Jenny Mathison-Foster – United States

Amelia

Category: Traditional

Description

When I am seeking to inspired and creative I often take my cues from my surroundings. A trip to the local art museum or a walk down the street will often inspire me and clear my mind. When I was creating my headpiece I was inspired by my love of art and nature and fused that with the fluid motion and grace that can be created through the use of sinamay. The many layers of bias sinamay are fused together in my headpiece creating a fluid motion. This merging of diverse and separate elements creates a unified whole reflecting complex design that is natural and pleasing to the eye, comfortable to wear in any situation, and ultimately distinctive.

Materials

• Sinamay
• millinery wire

Techniques

• Crown was block using three layers of black sinamay, bottom two layers are black sinamay with the top layer black windowpane sinamay, edge of crown is finished off by hand-sewing wire to edge then sewing a bias strip of sinamay over the wire
• Brim is created with bias strips of sinamay, outer brim is black windowpane sinamay which is steamed and shaped, outer brim edge has a hand-sewn wire edge
• Inner brim is two layers of bias black sinamay steam and shaped, outer brim is hand-sewn between these “sandwiched” layers. The brim inner edge is finished off by handsewing wire to edge then sewing a strip of bias sinamay over the wire
• Crown and brim are handsewn together and then an additional bias strip of sinamay is steam and formed before wiring salvage edges then hand-sewing to the headpiece.
• Final finishing step is the addition of elastic to crown for securing to the head