Finished Sinamay Headpiece

Well, here it is - my first output from the Millinery Trimmings Course at London College of Fashion.

The hat is made of three sinamay pieces, each blocked on a dome block, wired and edged with hand-made bias binding. The top two pieces are based on the 'ying yang' symbols, with the tails 'popped' up. There are actually three colours of sinamay used on each - dark blue on the front, light blue on the back and green on the edging.

The two pieces have been mounted on a headband formed in the same way - blocked and wired sinamay. The prongs holding it to the head are formed to resemble the tails of the other pieces and the strength and shape keeps the whole piece sturdy on the head.

A single ostrich feather has been curled and formed to wind in and out of the holes in the symbols, following the curves as it majestically towers over the top.

Finally, a comb on the inside holds the whole thing sturdy.

I am so happy with this hat. It's a really different direction for me and I'm in LOVE. I hope you like it too.

More exciting new stuff

I'm very sorry for being so bad at coming and showing you all what's going on, but I'll make up for it by posting some photos at the weekend.

I've been taking the 'Millinery Trimmings & Fascinators' course at London College of Fashion and all my blogging time has been taken up by homework for this!

Our tutor is Thomas Von Nordheim and his teaching style really suits me. We're doing a sinamay and a covered buckram headpiece over the seven week course and although the first few lessons covered stuff I've done before, Thomas is fantastically approachable and really helpful, especially on a personal level.

I wanted to do the course because I feel that where my hats are now of a great standard and beautiful shapes, I really struggle with how to finish them. I see all these hats covered in feathers and 'frou frou' and feel like I should do the same. Thomas has listened to my style and my ideas and helped me to understand how I can do trimmings my own way. He's helped me to develop an amazing sinamay headpiece which I finished tonight. It's got a feather, but just one statement one and it's fantastic (can you tell I'm in love). This course has been so much more than I dreamed it could be and I really feel like I've found the next step in my hat making now.

Something else I've been working on

As mentioned in this post putting together a little autumn/winter collection as this is the time of year that I start to really enjoy hats.

This one's a 2/3 size bowler hat in a thick black wool felt with white contrast stitching. The flower is made from the same felt with contrast stitching again.

There's a few little mistakes on this one, but I'll forgive myself that as it's a prototype. I'm naming her 'Jeni' after the friend who inspired her.