Millinery Tutorial Poll Results

HATS:  HEADS AND TAILS (click on image to start video)

I asked you what types of tutorials you would like to see here, and I really appreciate those of you that took the time to participate.  I've been brainstorming ways that I could reward those of you that follow me, email me, and leave comments; so, there is a surprise coming to you very soon for your extra efforts.  Your support is greatly appreciated.  Additionally, I'm extremely passionate about couture millinery and the continued growth of this beautiful art form.

There is nothing new under the sun.  Enjoy these two vintage videos (one below also)  from the past addressing millinery trim (poll winner).  Here are the poll results:

• Buckram Frames--Flat Pattern:      7
• Buckram Frames--Blocked               6
• Straw Blocking:                                    10
• Felt Blocking:                                          8
• Millinery Trim (flowers, etc.):        13
• Other (no comments left):                  3

I estimate that 33% of my learning came from the classes I've taken over the years, and I never get tired of taking classes, if I can find them; 33% percent from books, other media, and observation; and 33% from experimentation.   In other words, I Never Stop Learning, Experimenting, and Taking Classes!  I've noticed something that's very interesting to me.  When a milliner is given lots of praise for their work and that work is in great need of improvement, in some cases that milliner ceases to grow because they grow to believe that they are as good as the hype.  So to those milliners just starting out, if your headsize ribbon is falling out of your hat; your headband does not hug the side of your hat; if your fabric (on covered hats) does not hug your hat frame like a fine glove, and it looks like you're gathering the waistband of a skirt; if you think blocking is only for felt and straws; if you spend more on glue than thread in your "couture workroom," etc, etc., please research why these things are happening.  

A second observation::  milliners with poor skills pass on their bad skills on.  Learn to tell the difference between a good and a bad milliner.  Ladies and gentlemen, there are too many fantastic milliners out their to study, past and present.  If you have learned to tell the difference between a well made dress and a poorly made dress or purse or shoes, you can learn to tell the difference between a well made hat and a poorly made one.  My work still needs plenty of improvement, and I'm not even a perfectionist!  

Vintage Millinery, Vintage Clothing: The Feel-Good Factor

I never thought I would be a Facebook or Twitter fan; I've been a fan of YouTube forever. Well, I'm still not into Twitter, but I'll get there. I don't keep up with my close friends and family on Facebook because my daughter has that covered. Twitter, well, when I'm in an antique, thrift, or millinery shop, or at my favorite bookstore sipping on over-sweetened coffee and eating sinful pastries, I'm in a meditative state--Tweets just don't factor in, but I'll get there. At my age, I have to keep up with what's going on around me. Never mind that my body is well seasoned and a little stiff, I have to keep my mind young and flexible. People, books, television,YouTube, Facebook, whatever it takes, I'm willing to try it.


So, now intrigued with Facebook's creative community and its friends and friends of friends, I found myself searching for the most creative, the best--la crème de la crème.  On one such occasion I found the Anita Mc'Enzy site--not even hat related--a friend of a friend.  I just fell in love with this site.  Here were vintage-style dresses reminiscent of those from my childhood; they made me feel so good.  So, I skipped over to YouTube, another one of my feel-good places, to find a Pearl Bailey video.  Ms. Bailey resembled one of my  grandmothers...oh my grandmother's smell, her food....  I found the perfect video, Ms. Bailey in a beautiful hat and suite, circa 50s/60s!  (Notice her handwriting on the blackboard.  It looks similar to my handwriting!  OMG, they were beating students across the knuckles with a thick yardstick if they didn't get their cursive letters correct back when she was going to school also!  Maybe we had the same fifth grade teacher!  OK, not everything felt good from that era.)   

Maybe I'll Tweet this?  Enjoy.   
Update:  I Tweeted!

Anita Mc'Enzy Web Site (coming soon), Facebook, Email

Classic Millinery

I guess I should create more contemporary hats, but somehow they just don't excite me as much as classic millinery.  When I see an old hat in a thrift or antique store, the first thing I do is turn it over and study how it was made.


Check out these free online books to learn more about classic millinery techniques.

Archive.Org

Vintage Sewing Info

University of Wisconsin: Human Ecology

Above is a draped cloche.  The foundation material is buckram, draped with stretch velvet, and trimmed with a vintage brooch.  The folds of this hat are very fine and classy.  The drape ends in a scarf  that wraps around the neck.




To your right is a draped fringe hat.  Again the foundation material is buckram.  Rhinestones in the same color of the fringe have been added for a little sparkle. 

Both hat frames were wet blocked:  the cloche over a cloche balsa block; and the fringe, over a basic balsa utility block.



Below I show how I lined the hats.

Allison Parson's Bes-Ben Collection

On Saturday, Allison Parson of Allison Parson Design was gracious enough to share her Bes-Ben millinery collection.  Allison gave a talk on milliner Benjamin B. Green-Field and his label, Bes-Ben, including how she acquired this amazing collection.  You would have thought that these little gems were walking the red carpet at the Oscar Awards.  Observers surrounded Allison's collection capturing images with their cell phones, in most cases, and cameras. We were mesmerized paparazzi.

I always get excited when I have the opportunity to view vintage millinery.  I'm amazed with the workmanship found in vintage couture millinery.  These vintage hats really represent the art of millinery; they represent a time in history before couture millinery and glue gun was not mentioned in the same sentence, and before imagination and copycat didn't mean the same thing.

I learn so much when I turn over a vintage hat.  I learn millinery techniques such as stitching, various ways of securing hats, trimming, finishing techniques, and how various foundation materials were utilized.  Finally, I receive fresh ideas, not to copy but to build upon.  Look beyond the style of these hats; look at the workmanship and learn from the past.  Enjoy!

To view more Bes-Ben images, follow my link under Millinery-Related & Other Links of Interest in the right sidebar.  For more information regarding the Bes-Ben label and the milliner visit the Benjamin B. Green-Field Foundation site.  Also, sit in on a taped interview with Raymond Hudd; see sidebar.  Hudd was influenced, in part, by Bes-Ben.  Please, you have to see Hudd's work; this is the dessert!