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.

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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.

The Bentley of All Church Hats: The Fully Rhinestoned Crown

The hats I make are a bit conservative; I'm just not one to add a lot of trim to my hats. Until I met Carole Boyd six years ago, I didn't think that I would ever consider rhinestoning a hat, but Carole's "crowns" were so lovely, I couldn't resist their beauty and workmanship.  You see, Carole's hats are works of art.  I'll introduce Carole and her crowns in an upcoming post, but I just had to show you this little hat she rhinestoned for me recently.

Now I'll make it clear that this is a doll hat.  I asked Carole to show me how she added  rhinestones to her hats.  So, I blocked a felt doll cloche and purchased some cheap but very impressive rhinestones for Carole's demonstration.  Carole uses Swarovski brand stones on her hats, costing hundreds of dollars to complete one hat.

For this post I took almost 100 images trying to capture the brilliance of my little hat under the sunlight.  I could'nt quite capture its brilliance until I darkened one of my out-of-focus images; that is what you see in the first image. Simply lovely!

Millinery Straw Braid and Hat Pins

Hello all; it's good to be back.  I thought I'd touch bases with you and thank all of you for returning to my blog for a look-see over the past two months.  I see you looking in, so please take a moment every once and a while to leave a comment; I really would appreciate it.  So what have I been doing?  Recovering of course, but besides that I've been playing around with all things millinery--revisiting old techniques and learning new ones.  After 26 years I've never gotten bored with millinery because I've never stopped learning and experimenting. 

I'm often asked why I hand sew my hats when it would be easier and faster to sew them on a sewing machine, especially when sewing wire on buckram frames, putting in headsize ribbons, etc.  Well, I hand sew them because doing so is therapeutic and extremely relaxing.  I  view the end product as a piece of art--art that I've created.  I only have to please myself and I can take forever to complete a work.  Fabulous!  So, enjoy the following. 

Technique:  Candy/Cello Straw - Hat #1

The hat to your right was sewn in-the-round, row-on-row by hand.  I wanted to give it an asymmetrical look.  In order to accomplish this, I ended the hat after half completing the fifth row; the opposite side of the hat only has four rows.  I must note here that the hat was first shaped and pinned on a balsa hat block (no steam needed) and then removed from the block and sewn.  The top of the hat has been left open.  When sewing this straw, it should be slightly overlapped (this time I put the bottom rows on top), the needle and thread should be inserted into the wrong side of the braid (inside of the hat) and passed through the loop in the upper braid.  By doing this, the thread is totally invisible when viewed from the right side of the hat.  After completion, I placed the hat back onto the block and steamed it.  Never iron this type of straw because ironing would flatten it.  I put in a headsize ribbon and moved on to trimming.  For the trim on this hat, I used feather yardage for the brown portion and some dark packaged feathers for the center.

Technique:  Hat #2