I wanted to try and be clever with my description and design, and thought long and hard and decided…..who am I kidding, here is my hat, it’s unashamedly and obviously water themed, and mostly blue in colour.

I have tried to demonstrate the natural beauty of water: the way it ebbs and flows, the fragmented colours, drama and calmness it can display. So, I created a mini water way, taking you on a journey from the icy cold mountain waters, through to green, winding rivers, and then out to sea.

The possible cleverness lies in the fact that the water affect I have used was created entirely by hand, over many hours, using a free hand embroidery technique on water soluble fabric.

For the icy stage I began with a crystal drop charm, then metallic, sweet wrappers and sequins as an acknowledgement to the rubbish in our seas, and to add frosty sparkle. I then changed threads from cool blues to more green and turquoise tones to demonstrate river algae. Finally, the river stage ends out to sea with a crash of a wave. I used circular embroidery motions to replicate the white, bubbly surf.

For a touch more water-based appreciation, the entire embroidered section is in the shape of a water droplet.

The use of water-soluble fabric enabled me to further address the obvious issues we are facing with plastics in our seas now. If only all plastics dissolve like this nifty embroidery fabric does, the world would be a much better place. I didn’t want to go creating a hat made from naughty, washed up plastics etc through fear of creating something beautiful and therefore putting something so dreadful on a pedestal.

Also, as the brief was water’ the use of water-soluble fabric just had to be done.

Note: Entries have been not been edited or proofread to protect the integrity of the maker's original meaning.