Millinery Meet-Up 2014--Millinery Education Event

I am very pleased to announce an unprecedented millinery education event to be held Oct. 18-21, 2014, at world renowned Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  MILLINERY MEET-UP!

This has been a long time coming. So a little history. I was one of 4 international milliners invited to the first International Millinery Forum, back in 2007, in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.  Being at that first forum of students and instructors gave me a sense of belonging that I'd not experienced before.  At that time no one was using Facebook or any other social media and it was quite difficult to connect with others of like interests.  I had found common ground.

International Millinery Forum has been held 3 additional times since that first one, and I've been invited to each.  And each time I come back from Australia I'm asked when we'll have something like that in the USA.  Well, now's the time!

Last year, while teaching a week-long millinery class at Arrowmont School Of  Arts and Crafts, I had a conversation with the Assistant Director about bringing a group to Arrowmont to study millinery under a number of instructors--domestic and international.  My good friend, studio assistant while at Arrowmont, and accomplished milliner in her own right, Diane Shagott, (of Hats to Di For in Atlanta, GA) and I stayed up late those nights at Arrowmont hashing out what we wanted Millinery Meet-Up to be.  We think you'll be pleased!

Please click over to www.millinerymeetup.com to find out more about classes, housing, food, instructors, and all the other activities we'll have over 4 days!  We're having a Millinery Marketplace too!  Come see what the millinery suppliers will be bringing for you to purchase...and more!

Instructors:  Eugenie van Oirschott (The Netherlands), Wayne Wicherns (San Francisco), Daria Wheatley (Washington State), and Lina Stein (Ireland). Read their class descriptions and biographies on the website.  You'll be amazed.

Registration begins on May 12, 2014, so start your planning.  We hope to see you in Gatlinburg for MILLINERY MEET-UP!

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!