Fascinator Millinery Class; Alexandria, Virginia/Washington, DC

In late June, I taught a class at The Art League School in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, DC.  This was a very full class entitled Fashioning Fascinators.  We used quite a few millinery mediums to make the base of the fascinators.  See the following pictures for working photos and finished product.

  
 For some reason sewn braid was the base medium of choice.  Students had a choice of sewn braid or fabric covered buckram.  The 'fascinator' pieces could then be secured to headbands, elastics or used on a sinamay base.

Black triple starbright sewn braid was a favorite.  Note that the braid is being sewn on utility blocks to hold the shape.

This was a huge class of 13!  All with their own ideas of what a fascinator is.  And, by-the-way...fascinator can mean many different things to milliners and hat-wearers.  A group of  talented ladies with fascinators on their minds.

Melissa having fun!  

Sewn braid, veiling, and a peacock feather piece.

Here's a demo I did on feathers for the class.  Click here to see.  About a 4 minute demo you might find interesting.

This sweet young lady came with her grandmother to make hats!  Love it!  Isn't she sweet?  Great hat for a budding milliner.

Ranunculus flowers and hot pink sewn braid.

Melissa creates a butterfly 'bowl' with a sweep of feather spines.

Gloria's pleated ribbon trim over buckram.  Hydrangea flowers and some sweeping feathers.  Nice.

Jewels!!

Love the veil swath.

 Stylin' ladies!

Monique's gorgeous red sewn braid base with a smashing silk flowers.

Fabric covered buckram.  Beautiful batik fabric and a handmade flower.

A fascinator of two colors of triple starbright braid, sewn into circles then sewn together for a headband effect.  A twig of crin starts the embellishment process.

Here's another demo I did on using Crin (horsehair) and Sinamay as embellishment.  So many other things you can do with these materials, but hope you'll click over here to see about a 7 minute demo.

Beautiful silk flower on black triple starbright braid.  Lovely!

Next post will be of the classes in the San Francisco Bay Area--French Flowermaking, Sinamay Fascinators, and Abstract Shaping.  Soooo much to report!

Atlanta Crin (Horsehair) Millinery Class

I'm a bit behind in reporting on my 2012 teaching schedule.  I'll be posting the three classes I've already done this year, other the the International Millinery Forum in January. (Find the IMF posts here on the blog.)  Let's start in May, in Atlanta, at the Spruill Art Center.

The class was entitled Crin (Horsehair): Hats, Fascinators & Embellishments.  I decided in this class that I was going to start calling this millinery medium CRIN, not horsehair, which is what we call it in the USA.  Crin is the standard term for this nylon woven braid that is primarily used for bows and rosettes in 'church lady hats' or the ones you see in departments stores.  But there is so much more you can do with crin.  See the following pictures of the ladies in class.

Judy works with a vintage crin with straw woven into the design.  I got this crin from a defunct hat manufacturer in California last year.  It is very nice but not that wide.  Crin comes in many designs and widths.

Love where this fascinator is going.  Good job Patrycja.

Hatsumi, who has studied millinery in Japan, works on her fascinator.

Joyce's nice use of beauty-marked crin in black and white.

Love this abstract design!

Crin fringe!!

Pretty little headband from Gloria, using two colors and textures of crin.

Judy with her vintage crin and lots of colored feathers.

Check out the two pictures of Shanna's full hat of crin.  Pretty little cloche.

Back side of Shanna's cloche.

Hatsumi's full hat. 

Each person did a full hat and then a fascinator.  Crin can be a real bear to tackle but these students did a great job of working with this very versatile millinery medium.

I'll be teach another millinery class in Atlanta, at The Spruill Art Center in September.  Here's the info on that class.

Blocking Hats: Straw/Felt Open Studio
Beginning through advanced milliners will enjoy this class of blocking straws and felts over traditional hatblocks. Studio will make available over a dozen blocks to use over the weekend. Beginners will learn the very basics of steam blocking and more advanced students have an opportunity to block as many hats as they like over the more complex hatblocks. Each will progress at their own comfort level. Learn about the blocking differences in felts, straws and other millinery mediums; puzzle blocks; shaping and couture finishing techniques. Coaching for all skill levels will be available.

Contact Spruill for registration info, fees, etc.

Stay tuned in the next few days for the class posts on San Antonio, Texas and Alexandria, Virginia.

Thanks for reading! Classes for the remainder of the year, throughout the USA, are listed here.

Fascinators, Kentucky Derby, Hat Wearing Events for Spring

Hello, everyone! It has been an incredibly busy Spring. I've been making hats non-stop since January. First for the hat show (several posts back), then our city's largest hat-wearing event in early April--Azalea Garden Party, then Easter, then the Royal Wedding, then Kentucky Derby.

I'm posting quite a few of the hats and fascinators I made for these events. Most were made to coordinate for specific dresses, but some of these were made for a trunk show before our local Royal Wedding event where, I'm happy to say, almost everyone there wore a fascinator! Thanks, Kate Middleton!

Sinamay base with 12" diameter silk flower, vintage green veiling, stripped coqs, curled biots, and a swirl of vintage rooster feathers.

Close-up of the fabulous vintage veiling--delicate and stylish.

Made for a client who had not been, up until this one, a hat-wearer. In fact, she specifically didn't want a hat that would draw attention to herself. However, after she wore this hat, gained some 'hat confidence' she came back and had me add more feathers and some hot pink veiling for another event. I love that kind of story! Now she is a dedicated hat-wearer!!

Close-up of the dyed peacock feathers, coarse petaled flower and a bit of the sinamay.

This hat was made for one of my models from the Spring in Paris show in March. She wanted a show stopper and this what she got. I love the way this hat turned out.

Made for the official photographer for the Azalea Garden Tour. She needed a hat that didn't have a brim, so that it wouldn't interfere with the camera, and one that was NOT traditional. Hence, the free-form, tri-colored sinamay fascinator. I actually added a vintage button to this after the picture was made, but was too busy to make another picture. Yikes!

Another custom-made hat to match a dress. Love this big lily.

Close-up of the lily and the peacock eyes. Guess you have noted that I love the green peacock feathers since they were in another hat further up this post.

Grape parisisal bowl base, 12" magenta flower, and ripped horsehair. This was made for the trunk show and was sold to a very happy customer for Kentucky Derby.

Vintage ribbon, fuzzy pussy willows, yellow rose, and forget-me-nots, all from my collection of vintage embellishments. This was one of my favorite traditional styled hats I made this season.

Black calla lilies, beauty-marked veiling and some rhinestones on the stamens. I added some aqua stripped coqs and this little darling went to the Kentucky Derby!


Vintage blocking net (lacy) form with multi-colored posies, some soft veiling, and a tuft of ostrich feathers.


Close-up of little yellow fascinator.


Simple and sophisticated. I made this as a give-away for a lucky attendee to the Royal Wedding event we had at the beautiful mansion next door to the shop. Confetti feathers!


Custom-made for a grandmother for her newborn grandson's christening! And she has the personality to pull it off.


Store stock...now sold. Made for the trunk show. Horsehair, guinnea feathers, and netted 'jewels' on a hairband.

Hope you enjoyed these. My next post will be about a custom made hat you are going to LOVE. I'll be showing each step of the process. So stay tuned! Thanks for reading and happy hatmaking!