Millinery Shop's Holiday Open House

Friday night aMuse had its 3rd annual Holiday Open House! We had a great attendance, not only for the champagne and canapes, but for the work of our featured artist of the evening. After a glass of champagne or two each guest had a great time trying on my handmade hats, handmade felt scarves and bags, plus EVERYONE loves the vintage costume jewelry! A room full of women (ok, there were 3 men in attendance) sipping, noshing, and shopping...what more could you ask for? This was an offical WAWAS event (Wrightsville Ave. Working Artists Studios.)

Debra Pyeatt, the featured artist, does incredible beaded jewelry. Her designs and color combinations are spectacular. She is a local artist and is represented by several galleries, including aMuse. Debra set up her collection in the front atrium of the shop so that as people arrived they would see her first.

Debra first came into the shop a couple of years ago. It was several visits later that we realized we had a deep connection in my sister (also a bead jeweler), whom Debra had worked with in far-away Dallas, Texas. My sister passed away several years ago. We felt an instant connection and have been friends since that miraculous discovery. I get chills every time I think about our chance meeting so far from where she and my sister knew each other.

Chef Lori Eaton, who not only is a personal chef but an internet cooking show hostess, whipped up some yummy, yummy bites. I met Lori 3 years ago as I was opening the business. She popped in to have a custom hat made for a 'milestone' birthday. We've been friends ever since. Great chef, good friend, and a fun person!

My good friends Louise Giordano and Amanda deLeon. Louise is a fiber artist, represented in several galleries, and Amanda is an up-and-coming fashion designer. She was a semi-finalist at Charleston (SC) Fashion Week last year. Very, very talented ladies!

Looking for hats, headpieces, and jewelry!

That's my adorable husband in the background. Michael served as bartender for the evening. He is soooo supportive of the shop and my millinery endeavors! Also shown are raffle winner Margit Royal (trying to decide on her choice of prizes) and Amanda deLeon.

What a great night! Sold a few hats, some jewelry, and had a slew of new folks come through that were not familiar with aMuse previously. I think they left knowing they'd be back soon...I hope so!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!

WAWAS Work--Blocking Straw and Felt

Last Friday was the monthly scheduled Studio Crawl for the WAWAS--Wrightsville Avenue Working Artists Studios. I chose to block a parisisal hood and a felt hood so that everyone could see how that is accomplished. While I didn't do anything other than block them during the open studio hours, here you will see the process including the finished product.

As some of you know, I love the free form process of blocking a hood over a block. The many, many styles one can achieve using this process never ceases to amaze me. I usually just let the material guide me as to what it wants to be. Something I call 'the spirit within the material,' is real...I've experienced this too many times. Sometimes the material knows what IT wants to be, NOT what I want it to be. Try it; you too will be amazed.

Above you see the folds and pleats I used to come up with the style. See the bead-head pins? They help keep the folds in place until the straw dries. It has been spritzed with water and steamed over a steamer to help control the straw, to get it stabilized into a shape.

Here you see the shape on Deloris, one of my mannequins. It helps immensely to see the hat on a mannequin head or a REAL head. I've made many shapes that looked fabulous on the block and horrible on the head. I find this especially true with the more abstract shapes that free forming gives you.

Deloris wears the finished product. I've stitched two vintage shades-of-green flowers of silk and velvet, plus a few stipped coqs with beads. It is difficult to see but the straw is the palest shade of green, more a natural straw with a tint of green. I really didn't like the color of the straw until I started looking for embellishments. When these flowers were placed against the straws it popped nicely!

Here's the wool felt after it has been blocked on this 'negative' block. The hood is placed into the block instead over the block...at least the crown. Then the brim is pulled over the edges of the block. You are actually looking at the hat upside down! I've used blocking line and pins to hold the felt against the block as there are a few indents in the shape.

This shot was taken outside because I was in the process of spraying felt sizing on the hat to stiffen it and hold the shape.

Inside again. I've taken the blocking lines off the felt and am ready to take the felt out of the block!

The crown has been removed from the block base. This is a two part block--one part for the crown and one part for the brim. Note on the back side of the felt that I was NOT able to pull the hood all the way down onto the brim part of the block. That is why you see a horizontal line across the inside back. Ah, to be remedied later.

The next few shots are experiments in embellishments. People always ask me how long it takes to make a hat. That is an impossible questions to answer! I can tell you, however, that if I am making a hat for the shop, and have every possible option for embellishment, that it can take a long time. What embellishment; how many; what color; what combination of items??

Piece above is a vintage horsehair bit. Yes, real horsehair! What we call horsehair these days is not real (and is usually a braid of sorts) and you can certainly tell the difference in feel and texture.

Next I tried a pheasant feather pad and a swirled fabric pad in gold. Needs more.

What about a combination? I really liked this but in the end thought it was too much for my tastes.

Oh, and by placing the hat on the dollie head I was able to round out that part of the felt that had the horizonal line on one side of the hat. This is not ideal, but that felt was NOT going to go up against the block in that spot. I've used the same block with straw with much better results in blocking. As some of you know, blocking a tough shape in felt can be, um, problematic to say the least.

I finally came up with using the feather pad, fabric pad, a vintage bakelite hat pin on that wide expanse of felt in the front, and a small triple loop of irridescent ribbon to pull it all together.

Another view of the final product. Can you see the indents in the felt from the block? Remember, these were also a result of using the blocking line.

So all in all it took me about 3 days to finalize these hats that are now in the shop for sale.

WAWAS, Artists' Studios, and a New Venture for aMuse

I just recently joined a group of artists working in the same area of the city were aMuse is. The group is called the Wrightsville Avenue Working Artist Studios, WAWAS for short. Each first Friday night of the month we open our studios to the general public, have some refreshments, and allow visitors to see us in action--a studio crawl. There are a couple of fine art painters (including Deborah Cavenaugh, a nationally reknowned artist), a stained glass artist, a couple of jewelers and me...a milliner. We are a growing group since so many artists are moving into our area of Wilmington. You never know who might be joining next. This past Friday night, July 3rd, was my first Studio Crawl with the WAWAS.

I used some eye-catching blue and white balloons to draw attention to the shop. Since it was the night before the 4th of July (America's Independence Day for those of you reading internationally) I wasn't sure what kind of turnout we'd get. We did OK and I appreciate everyone who came, but I'm hoping for better turnout when we have these NOT on a holiday weekend when everyone already has plans. But a first Friday is a first Friday...can't control the calendar.

Here I am standing in the doorway to my atelier. I worked on a custom order for a client. A butterscotch colored panama that will have the crown cut away with a new celery green sewn braid crown attached.

That's my friend and one of my best customers--Carroll. Carroll has what I call 'hat sense'. She knows what to ask for in designing a new hat, is great with colors/textures/embellishments, and best of all, is not afraid to go out on a limb with her styles. We've done many hats over the years. I appreciate her patronage immensely.

One of the other WAWAS has recently moved across the street from me! How exciting!! She is a metalsmith, a jeweler. Her name is Mitzy Jonkheer and she does some great work. You can see her WAWAS' sign in front of her studio.

I'm looking forward to the next First Friday and to the many folks who will learn a little more about what goes into making a hand-made hat.