki hats in 1984, has made hundreds of hats by this free-form method and says that each one turns out differently from any other. A collection of her straw hats are pictured here (below), on display at a festival. As you can see, her new Seaside hat (also pictured right) took pride of place at the top of the display. Her casual and colourful styles are very popular in New Orleans, where she lives and works. Although this hat did not sell at the Bridport Hat Festival, Tracy took it along to a Blues and BarBQue Festival on her return home and the first person to try it on loved it and bought it on the spot!
To make sure that her straw hats are adjustable, Tracy runs a grosgrain ribbon through the crowns. Most of her designs also pack flat for travel. By the time the material has been dyed, dried, pressed, cut, pinned, stitched, wired, shaped, starched, made adjustable and then labelled, the finished product, from start to finish, takes a few days. However, Tracy is also able to work on making other hats during that time, too. “Multitasking,” as she puts it.
When it comes to pricing, Tracy keeps her hats under $101 (approximately £60). “My materials are not terribly expensive,” she says, “so that my many artist, writer and musician customers can afford my designs. I'd rather be able to sell a hundred hats at a festival than a precious few for a much higher price. When I do a show at a music festival, like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, those hundred hats are on heads, walking around having fun! After 18 years of showing at that festival, Kabuki Hats have become a fashion statement and are collected by many. Some people have up to 20 of my hats in their collections.”
Tracy has been told that wearers of her hats are often asked where their hat came from. Her label, sewn into the interior of all of her hats, includes her website address so that her customers can pass it on to anyone who wants to source one of their own Kabuki hats. Her most recent enquiry came from someone who met a Kabuki hat wearer on a Greek cruise!
To see more of Tracy’s fun styles, visit www.kabukihats.com.
5 previous page next page Landelijke Hoedendag 2011 National Milliner’s Day in the Netherlands
Member s of the Dutch Hat Association (Nederlandse1 Hoeden 2 Vereniging or NHV) recently celebrated their National Milliner’s Day in style.
The event, held on January 22nd in Utrecht, attracted more than 200 visitors from Holland, Belgium and Germany. Those who went along thoroughly enjoyed a wide range of trade stalls, interesting workshops, demonstrations and by Sietje Dekker lectures, millinery exhibits, a lottery, the awards ceremony of the 2010 NHV Hat Competition and a fashion show.
The NHV’s annual Hat Competition, Met de Hoed de Wereld Rond, translated With the Hat Around the World, had a South American theme this year. The hats were presented at an Opening Show in November and were displayed at Utrecht’s Art Library until the end of December. Visitors to the exhibition could vote for their favourite3 hat. The hat with the most votes won the Public Prize, while the top three hats in the Professional Category were chosen by a jury. The winning hats are all pictured here, courtesy of the NHV. 1st Prize in the Professional Category went to Sietje Dekker, (right in above photo). Anneke Tepper won 2nd Prize and by Anneke Tepper Clementine Jesterhoudt (left in above photo) won 3rd Prize. Clementine won two prizes as her unusual hat also came 1st in the Public vote. Myra van de Korput (centre in above photo) came 2nd in the public vote and Alex Hospers was 3rd. by Alex Hospers by Myra van de Korput by Clementine Jesterhoudt
6 previous page next page The building where the celebrations took place was divided into eight rooms of various sizes. In one of the larger halls there were stalls selling hat making materials (below). Hat blocks, fabrics, buttons, feathers, hatboxes and all kinds of millinery supplies were available.
Visitors could register for a number of free workshops throughout the day. These covered topics like leather weaving, straw braiding (above right), making your own fabrics, arranging feathers and starting up your own business. Sewing giants Bernina came along to demonstrate how to make hats using their sewing machines and sergers (above left). Hat maker Robert van der Wateren also gave a fascinating lecture on European uniform headgear, past and present.
After the workshops and lecture came lunch and then the presentation of the Competition awards. Finally, everyone was offered a festive drink (right) and a seat in the Great Hall for the grand finale fashion show. This year the models not only showed hats (below), but also all kinds of fabric bags, necklaces, shawls and raincoats. The whole day was a great success. Marcella de Bruijne, of the NHV, said “Everywhere people were talking with each other, exchanging tips or just enjoying a cup of coffee. After the grand show it was time to start the journey home with new acquisitions and a head full of knowledge under our hats.”
