Millinery Supplier JudithM--Flower Making Class

 In the United States we have three millinery suppliers.  One, located in the center of the country, is JudithM Millinery Supply, located in LaGrange, Indiana. It was my very great pleasure to have been asked by Judith to come teach a French flowermaking class in her teaching studio, in July.  JudithM offers a wide range of millinery supplies and you can peruse those on their website by clicking here.

JudithM is located in this beautiful historic building. 

As Lilly Dache is one of my favorite milliners from the heyday of hats, I found this quote quite amusing. It is painted on a door leading into the studio. If you are not familiar with Dache you need to research her hats and then read her autobiography, Talking Through My Hats.

JudithM's is in Amish country.  I have never been around the Amish and therefore was mesmerized by their mode of transportation (buggy and bicycle), their dress (what's called Plain Dress), and their simple way of life. I wanted to be very respectful so didn't make pictures of the people, but I did get a few shots of the buggies and sites around Shipshewana, where I stayed.

First day of the flower making class we spent the morning preparing the fabrics for the two flowers to be made in class--a rose and a bachelor's button.

 Note all the hat blocks on the back wall!

Funny shot below.  She brought a silk animal print blouse to cut up for petals.  This piece got plenty of sizing and after drying it looked too much like 'road kill'!   Stiff!

This was a VERY full class!  Flower making, obviously, struck a cord. We had students from Virginia, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.

 Pretty petals all in a pile...ready to be tooled into shape for the rose.

 Assembly.

 Nearing completion!

Bachlor's Button being assembled.

Final group of roses--colors, combinations...all beautiful!

Group shot of bachelor's buttons.

Close up.

Final couple of shots I really like showing the buggies.

 

I'll be back at JudithM's in 2015, to teach another few flowermaking classes.  Very pleased to be asked back!

Next post is allll about the classes I taught in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Thanks for reading!