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 arace 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.
5 previous page next page Secrets of the Atelier... Rebecca Hanley’s Spotty Pillbox Hat Rebecca demonstrates how she blocks a spotty pillbox hat on a 1 2 saucepan. Why not have a go? Materials You Will Need: 1) A saucepan or a wooden block 2) A vase or other ‘block stand’ 3) Sinamay 4) Soft spotted tulle 5) Bias sinamay ribbon (see page 16) 6) Strong rubber bands 7) Sinamay stiffener 8) Millinery wire 9) Needle, thread & scissors 10) Pins 11) A hair band 3 4 5
6 previous page next page Step 1 - Find a saucepan with a ‘crown’ size base. Rebecca used a vase as a stand for her saucepan (Fig. 1). Cover the pan with cling film so that the sinamay won’t stick to it.
Step 2 - Measure the saucepan from one side to the other and then add 20cm (approx 8”). Cut out two squares of sinamay this size. Hold the layers together, immerse them in hot water and place them over the saucepan (Fig. 2), using rubber gloves to avoid burns.
Step 3 - Pull the layers of sinamay down tightly over the saucepan and then secure them using two strong rubber bands, one at the base of the saucepan and one further up. Once the rubber bands are in place (Fig. 3), carefully work your way around the hat, pulling the sinamay down to remove all creases.
1 Step 4 - Measure approximately 8cm (3 /4”) from the base of the saucepan down the side, marking the measurement in chalk at various points around the hat. Use the chalk marks as a guide to cut off the excess sinamay (Fig. 4).
Step 5 - Stiffen the sinamay on the saucepan and leave to dry.
Step 6 - Stretch your piece of tulle over the sinamay crown, as shown in Fig.5. Pin it in place, cut off the excess tulle and remove the crown from the saucepan. Machine sew or hand stitch the tulle to the base of the crown using a straight stitch.
Step 7 - Attach millinery wire to the inside edge with a blanket stitch.
Step 8 - Fold your sinamay bias ribbon in half and use it to bind the edge, hiding the stitching and wire inside and out. Machine sew or hand stitch the bias ribbon to the crown, again using a straight stitch. At this stage, your hat should look like the one in the above photo.
Step 9 - Fix the hat to a hair band. You can use hot glue and hand stitching ensure a really firm hold.
You now have a finished spotty pillbox hat to decorate - blocked using just a saucepan! Rebecca used feathers and more bias sinamay ribbon to finish her hat off. How will you do yours?
7 previous page next page Revolutionising Hat Storage
Anybody who thinks that a hatbox is just a box for hats has clearly not met Ben Woolfrey. Ben, who heads up UK company Hatboxdesigns, is passionate about hatboxes. We asked him how he got into this business and what he feels that his hatboxes have to offer which other boxes just haven’t got.
Ben first got interested in hatboxes while in the millinery section of a large department store - waiting while his girlfriend tried on hats! He watched as a shop assistant set about assembling a flat-packed hatbox she had just retrieved from a small store behind a curtain. A few minutes later, the poor assistant was clearly in difficulties. It was taking her much longer to put the hatbox together than it had taken to sell the hat to the customer. This incident got Ben thinking. He suspected that, in shops across the country, useful time was being wasted assembling hatboxes so that customers could carry their new pride and joy home safely.
In fact, Ben did more than just think. He got to work solving the problem and created a new, unique hatbox which, rather than being square and angular, was nearly round. He did this by giving the box ten sides and he also added an integrated lid. While the box still came flat packed like its predecessors, this new design didn’t take ten or fifteen minutes of valuable selling time to assemble, it took just seconds. The ten-sided box, pictured left, came as a boon for both shop staff and customers - making the whole process of buying a beautiful hat an even more enjoyable experience. Ben also gave special attention to the decorative designs on his hatboxes. He knew that no one wants to put a stunning hat into an ugly box!
The big department stores immediately saw the benefits of Ben’s new boxes. Not only did they save time, the integrated lid meant that less storage space was needed, bringing down costs. The old type of boxes were often damaged in busy shop store rooms, mainly because of the size of their lids. Ten-sided hatboxes made sense all round.