Plans for the 2012 Landelijke Hoedendag and Hat Competition are already well under way. The theme for the next Competition is The Arctic/Antarctic and entry is open to all. Completed entry forms and fees must be received by the NHV by July 1st, 2011 and the hats themselves by September 1st. Entry forms can be requested by emailing [email protected]. To learn more, visit the NHV website.
7 previous page next page Create a Layered Effect Sinamay Brim Without Using a Block
In earlier issues of HATalk, we published a series of articles on how to create brims without blocks. Now, we’ve got another hat made with a blocked crown but needing no block to create the four layers of the brim. Modelled here by Ruth (left), you can see how the brim swoops downwards at the sides, framing the face in a very flattering way. The gentle curves of the brim are eye-catching from any angle. An interesting method which could be adapted in lots of ways and is well worth trying, simply follow these step by step instructions and have a go! You will need... 1½ yards/metres of sinamay (plus another 1½ yards/metres for the crown if you are blocking one to match the brim) ½ yard/metre silk dupion for edging the brim and trimming the hat; card for pattern; sewing thread, needle and glass-headed pins; sewing machine; steam iron and ironing board; scissors, large and small; chinagraph pencil; wooden collar to mark the correct head-size; wire brush (or stiff toothbrush).
As the brim of this hat is oval, the first thing you will need to do is to use card to create a guide for marking and cutting your sinamay. (If you need instruction on how to create an oval, you will find this in HATalk issue 21.) The oval which we have created is, at its widest, 20 inches (approx 51cm) in diameter, and 14 inches (approx. 36cm) at its narrowest.
Lay the pattern on the sinamay with the straight grain of the fabric running parallel to the major diameter (left) and cut out four ovals, as the brim is made with four layers. Next, use the steam iron to press each oval flat (right).
8 previous page next page The edges of each sinamay oval now need to be stretched, where the fabric is on the bias. This will occur at four points around the circumference of each oval. When you have identified these points, hold the steam iron just above one of them and steam it for a few moments. Stand the iron down quickly, place both hands on the sinamay and draw them away from each other, stretching the sinamay (far left). If you have been successful, the sinamay will no longer lie flat but will have a curve in the edge (near right).
If necessary, you can repeat the steaming and stretching process until you have created a pleasing curve. Now repeat this on the other three bias edge points of your first brim. Treat the other three brims in the same way until all of the brims have been stretched and have wavy edges (left).
Using a chinagraph pencil and the wooden collar, mark the head-size onto one of the brims (far right). Place it in the centre by eye – there is no need to measure. Repeat this step with the other three brims, but don’t place the collar in the centre. Move it a little in a different direction each time, then, when the brims are laid together, they will not be exactly on top of one another, but slightly displaced (near right), creating the layered look.
9 previous page next page From the silk dupion, cut 1 inch (2.5cm) wide bias strips until you have a total length of approximately 10 yards/ metres. You will be using these to bind the edges of the brims, placing one strip on each side of each brim, so lots of strips are needed. Sew strips together with bias seams (left) into two long lengths. Trim off the tiny triangles at the ends of the joining seams (right).
Pin strips of the silk dupion to the wavy edges of each brim, one on the top, another underneath, right sides together (right). This means that the rights sides of the seams in both lengths of binding lie against the sinamay. Don’t join the strips when you come round to the beginning again, simply overlap the ends and cut neatly. It doesn’t really matter where you start and finish, or where the seams occur, as the finishing will cleverly disguise all joins. Notice that the pins are placed at right angles to the edge of the brim.
When the strips are securely pinned in place (far left), stitch round with the sewing machine, approx ½ inch (12mm) in from the brim edge using a straight stitch. Stitch over the pins, being careful not to hit them with the needle as you go (near left).
Using sharp scissors, trim the seam allowance to ¼ inch (6mm), cutting through both bias strips and the sinamay edge (right).
10 previous page next page With your fingers, press the bias strips back over the stitching on both sides, then press flat with the iron (near right). Be careful not to distort the shape of the brim as you go. Using the sewing machine again, stitch the bias strips as you have pressed them, with the stitching line just beyond the edge of the sinamay, thus hiding it between the bias strips. Repeat these steps on all four brim pieces.
The raw edges of the silk bias strips beyond the stitching can now be brushed with the wire brush to fray them attractively, giving a soft edge to the brim piece. You may remember that we demonstrated this method of creating raw bias binding edges back in Issue 52. Repeat with all brim pieces.
