In This Month's Hatalk
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Issue 57, December 2010 Next issue due 15th December 2010 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: Find out how Rebecca Hanley learned to make head wear. Hat of the Month A Kentucky Derby hat by Paula Singleton. How to… Make a spotty pillbox hat using a saucepan. Focus on... Hatboxdesigns; writer Monica Ferris and her hat collection; P & Q in the A to Z of Hats. 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 57 Contents: December 2010 Millinery in Practice People at work in the world of hats. This month: Meet Rebecca Hanley, a successful Australian milliner who learned her hat making skills at home. Hat of the Month Learn about this lovely hat and something about Paula Singleton, who created it. How to... Rebecca Hanley’s instructions for making a spotty pillbox hat on a saucepan. Focus on... Hatboxdesigns and their revolutionary approach to hat storage. An Interview with... Mystery writer Monica Ferris talks to us about her love of hats. The A to Z of Hats... From Panama to Petersham and Pork Pie to Quill - we’ve got lots of hat words beginning with P & Q. This Month’s Give Away Enter the draw for a chance to win one of three round tiara boxes. Letters to the Editor This month - find out whether or not you should lacquer your hat blocks. The Back Page Interesting hat facts; books; contact us and take part! 1 previous page next page Rebecca Hanley Mastering the Art of Millinery Learning a new skill can be hard, especially if you don’t have anyone to teach you. We’ve been inspired by the story of Rebecca Hanley - a self-taught milliner determined to become the best that she can be. Rebecca , who lives on the mid-north coast of New South Wales in Australia, was first introduced to the world of millinery six years ago. With a race meeting to attend and no hat to match her outfit, she decided to have a go at making a fascinator for herself. Rebecca had always enjoyed doing crafts and creating things - dabbling in painting, drawing and jewellery making. She bought some supplies from a local craft shop and experimented with them to make her first fascinator. The fascinator turned out much better than Rebecca had imagined it would and she was hooked on making head wear. Though she enjoyed making simple fascinators, Rebecca really wanted to take her skills forward but didn’t know how. She dreamt of gaining formal accreditation as a milliner but, living two hours from the nearest college, caring for a young son and with another baby on the way, this dream seemed a complete impossibility. She continued to experiment with techniques and materials, but she longed for a chance to learn from an expert. Without anyone nearby who could help, Rebecca turned to the internet for information about millinery. She trawled the web for articles on hat and fascinator making and often learned new things by accidentally coming across words or phrases related to her search topics. Once, for example, the word ‘steam’ came up with a search for ‘sinamay’, so she got out her steam iron and quickly discovered how much easier sinamay is to manipulate when steam is added! 2 previous page next page In 2008, Rebecca discovered www. how2hats.com and ordered some DVDs and ebooks. It was then, as she puts it, that she “got to learning real skills”. She found the learning resources she had purchased easy to follow and full of useful information. She was able to make much more professional looking fascinators and even started having a go at small pillbox hats. Rebecca had no wooden hat blocks, so she blocked on bowls, saucepans and any other household object which looked like it could form the shape of a hat. Encouraged by her newly acquired millinery knowledge and pleased that she had gained the ability to produce headpieces of an even higher quality, Rebecca began to consider the possibility of turning her hobby into a business - using her love of creating as a way to make money from home. The idea frightened her, but she bravely decided to give it a try, making it official by registering her business name as Belleve Designs. Rebecca’s first step in this new venture was to approach some local boutiques with her wares. Anyone who sells their own work will know that this initial step is often the hardest. As pleased as we may be with what we’ve created, it can be a scary thing to have it judged by others. 3 previous page next page Rebecca, pictured here, had no need to worry - the response from the boutiques was overwhelmingly positive. Two of them placed orders right away and one offered to give Rebecca’s name out to women looking for more customised designs. Though excited at this instant success, she was still very nervous that her clients would not like what she created for them or that they might ask for something that she couldn’t make. Despite these anxieties, she determined not to let fear stop her and began taking private orders as well. Having created a workspace in her home, Rebecca became very busy, with lots of commissions to complete. She continued to rely on resources from How2hats to develop her skills. As well as quality workmanship, she also learned the importance of using quality materials, and started buying her supplies almost exclusively from millinery suppliers rather than ordinary craft shops. She also spent lots of time hunting around vintage shops to find buttons, belt buckles and brooches to finish off her pieces. Some of Rebecca’s work is pictured on the previous two pages. As you can imagine, both the boutiques and private customers loved what she delivered. The lady who purchased the grey, pink and orange fascinator pictured at the top right-hand side of page 2 won ‘Best Dressed’ at a local club function. Another client won the ‘Fashions on the Field’ competition at Taree Race Course’s Melbourne Cup Day event wearing a fascinator which was featured as our ‘Hat of the Month’ back in Issue 47. As Belleve Designs continues to become more successful, Rebecca has never lost the drive to become the best that she can possibly be. She recently enrolled in her nearest TAFE college and will begin studying for her Certificate 2 in Millinery next year. To get to the college, she will have to travel two hours each way with her two young boys, dropping them off with a babysitter while she studies, but she feels that every sacrifice will be well worth the end achievement. She has her heart set on gaining her accreditation and says that she is very thankful to have a supportive husband who has encouraged her to go for her goals. Rebecca is currently busy making new creations for the Australian spring racing season. Her very first hat blocks, purchased from Guy Morse-Brown Ltd, arrived in the post just a few weeks ago. Her first attempt at using them can be seen at the bottom right-hand corner of page 3. She has also launched her own website - www.bellevedesigns.com.au - and is now selling her work online. 4 previous page next page Hat of the Month by Paula Singleton December’s Hat of the Month was the winner of the Judges’ Choice Award in the Kentucky Derby Hat Competition back in April. We asked Paula Singleton, its creator, to tell us a bit more about how she made it. “The Kentucky Derby hat was a bit of a departure for me,” says Paula, “My style is more streamlined sophistication with a touch of whimsy, but it was great fun to create a big, bright, splashy hat for the occasion. The tag line for the Kentucky Derby is ‘Run for the Roses’, so I knew I wanted to make some over the top red roses to embellish the hat.” The hand dyed red silk, velvet and organza roses certainly create an effective focal point for this lovely straw hat. After dyeing the materials for the roses, Paula cut out and curled each silk petal individually with an electric flower iron purchased fromJudith M. To accent the flowers, Paula then added some vintage red velvet leaves which she had put away in her store room for a special hat like this. As well as dyeing the roses, Paula also used dye to create an ombre effect on the parasisal capeline. The hat was blocked on wooden blocks - a BB51 brim block and an MB40 crown block from the Guy Morse-Brown collection to be exact. She wired the edge of the brim and then covered it with a bias strip of red dupioni silk. Paula also made a gathered and swirled silk embellishment which she placed on the side of the hat, nestling the roses into it. A few vintage feathers, poking out from behind the flowers here and there, were the final decorations, creating movement and giving the hat that “touch of whimsy” which Paula likes to add to each of her pieces. As one of the winning hats in the Kentucky Derby Hat Competition, Paula’s hat will be part of a permanent exhibition at the Kentucky Derby Museum all year. Visit www.whatagreathat.com to see her other creations.