Catherine Storm – Australia

Fandango

Category: Traditional

Description

This hat explores a harmonious fusion of opposites: black and white; light and dark; night and day; curves and corners; swirls and squares; 3D and flat; round and angular; cottonfields and sea pearls.

Traditional millinery techniques include blocking on a wooden hat block; pressing; steaming; wiring; hand sewing; and plaiting.

Materials

• Black sinamay
• white sinamay
• black cotton trim
• white pearls of various sizes
• white trim
• invisible thread
• hat elastic
• metal hair comb
• wire

Techniques

• The base is blocked on a traditional wooden beanie block using black sinamay. It is trimmed with black cotton braid and white sinamay.
• The main feature is black and white sinamay folded and pressed into folds. The folded sinamay pieces are twisted around each other and steamed into swirling fan shapes.
• The white sinamay fans are trimmed with black cotton braid, hand sewn with invisible thread.
• The black sinamay fans are trimmed with white pearls of various sizes, using white trim as a base. These are hand sewn with invisible thread.
• Black cotton braid and white pearls are wired and twisted into shape to create the central feature swirl.
• The black and white fans are attached to the black sinamay base with white sinamay that loops through the fan feature and across the base from side to side.
• Plaited hat elastic and a metal comb keep the hat firmly in place on the head.