Showing posts with label Philip Somerville. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philip Somerville. Show all posts

Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Most Dedicated Hat Wearer

For all the milliners, a true inspiration. The Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee and here we celebrate her undying dedication to the hat. That is 60 years of hats !
These images are a testament to the perfect colour balance that is 
achieved by the many working on her wardrobe.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Fairy Fingers






Have just used my 'fairy fingers' to make this beautiful biscuit coloured straw up - have made for a stylist so am hoping that I have some nicer than average photo's of the finished product to show you in the near future. But in the mean time for all the milliners craving a look at something new...this straw is monumentally hard to come by now. I have a little stack of these beautiful vintage pari buntels and couldn't resist trimming in the exact same colour Italian (Milan) straw for the crown and the edge. This very delicate and slightly brittle straw required my 'fairy fingers' which was taught to me in London at Philip Somerville all those years ago !

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Stitch Detail


Some works in progress, love the combination of black/cream. I have used a strong 'pearlized' vintage cotton here for the feature stitching.



Stitching rows gradually build up - I am not expert at getting all the rows perfectly even as I tend to run the machine too fast being an impatient modern girl but I think it all works out in the long run. When I was doing my Millinery training at Philip Somerville in London, England there was an old milliner called Edith who used to specialize in this type of work and I can now see that this is necessary. As I only attempt this type of work every now and again I am not a perfect machinist. Edith used to make the ENTIRE hat using this method including the crown. I tend to only use it as a feature. This is a work in progress and I will be adding to the detail so I'll keep you posted.
Keep your cotton ends all in check as this will save time with trimming them off in the long run.

Just some snaps of other stitched detail hats I am working on at the moment. Look at the amazingly lovely long even stitches my old 'singer' manages - it makes this type of work a breeze as it is so solid and dependable - don't forget to fill TWO bobbins with your cotton FIRST so that if you run out out you have another ready to go.
Related Posts with Thumbnails