Norma Arthur – United Kingdom

Mandy

Category: Traditional

Description

My entry addresses the theme of Fusion in several ways. Firstly, it is a fusion of traditional and modern regarding techniques and materials, with the combination of buckram and Style-vil to form a shaped base which curved into the client’s head; it is also a fusion of a hat and a fascinator in that it uses hat making methods but is attached to a headband or tiara band for security and to curve in sufficiently to stay in place comfortably on the back of the head throughout the wedding day, with the addition of three hair combs on the underside to grip the hair. Finally, it is a fusion of styles, with the influence being largely drawn from half hats of the 1950s which my client and I built up on a Pinterest board to discuss, yet having a modern asymetric style.

Materials

• buckram
• millinery wire
• Style-vil
• foam tape
• tiara band
• polyester taffetta (The client, Mandy, was mother of the bride, and the fabric was provided by her dress designer to match her dress perfectly.)
• silk lining
• calico
• bump felt
• bias binding
• fusible tape
• merry widow veiling with pearls
• combs

Techniques

• blocked buckram base cut to size and wired
• fusible tape to cover wired edge
• Style-vil foam shaped with stitched darts for volume stitched onto this
• foam tape strip applied to the underside edge to give a lip to turn under
• bump stretched and stitched on to smooth lumps
• bias binding stitched into channels onto calico for tiara band then stitched to underside
• taffetta is pleated and hand stitched onto the top side of the base; base is lined in silk
• taffetta formed into a rose and attached
• veiling shaped, gathered and hand sewn to back edge of hat
• combs attached to lining