One of my millinery students, Randy Handley, recently purchased a few super-cool puzzle blocks. I recently blocked a hat on one of them and took some step-by-step pictures of the blocking process to share on here. front view of block back view of block I steamed this green wool felt hood and pulled it over the block. To get the felt to take that sharp undercut, i positioned the ...

I'm not sure when this came out, but Lynne McMasters has a new tiny bonnet pattern out and it's FABULOUS. I can't wait to get it! Since one can't link directly to anything on the site, I'll tell you it's...dream (especially Bess' hat from the same scene previously mentioned) and I loved all the jewelry. I hope jewelry designers are inspired and similar pieces show up in the stores in the next year

...history. You can access the auction here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230300742969 ...and it runs for a week, so happy bidding! Got any friends who love the 1830s? Forward the link for a great cause! This is the first in a series of millinery auctions i'm going to be doing to support various charities throughout the year. More on that as it happens...

I can't even begin to express how excited i am to have run across Mark DeCou, a woodworker who has recently begun producing functional reproductions of hard-to-find antique hat blocking tools. DeCou...in crosswoven orange silk dupioni and measures 22" around the headsize opening (size 7 hat). This hat will be up for grabs in a forthcoming a charity auction, TBA with more details as i know them

...team at Parsons isn't going too crazy over whatever's come their way as a result...i'm sure the cut of that Lead Dragon costume's got them all sick to pieces. :( In utterly unrelated news, millinery fans should check out the work of JoHannes Michelsen , who makes wearable traditional hat shapes in turned wood. Honestly his ebonized top hat is possibly the coolest thing i've seen all week...

...classes than the advanced level of instruction in my graduate class, and would probably be aimed more toward those wishing to make hats to wear in their everyday lives, rather than historical or stagewear millinery. They would be classes for students who already had basic sewing skills (hand and machine), and though advanced stitchers would produce couture results, beginners would also be welcome and would...

...two-photo tutorial for making a nice ostrich pouf for a period hat (or, modern hat, too). One of my students, first-year Lisa Raymond, is doing a spiral straw late-Victorian hat for her second millinery class project. She wanted a more interesting ornament than a single or stacked plume, so we discussed a handmade pouf. We got together a pile of stripped ostrich flues in short lengths ("flues"...

Last night was photo call, and the show opens Saturday here at work. We're generally busy so i've not got much time for a long post on it yet (i'll make one when i have the photo CD in-hand). I did go...veil Spiral braid hat with potential decor pinned on Rear view of same hat Detail of straw feather manufacture technique Front of theatre--check out my parasols on the banners!

...that it'll be too difficult or complex, that it requires a collection of expensive hat blocks, that it means learning a new skill that will take too long to figure out. Our next project in millinery class is going to involve some hat blocking, so i have done a couple of examples and have process shots to share. You can block with a variety of different materials--wool or rabbit fur millinery...

The first topic we cover in millinery class is buckram as a millinery medium. The students learn about the material in stages--first by making a fascinator (small cocktail hat), then a pillbox, then a more complex brimmed form. 2 fascinators by, left to right, Lisa Raymond and Candy McClernan 4 pillbox projects by, left to right, Shanna Parks, Candy McClernan, Randy Handley, and Lisa...