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Emma Little

United Kingdom

HATalk Issue 101: Hat of the Month by Audrey Doherty

My initial connection to the HATalk article was the fact it was from a St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Ireland. Originally from N. Ireland but living away from ‘home’ for such a long time anything green and mentioning St.Patrick draws me in. I loved the fact a local milliner was getting to showcase her craft at such an event.

Taking inspiration from the article I was keen to make something shell-like but not in the traditional colours of the sea-side. The sea-shell is a hard structure but I wanted to create something with the movement of the sea-side, the wind, the waves, the water, I wanted to create a shell that looked like it was blowing in the wind at the seaside. I worked with sinamay in my favourite colour combination of red and pink which reminded me of summer sunsets back home on a beautiful summer evening. I created pleats and waves in my sinamay and then cut out a shape which I then moulded into a shell-like shape. I wired the shape and then created an organic free-form shell-shape and incorporated some ‘waves’ before edging in sinamay. I softened the piece by adding a large flower to the front. I then stitched the free form piece to my pink blocked button and added elastic. I made a lining from stretch silver fabric and finished with pink Petersham. I love how my piece came together, the height I was able to achieve in my piece, like a giant wave crashing. I love the ‘shell-like’ shape and I love the pleats and grooves of the shell. It was lovely to take inspiration from a wonderful piece of work and create something completely unique.

• Pink Sinamay
• Red Sinamay
• Pink flower
• Silver stretch lining material
• Pink Petersham
• White elastic
• Button block
• Thread
• Sinamay stiffener
• Millinery wire

• Blocking and wiring the button block
• Pleating the sinamay
• Creating the free-form shell shape by steaming and manipulating the sinamay
• Wiring the free- form shape and creating the waves
• Cutting the material, stitching and making the silver lining
• Sewing the elastic
• Sewing the Petersham