All about Hat Making

I was recently lucky enough to attend the International Millinery Forum, a hat making spectacular, in Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia. On the first night I actually had time to write a post… the rest of the nights I was too busy finishing hats or exhausted from the long days of learning to write a post. So here is my update on what happened on the four days of workshops I attended.

On the first day of classes I attended Neil Grigg’s turban making class. In this we made made a fashion turban, not one that is worn by Indians and others as a religious symbol, one like Gloria Swanson wore in the 50′s or was it the 40′s. A number of the class wore the result at the 1920′s night and they looked quite cool.  First we made a base using semac shaped over a blocking shape, then we wrapped the pieces of silk around… this wrapping around, draping and the way it is done is a technique that can be used in many other hats for embellishment.  Overall I am quite impressed with how my turban has turned out – but its not quite finished yet… so a photo later.

On the second day of classes I attended Jan Wutowski’s ‘retro hats from flat felt skirting’ class. The techniques in this class has heaps of potential. I just need some more felt to play around with and time. It basically involved experimenting with the felt until you got something you liked and then pin and sew it together. Flat felt is particularly good for small hats worn on the side of the head (similar to fascinators but out of felt). The one problem with this class is the flat felt was too narrow for the pattern I had drawn up… but that is something to play with. I nearly finished the hat in class but am not quite happy with it yet – so another for a photo later on.

In the afternoon of Day 2 I attended a workshop by Hong Kong milliner JayCow. This workshop was on headbands and while I finished this headband I am not that impressed by (mainly due to the colour) it but I did learn quite a number of techniques that I will use in the future. The resulting headband was very Asian kitch – a style that I quite like and can see potential in – however not everyone was impressed with this style.

Day three was a Jean Carroll workshop and my favorite of the forum. Jean is a teacher with a minefield of knowledge and willing to share it all. In this class we made a 1920′s lace hat. Jean has a stunning array of materials to choose from to make the cap from. I found the trim that I loved and just made my hat to go with the trim. I finished the whole hat in class and wore it to the 1920′s dinner the next night. Not only did the hat use a technique I hadn’t used before but I also liked the finished product. Now I just need time to play with the techniques to make variations.

The final day of the forum I attended the freeform sinamay workshop with Waltraud Reiner. Waltraud was an inspirational teacher whose class I really enjoyed. She demonstrated many techniques on both sinamay and Jin Sin. The results she obtained with the fabric revealed her vast experience at working with both fabrics. I really enjoyed her class and look forward to experimenting myself with these fabrics. Hopefully we will get Waltraud out to Canberra later in the year for a class.

The final night was the 1920′s SA Brown spectacular… the fashion on the night was fabulous so many hats so much 20′s clothing. The food left a lot to be desired with the vegartarian meal consisting of four spears of asparagus and a bit of saladbut the entertainment was excellent – I really felt as if I was back in the 20′s. The artwork on the wall was sold to participants with the proceeds going to the blue hat foundation.

Overall I think the Millinery Forum gave me the confidence to continue on with Millinery and make headwear and hats to sell. The skills and techniques I learnt from such inspiring array of teachers at the forum was such that it would be hard to learn as much in any class and I can’t wait for the next one in two years time.