Now we’ll assemble the brim and prepare it to receive the crown of the hat. Lay the brim pieces on top of one another from the bottom layer and check the effect. You may want to change the order of the brims to get the most pleasing arrangement. On the top layer draw a circle 1 inch (2.5cm) inside the head-size line (bottom left). Still holding all four layers together, poke a hole in the centre of the brim with your scissors and cut to the line that you’ve just drawn (bottom centre). Cut out the smaller circle completely and then cut straight lines in from the inner circle to the outer one at regular intervals, creating flaps all round the head-size oval (bottom right). Lift these flaps up and check the size of the oval you have created. Now you can finish this up-stand with a buckram strip and add the inner petersham headband, just as you normally would for a sinamay hat with a down-turning brim (see How2hats ebook Sinamay Hat 1 for step by step instructions). Finally, attach your chosen crown and trim with a band. As you can see in the photo back on page 8, we have used a sinamay crown and a ruched silk band, to match the materials used in the brim. As always, a milliner’s possibilities are endless. What will you choose? Send photos of your creation to [email protected]!
11 previous page next page The A to Z of Hats Part 16: S (continued)
Snap brim - A hat with a flexible brim which is usually turned down at the front and up at the back.
Snood - A hair net, usually crocheted, knitted or knotted, which holds long hair at the back of the head. Snoods can be worn alone or attached to a hat. Hedy Lamarr wore a snood, made by designer Adrian, in the 1939 film I Take This Woman, popularising the style. During World War II, wearing a snood showed a willingness to economise and, therefore, a commitment to the war effort. In this 1942 photo, owned by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, two women are shown wearing snoods while at work in a Texas Naval Air Base.
Sombrero - In English, a sombrero is a Mexican hat with a tall crown and a wide brim which can be made using a variety of materials, colours and patterns. Traditionally, straw sombreros are worn by peasants while wealthier people wear felt. In the original Spanish, however, the word sombrero simply refers to any hat which has a brim. What English speakers refer to as a sombrero is called a sombrero mexicano in Spain.
Sou’wester - A waterproof hat, made out or rubber or oiled canvas, which has a wide brim that is longer at the front than the back.
Sparterie - A stiff woven material, also known as esparterie, which is used in high class model millinery. It can be used as a hat foundation, similar to buckram, or to make hat blocks.
Spartalac - A thick white stiffener which is used on sparterie blocks. Stetson - Although sometimes used as a generic term for a cowboy hat, a Stetson is actually any hat manufactured by the John B Stetson Company of St Joseph, Missouri, which was established 1865 and was the largest hat company in the world by 1886. Stetsons have become a defining symbol of the American West.
12 previous page next page Stiffener - Also known as sizing, stiffener is used to strengthen and stiffen hats. Available as liquid, spray or gelatin, stiffener should be applied evenly to finished hats, using a clean paint brush if needed, and then left to dry.
Stitched Strip Hats- Hats made by sewing together material which comes in a strip, such as straw braid. This example (left) is featured in the How2hats ebook How to make Stitched Strip Hats.
Steam - A vital ingredient in the hat making process, steam is applied to all kinds of fabrics to make them more flexible and easier to shape and block.
Steamer - A machine which is used to create a large amount of steam and normally has a long hose or nozzle so that this steam can be easily directed.
Stitch - A single loop or thread or yarn sewn into a fabric, by hand or by machine, using a needle. Different types of stitches are used for different tasks. Some of the most commonly used stitches in millinery are starting stitch, finishing stitch, long back stitch, wire stitch and stab stitch. These five stitches werefully explained and illustrated in a series which appeared in HATalk Issues 4 and 5.
Stovepipe hat - An alternative name for a top hat. Straw - An extremely popular material for making hats, especially summer styles. Straw can be bought in preformed cone or capeline hoods. There are a number of different weights and weaves of straw available for millinery use, some natural and others synthetic. Types of straw include panama, visca, parasisal, sisal, rush, double wheat and single wheat, to name just a few.
Sweatband - 1) A band of absorbant material used to line a hat. 2) A band of absorbant material which is normally elasticated and is worn on the forehead, usually when playing sports, to keep hair out of the face and to soak up sweat.
Sun bonnet - A fabric head covering with a stiffened brim to shade the face, often worn by babies and small children.
Next month T is for Trilby, Toque, Turban and more - don’t miss it!
