Millinery 2018 my journey

As I infrequently post about my hat-making I decided to do it this year as I am heavy into making new hats for my upcoming shows. The first show is May 5&6. I like to start the season by un-trimming hats from the prior year that did not sell. I try to figure out how to re trim or re block them to improve their appearance or just fix something that was "off" to my eye.
Here are some of my my 1920's themed cloche hats. They always are popular. I wanted to develop some machine embroidered trims so I could combine my hobbies of sewing and using my embroidery machine with my millinery.

The next type of hat I like to make are in the tea hat category

The final category are Percher hats here are two new ones I made.

Percher hats are a big trend in Australia and England. I hope they catch on here soon. They are great for the gals that complain about 'hat-hair', there is no head size so they truly fit all, and they are not hot to wear like hats can be in the summer humidity. Hope you like them.

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new hats new techniques

Millinery is my passion! I have been doing it since 2000. Every couple of years I try to take courses from other more experienced milliners. For the past two years I have taken courses from west coast milliners and ones all the way from England and Australian. Some of newer pieces reflect some of the techniques I have learned. Below is a photograph of one of my new styles.

This is a percher pill box with a buckram frame covered in a tweed fabric. A custom made leather butterfly accented with curled quills completes the look.

New in 2016, Millinery, flat pattern hats

The Millinery has been busy. I have made some new felt hats and a few flat pattern hats. Yes I can sew and I do love to use all of the

features on my machines.Patty was gracious enough to model for me.

I have been sewing up a storm to finish all of my projects started in 2015. I took a few refresher and new courses in 2015 so hopefully you will see my millinery skills evolve to a new level in 2016.

Winter hats and more

I have decided it is about time I post some more hats pictures. I have been busy in the millinery.

This one I re-trimmed and finished the edge with a binding Do you like my ribbon turkey?

brown straw with embroidered flower

A nod to my Irish heritage

I have two winter coats, one is a blue wool the other a camel hair coat in that color. So I like to coordinate my hats to my winter coats. I have other more casual jacket I wear and usually wear cloth brimmed hats with those. These hats are ones I blocked at Wayne Wichern's in September. I had a chance to take a class from him to refine my skill set. I left the final trimming to be done at home.Do you wear coat hats? I think it is fun to dress up in a coat hat in the winter.

Hatmaking many methods

I have been making hats for about 12 years now and many people want to learn the art of hat making. That encompasses many different techniques and different equipment and materials. Here is my best attempt to explain all of this. I consider myself a milliner. Webster's definition is : a person who designs, makes, or sells women's hats. That is a very broad definition but correct. The method I like to use is to shape pre woven straw hat blanks with wooden hat blocks that have two parts. The crown and the brim. I will usually dye the straw and add a gelatin stiffener before I block my hats. I can also use pre felted hat blanks that are made up of wool or rabbit fur.


The way I get the the hat blanks to take the shape of the wood is to wet them and for the wool ones I use steam. Once the hats have dried I then can finish them so they maintain the shape. This usually means adding a wire to the edge of the hat and or a binding over the wire or to just leave the edge unfinished. Sometimes the crown and brim have to be sewn together if they were made from two pieces. I then finish the head band inside of the hat which will serve to maintain the headsize.
Next onto the fun part which is making up a trim that goes on the outside of the hat.

Another commonly used method of hat making is to use fabric in yardage the preferred choice to this method is Sinemay which is woven out of banana leaf fibers. Again the yardage is dyed and sometimes stiffened. Using a crown and brim block the hat parts are made and assembled. This is a more difficult and time consuming process because you are using 3 layers at once to fit over the hat blocks to give the required thickness so it will hold the shape.

A third method is to use a buckram foundation shape that is covered with fabric utilizing the bias of the fabric to stretch over the shape with out excessive puckering and wrinkles. Many fascinators are made this way as are cocktail hats.