8 previous page next page Though pleased with the initial success of his new product, Ben, ever a pragmatist, was still looking for ways to improve and expand his product range. Once Hatboxdesigns had been formed, he found that some members of the millinery trade still wanted hatboxes with separate lids. To supply this demand, he decided to reintroduce the traditional style of hatbox but to make it a hatbox with a difference. Hatboxdesigns new version of the classic hatbox, pictured left, has an improved and strengthened base and a lid which has been simplified, making it much easier to put together. These boxes are produced in a comprehensive range of sizes, ranging from a tiara box, which is 9.5 inches across, to a large, strong hatbox, which is 26.5 inches across.
“Well,” says Ben, “Look at some of the beautiful big hats that were worn by ladies at Ascot and Henley last year. How were these going to be stored out of season? There has always been a call for a really big, strong, good-looking box and if that‘s what our customers want, that’s what we’ll give them!”
The latest news from this innovative company will also be of great interest to milliners. It has always been said that producing a round box which can be packed flat is impossible, but Ben and his team have done just that. Their new hatboxes, which will be released for sale in the near future, are truly revolutionary and will be available in a number of different sizes. The 13 and 18 inch versions are pictured here (right). These round, flat packed boxes come in their own carry-cases, enabling retailers to sell them from a supplied merchandising unit. Ben calls them “the ulitmate impulse buy,” providing an extra revenue source for hat shops.
Hatboxdesigns have recently relaunched their website, www.hatboxdesigns.co.uk. Products are easy to find, stock availability can be checked online and purchasing is very straightforward. You can even take advantage of their bespoke printing service and have your logo overprinted on your very own customised hatboxes.
9 previous page next page Monica Ferris Author and Hat Lover
Where would we hat makers be without people who love to wear hats? We asked mystery writer Monica Ferris, who proudly dons a hat whenever the opportunity arises, a few questions about her ever expanding collection...
You obviously love hats! Can you tell us why? I love old movies and watch them almost as much for the clothing styles as the wonderful stories. I especially like the ones where the women wear fancy hats. I think a hat ‘completes’ an outfit. And, it takes an adult to wear a hat, so wearing a hat means I’m all grown up -- I like that. I started wearing them at a mystery convention called ‘Malice Domestic’, for the writers and fans of the traditional or cozy mystery novels. Lots of the attendees wear hats to this convention and there are vendors who sell old ones there. My first hats were old ones, some older than I am, which is going some! One hat I own is old enough to have belonged to my grandmother when she was a young woman!
What is your greatest consideration when choosing a new hat? When choosing a hat, it has to suit my face. Fortunately -- or unfortunately, considering what they do to my budget -- I can wear many styles of hats. I prefer the more elaborate ones, because I use them to advertise my persona of Monica Ferris, mystery author.
Do you have your hats made for you? If not, where do you buy them? I have spent lots of time in hat shops -- and second-hand stores, antique shops, even estate sales. I have so many hats now that I have to limit myself to one new one a year. Sometimes two.
10 previous page next page What does wearing a hat do for you? Wearing a hat gives me confidence. Only a very confident woman could wear some of my fancier hats, so I feel confident when I wear them. But I can remember my first really ornate hat, a purple felt with a wide brim edged in purple maribou feathers. I actually stood in my hotel room with my hand on the door handle for five minutes before I had nerve enough to go out wearing that hat. Fortunately, it was a sensation, and I’ve never been really nervous again wearing even the most extravagant hat.
Have you a particular favourite among your hats? If so, please explain! That purple was probably my favorite hat. But the felt faded and some of the feathers dropped off and I finally gave it away. I have a light green cloche I like a lot, and a wildly extravagant silver lamé that I call my Mardi Gras Parade Hat, and one made of gold wire that makes me look like a Christmas pageant angel crossed with a Brillo pad, and a black- and-yellow number with twists of half-stripped feathers -- Oh, it’s impossible to choose which is my favorite nowadays. I love them all.