13 previous page next page This Month’s GIVE AWAY It’s hard to believe that this month’s HATalk is the 60th issue. Time does fly and with each month that goes by the HATalk back issue library continues to grow - a real treasure trove of millinery know-how. Styles may change with time, but inspirational ideas and techniques remain useful no matter how old they are. If you’ve been a subscriber since the beginning, you’ll have all that knowledge conveniently stored on your computer. If you’ve only found HATalk recently, however, this month’s Give Away is for you.
We will be giving away three HATalk Back Issue Sets - sets of 25 previous HATalk issues stored on a CD - a gift worth over £87! The winners will be able to choose whether they would like to receive Back Issue Set Volume 1, which contains Issues 1-25, or Back Issue Set Volume 2, which contains Issues 26- 50. If you’re not sure which you’d prefer, you can have a look at what was featured in each of these issues here.
To enter the draw to win one of the HATalk Back Issue CDs being given away, email us before 2nd March 2011 at
PRIZE DRAW RULES [email protected] Entry to the draw is free to subscribers to HATalk with ‘Back Issue CD’ as the title. and no further purchase is necessary. Only one entry per subscriber. Entry is not open to employees Please include your name, full address and whether or associates of the publishers or to their families. you would like to win Volume 1 or Volume 2. The winners will be drawn by an independent person two weeks after publication date. They will be notified by email and their names published in The winners in last month’s ‘pin pusher’ draw were: the next issue of HATalk and on Facebook. The organiser's decision is final. Imogen Crane, Michelle Osborne & Carole St-Denis
14 previous page next page Send us your questions and comments! Do you have a problem needing a solution? Or information that you’d like to share? Email us! [email protected]
Problem: I know that it’s really important for the inside of my hats to look just as good as the outside, but I always seem to do a messy job of sewing in my petersham headband. Do you have any tips for me?
Solution: It’s true that the inside of a hat says a lot about the quality of its label. You want your customers to be assured of careful craftsmanship in every detail. The inner headband is a practical feature which, when sewn in properly, can help to make a hat look extremely professional. A piece of petersham, or grosgrain, ribbon (above) is the conventional choice for an inner headband. Petersham comes in a huge variety of colours and a curve can be pressed into it with an iron, causing it to fit nicely inside the crown.
Use doubled thread and a strong needle to sew in the petersham headband. Start your line of stitching at the bottom of the ribbon, about an inch (25cm) before the centre back. Use a long backstitch, with the long side of the stitch on the outside of the hat. Keep your stitches very small and neat on the inside of the hat. As you can see (right), petersham ribbon is ribbed. You can use the ribs as a guide for your stitches to ensure that they remain perfectly even. Decide how many ribs apart you want the stitches to be and then count the ribs to work out where to bring your needle through each time. For this headband, for example, we placed a stitch on every fourth rib of the petersham - close enough to prevent the ribbon from gapping away from the felt. When you near the end, turn the excess ribbon under, position the fold at the centre back, then finish off the stitching neatly. Although our photo shows the inner headband being sewn into a ‘blocked-in-one’ hat, headbands are often sewn into the brim before the crown is attached. In this case, it’s even easier to concentrate on the stitching which will be seen, as the stitches on the outside will eventually be hidden by the crown.
15 previous page next page The BACK PAGE
You’re probably aware of the international millinery course directory www.hatcourses.com, as it is often mentioned in the bi-monthly How2hats newsletter. If you haven’t visited the site for a while, however, you may be surprised to learn how much it has grown since it was created just one year ago!
Catherine Morse-Brown, of Guy Morse-Brown Hat Blocks, created this useful website. She says, “I launched the hatcourses.com website last March after receiving requests almost every other day about recommending courses and teachers. Now we have 47 teachers listed and well over 100 course dates in the diary! The site currently gets over 1000 hits a month and regularly enjoys being top of the Google search.”
Having a centralised worldwide directory of millinery courses makes life easier for students and teachers alike. Listing is completely free, so if you’re a millinery teacher and haven’t yet used this valuable networking tool, it’s well worth a try. Simply email Catherine at [email protected] to get your free listing up and running. If you’re a millinery student and your favourite millinery teacher isn’t on the list, make sure to tell them about the site so that others can learn from them, too!
A book to enjoy: Hat Talk: Conversations with Hat Makers about their Hats - The Fedora, Homburg, Straw, and Cap, Debbie Henderson; Wild Goose Press; 2002. This book documents how men’s hat-wearing changed over the course of the last century. It is available from www.amazon.com.
Contact Us! Have you attended a millinery course recently that you’d like to recommend to others? Tell us about your experience by emailing us at [email protected] or by posting on the HATalk on Facebook.
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