All about Hat Making

Today, day 1, of the International Millinery Forum in Wagga Wagga, Australia.

I was lucky enough to attend a demonstration by Richard Nylon on techniques with feathers. The amazing expanse of his imagination and experimentation with feathers was shared generously with all attendees. I know that I was in awe and benefited immensely from his knowledge of feathers and will certainly be using more and better looking feathers on my creations in the future thanks to Richard.

Covered in the workshop were many techniques on using turkey, goose, peacock and ostrich feathers.  My favorite technique was putting knots in biots to get a star like effect. This gave an effect that I think I have always looked for,  so I may show this in greater detail here in the future.

A trade show ran all day at the Wagga Wagga RSL club. With many inspiring materials to buy my imagination ran wild on all the different things I could make with it all – if only they could sell more time as well.  It would have been easy to spend a lot of money. Luckily I had drawn up a shopping list and pretty much stuck to it except for maybe that occasional bargain or two or three…

One of the highlights of the trade show was being able to buy crinoline for $2/metre from the trimming company who came all the way from the UK to show us their wares. It will be great to be able to experiment on some fabric that didn’t cost a fortune.

A cocktail party and hat parade finished the night with stunning millinery and outfits on display at Borambola Wines. With good tasting wine and delicious food it was a great way to finish the day.