Have you had any interesting/amusing hat experiences? My newest hat, worn for the first time this Easter Sunday, is a highly- stylized version of a top hat, made of white straw, with a high crown that swells toward the top and a wider brim turned up on one side. I fell in love with it the moment I laid eyes on it. It was a little big for me, so I bought a roll of that sticky tape that goes right inside the crown. But the sticky part didn’t stick very well and by halfway through the service it had come loose inside the crown and the hat settled until it was resting on my ears and covering my eyebrows! I went from feeling very elegant to thinking I looked like a clown. I was sitting right up in front and so didn’t dare slip it off and rearrange the tape. Before I wear that hat again I’m going to Super Glue that tape in place!
Monica Ferris is an American author who has had a number of books published. Most recently, she has written a series of ‘needlework mysteries’. Next month, we speak to renowned pianist, composer, writer and professor Stephen Hough about why he loves to put on a hat.
11 previous page next page The A to Z of Hats Part 13: P & Q
Padre hat - A hat adapted from the style worn by priests, having a low crown and broad, straight brim. Popular in the 1980s in felt and straw.
Paille - The French word for straw. Pan - A metal block used on a hydraulic press for mass producing hats. A collection of antique pans is pictured here.
Panama - An ever popular wide brimmed hat for men, made out of finely woven Ecuadorian toquilla straw. These hats were originally exported through Panama, hence the name. They are lightweight and can regain their shape after being crushed, making them ideal for travel to warm destinations.
Paper Panama - Straw woven from Japanese Toyo Paper. This material is often used for sun hats as it can be rolled up without being damaged.
Paulette - Madame Paulette was one of the most famous of all French milliners. She opened her millinery salon in Paris in 1939 and was well known for her draped wool turbans by 1942. She went on to create headwear for many actresses and collaborated with a number of fashion designers. Her original designs and drawings were sought after by other millinery houses, who bought them to produce for their own collections.
Parasisal - A very high quality straw made of sisal, using a two over two weave and bleached or dyed to colour. Delicate but resilient, it comes in grades one to five.
Pattern Hat - Made according to a pattern, these hats are cut and sewn, or knitted, rather than blocked. Peak - Called a visor in the USA, a peak is a partial brim, often stiffened, on the front of a hat. Petersham - Ribbed ribbon, also called grosgrain, which is used for headbands, bindings and trimmings.
12 previous page next page Phyrgian Cap - An ancient, soft, conical cap with the top pulled forward. A symbol of freedom in Roman times and used for the Liberty Caps of the French Revolution.
Picture Hat - A hat with a big brim and fancy trimmings. Pile - The nap, or raised surface, of a fabric, such as velvet, which is made of upright loops or strands of yarn.
Pillbox - A small hat with no brim, popularised by Jackie Kennedy . Pin - A sharp device used to temporarily attach two materials. Special blocking pins with plastic heads can be used on wooden blocks.
Pin Pusher - A helpful tool used to push pins into wooden blocks, minimising strain and damage to the hands and arms. The pin pusher pictured above is available from the How2hats ebay shop.
Plaiting - The age old technique of braiding materials. Usually done with three strands though more can be used, as demonstrated in HATalk Issue 4. Many materials make interesting hat trims when plaited.
Plume - A large feather, or an arrangement of feathers, used for ornamental purposes. Poke Bonnet - A 19th century woman’s bonnet with a wide, projecting brim to shade the face. Pork Pie - A hat with a domed top and straight sides - similar in shape to a pork pie! Postillion Hat - A ladies’ riding hat with a flat crown and slightly curled brim, worn in the 18th century. Press - To use a hot iron to flatten a fabric or material. Quill - A single feather taken from the end of the tail or wing of a bird, sometimes stripped before use. Quoif - A linen hood for men, worn tied under the chin during the 13th and 14th centuries.
Next Month: R is for Rafia, Ribbon and more. Don’t miss it!
