All about Hat Making

I found this great blog post on another millinery website on a blocked beret made with a straw hood. They show a technique I had not seen before of using reed that is used for basket making to hold the hood in place on the block, this is particularly important in the block shown in the post as it has folds in it. An easy way to get precise folds into a hat is to use a block with them in it. Anyway here is the link the the blocked beret post.

I couldn’t go past this article last year Brad Pitt won best celebrity hat wearer of the year this year Hugh Jackman.  Okay so maybe this article just caught my eye because it had Hugh Jackman and hats in the same article. I do wonder who judges these competitions and although the hat Hugh wore in the film Australia shot to fame… I am not all that sure that it makes him a hat wearer.. I mean I see guys wearing akubras all the time and its is just a practicality – it keeps the sun out – not for stylish or fashion reasons. Here is an article with Hugh wearing that famous ‘Australia’ hat.

Okay so I think the evidence is rather scarce on Hugh Jackman wearing hats other than in Australia. French supermodel, singer and French First Lady Carla Bruni did win female celebrity hat wearer of the year but none of the articles I could find actually included a photo of her they were all very Hugh Jackman centric. There was however a good article on what makes a man wear a hat.

In other news however I did find an interesting article on hats for petite women. It explains the type of hats that suit a petite woman. And here is a good article on the decline of hats.

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• Carla Bruni named ‘best hat wearer’ (telegraph.co.uk)

The Times Online have an interesting article on wearing hats for summer click here to read I thought I would share it with you as it has a good photo gallery connected to it. There is also a headband photo gallery as well that may be of interest.

Enjoy!

The dates for the next millinery forum in 2011 have been announced so mark it in your diary now. From feedback given at the forum the organisers are committing to providing the following:

• Ensuring workshop material lists are appropriate and include essential items only; they will be looking into kits and methods of making this process easier for all delegates (particularly those who travel by plane!).
• Improving the skill level system to prevent delegates registering for workshops above or below their capabilities. They are looking at a check list system, whereby delegates have to complete the check list to determine what skill level you fall into.
• Introducing varying length workshops according to the skill level and technique. This means they will have a range of 1-2 day workshops for intermediates, a couple of 3 day workshops for beginners and a range of 1/2 – 1 day workshops for advanced delegates.

Updates on the International Millinery forum can be found on their blog at http://internationalmillineryforum.blogspot.com

This article is going to go through some tips on making a fashion turban – like 1930’s Gloria Swanson style not an Indian style turban.  I was recently lucky enough to attend a class by Neil Grigg at the International Millinery Forum held in Wagga Wagga in January. The tips I am going to share with you are from this class and what I have learnt since. I don’t have any photos of the turban being made as I was busy learning at the time but will attempt to explain as well as I can some important points picked up.

The fabric used in these photos is silk, I used 1 metre of it however, it should be noted that this was slightly less than would have been desirable I would recommend 1.5m to ensure enough. Straw cloth (liase) would also be a good alternative.

The base fabric used in the class for the turban was semac this is available from Mimi Millinery in Australia, I am unsure of where is can be purchased anywhere else if you know please leave a comment on this post. Semac is sort of like 20/20 or buckram but without all the glue and stickiness. It was extremely easy to mold, we used a jiffy steamer and it only took a few seconds to mold onto the block.  An extremely versatile base fabric. Buckram or 20/20 could be used but it would take a lot longer.

When blocking the semac or alternative fabric ensure that the grain of the fabric matches up at the centre back.

The block used to shape the turban was a special made block for turbans. It was hollow inside and the shape of the finished hat. The block was about 1cm thick and rounded on the edges. This is important as the bottom edge of the turban is rounded not a straight edge… such that the semac was shaped around the bottom edge (I have tried to show this rounded bottom edge in the picture). This means that the block size needs to be taken from the inside not the outside of the block (although given my big head I shaped my semac and then brought out the back seam to fit my head size).  The block was also shaped at the bottom edge so it followed a natural hat line (covered the forhead at the front and down at the back) and the dropped down over the ears (I have attempted to capture this in one of the photos).

This photo shows the edge of the turban it is soft and rounded rather than the normal straight edge of a hat...

It is important when blocking the semac to ensure the curve on the bottom edge on the block is maintained as this adds softness to the edge and on the face line.

The semac was blocked in two pieces the band (around the head) (this was sewn at the back using feather stitch) and then the tip was added on the top.

Picture shows centre back seam with separate crown piece

Once the base has been blocked the base can be covered with a thin wadding to add a bit of softness to the finished product.

The turban was then wrapped using two pieces of fabric. The first one goes across the top and is pleated to look like the fabric is all one piece. This is then sewn on (under pleats and along the edge where the stitching will not show). The second piece is then draped around starting at the centre back and paying particular attention to the front of the turban.

The pleats at the top of the turban

The turban once finished can then be completed with embellishments at the front of the hat such at a flower or a decoration at the side near the ear for a 1920’s type of look. Or any other type of look you want.

A picture of the turban nearly finished just in need of a few more stitches and some embellishment.

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• Millinery Forum (makinghats.com.au)