Then there is another whole different technique using sewn braid straw. This product is bought in sufficient quantity in order to sew out a crown and brim. It utilizes a sewing machine and the technique roughly is to start with a little coiled center and to sew round and round which grows out of the center until the crown is sewn then with a slight manipulation the brim is added sewing round and round adding width to the brim as you go. This is a very different technique from the blocking method. Sometimes after the braid is sewn the hat is blocked as well. There are different types of braids as well some are natural milan straw for example and others are synthetic as in the case of horsehair braid. There are many hats made with ribbon this way.

The last type of hat making I will mention is flat pattern sewn hats. These are made out of a huge variety of types of fabrics, leathers, suede, wool. The pattern pieces are cut out and sewn and usually a lining is cut and sewn as well the crown is stiffened by using interfacing or plastic canvas inserts.

So when you express a desire to learn how to make hats think about which method suits your fancy. Each method has its own unique equipment and techniques. Some of the vintage hats that were made in the past were made out of materials that are no longer available. On the flip side there are new materials that are being used such as fossshape.

Millinery ABHats 2014 hats and trims

It has taken me about 2 years to learn how to do machine embroidery. I wanted to learn it so I could utilize it in making trims for my millinery business. Here are some examples now that I finally have a machine that works well and I know how to do it.

The purple ribbon was made with a rolled edge setting on my Baby lock Serger.

These flowers were stitched out onto shimmery organza with an outline stitch. I added the purl centers. the hat is a blush color which the flash washed out a bit in the picture.

This hat has millinery grade flower which I did not make but will soon be making some and posting those pictures as well. Enjoy. I'm headed over to Not Dead Yet Style Blog to see what everyone else has been up to.

The birth of a new hat

I am making a hat for someone to wear at a horse race in Dubai, Saudi Arabia. We talked about the style she wanted and looked at the dress she would be wearing and her accessories. We came up with a color that is sort of a neutral luggage tan/brown. The color was complimentary to peacock feathers and her dress. So here are a few shots of the beginning of the blocking process. I have dyed the sinemay prior to draping and blocking it on the hatblocks.

Brim block with sinemay draped over it

crown block with the ribbon I was to match

The brim and crown actually are the same color but the camera made the brim look lighter. Tomorrow stiffner will be applied. Drying time is needed in between these steps.

The edge has been wired and a bias binding sewn on over it.

here the brim is ready for the crown to be attached. I added a collar from buckram for support. A Petersham head band will be sewn on as well. The blue tape marks center back.

hat with hat band before sewn on

finished hat with decor that is detachable for travel

The dress will be worn with an emerald green sheath dress.

Part 5 continue another elevation of a basic

    In the photographs below I show you the basic T with a navy blue open front draped cardigan and a scarf that picks up the blue and tan colors. Another basic outfit upgraded with a bracelet and earring too. 
    I added a brown tweed jacket and an animal print hat and scarf that I made. The jacket has a small scale print-tweed and the hat and scarf a bigger scale print. They are all in the same neutral color family so they work. 

    In the next photo I used a brown sweater with copper flecks in it. It is closer in color to the brown in the animal print. It is so much more expected but it works. A very simple upgrade of a sweater and jeans.

Working on hats planning session

When women buy my hats they are usually impressed with how good they look. I have seen several women tell me that hats dont look good on them and then end up buying one of my hats because that wasnt true. What was true they never had found the right hat before. I LOVE when this happens. I want women to feel good about how they look.

When I develop a new line of hats I always sort all of my stuff by colors. I put all of the hatblanks ribbons and flower trims, feathers, together by colors. That way I know what I have and what colors I need. Then I usually dye the straws the colors I need. I confess I love to do the dye process. I usually go overboard and dont make enough neutral colors. Most ladies buy neutrals with a color trim. American Women are very conservative when it comes to hats. Okay that is a sweeping generalization. Maybe it is better to say that most of my first time hat buyers buy hats in neutrals.But I LOVE making the colored hats and putting them together...

The next thing I consider is the shapes. I have some shape combinations that people love. I have other odd shapes that I usually only make one or two of per season.

Then I get busy trying to have a variety in each size group. Small -medium- large head sizes. I never trim hats exactly alike. I use a variation on a theme; ribbon with flower on one hat, ribbon with feather with flower, fabric sash and buckle all in the same color families. This way it gives the hat some variety without going crazy trying to think this stuff up.