13 previous page next page This Month’s GIVE AWAY We have a really exciting Give Away for you this month. Three lucky winners will receive a round tiara box from Hatboxdesigns - part of the all new range we told you about on page 9. Hatboxdesigns are only in the early stages of making these boxes available to the general public, so this is a special opportunity open exclusively to HATalk subscribers.
The round tiara box (right) is 9 inches (23cm) wide and 5 inches (12.5cm) high. It comes with a separate lid and is flat packed in a strong cardboard carrying case. Simple assembly instructions are included and a braided handle is also supplied. These boxes are manufactured in micro flute corrugated cardboard with a white clay liner. They are printed with environmentally friendly water-based inks, using over 70% recycled material. The lid and the bottom of the box are made in 2mm display board. Please note, the decorative design may vary from that shown. To enter the draw to win one of the three tiara boxes being given away, simply email us before
2 December, 2010 at PRIZE DRAW RULES [email protected] Entry to the draw is free to subscribers to HATalk and no further purchase is necessary. Only one entry with ‘hatbox’ as the title. per subscriber. Entry is not open to employees or associates of the publishers or to their families. The Please include your name and full address. winners will be drawn by an independent person two weeks after publication date. They will be notified by Last month’s ‘Fantastic Feathers’ winners were: email and their names published in the next issue of Deb Jones, Sonja Pemberton & Edward Winslow HATalk. The organiser's decision is final.
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 recently purchased some hat blocks from Guy Morse-Brown Ltd. They are lovely blocks, but they do not seem to be lacquered. Am I supposed to finish the blocks off with a coat of lacquer myself?
Solution: All good hat blocks, and certainty all Guy Morse-Brown hat blocks, are lacquered before being sent out to customers. Lacquer is essential for the protection of the wood. The problem with lacquer, however, is that once it has been applied, it slightly raises the grain of the wood. This causes the block to feel rough and creates problems with fabrics sticking to the block.
To avoid this, block makers rub the wood down with a fine sandpaper after the lacquer has dried. This restores the smooth surface of the block but still leaves the wood sealed against moisture and dirt. The smoothing process also removes the shine of the lacquer, which is the reason your blocks may look untreated. Despite this appearance, they are fully treated and no further coats of lacquer should be applied. If you did apply another coat, you would simply cause the surface to become rough again.
The best protection that you can give your wooden blocks is with cling film. By always covering them with cling film (Saran wrap) before blocking on them, you will prevent colour run from fabrics and ensure the longest life possible for your hand-crafted blocks.
15 previous page next page The BACK PAGE
Bias sinamay ribbon, like that used by Rebecca Hanley for her spotty pillbox hat shown on pages 6 and 7, is a relatively new product on the millinery supplies market. This bias ribbon is sold cut, folded, stretched and ironed - completely ready to be used. Sinamay is normally sold by the metre or yard and can then be cut to size. Milliners often use sinamay bias binding to finish their hats, but have traditionally had to create their own using larger pieces of sinamay. Buying ready-made bias ribbon saves time and effort and, as it is sold in small amounts at competitive prices, makes it much more economical to use a variety of sinamay colours to finish and trim your hats. We think there’s a lot of scope for making some really interesting new bows and other trimmings with this material and it doesn’t cost much to start experimenting!
Though still not available from many suppliers, we’re sure bias sinamay ribbon will soon become much more popular and, hopefully, more widely available. At the moment, it can be purchased in the UK from The Trimming Company, who sell both plain (pictured left) and lattice bias sinamay ribbon in a variety of colours. You can also often find it on ebay. If you’d prefer to make your own bias sinamay binding, instructions can be found in HATalk Issue 27 as part of a feature on making a fascinator entirely from pieces of sinamay cut on the bias.
Contact Us! Have you tried using bias sinamay ribbon to make an unusual hat trim? We’d love to see it! In fact, we’d love to see any special projects you’ve been working on lately. Send photos to mail@ hatalk.com or post them on our HATalk Facebook page.
A book to enjoy: Knitting Millinery, Annie Modesitt; ModeKnit Press; 2005. A great book which contains instructions for creating five wire brimmed hats using hat knitting techniques. Available on Amazon.
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