Straw and Sinamay Beret

 

 

Just a quick post to show off this lovely hand blocked beret made by Fran who has been on placement with me since October. The beret has been blocked in two stages. First the electric blue sinamay and then the patterned natural straw. Sandwiched together the blue peeps out from between the straw's gaps.
There's a straw ribbon  anchored with a turquoise shell long bead. Fran is very pleased with her hat and so she should be.

Straw Trilby

 

 I have formed the crown of this little trilby by hand making a very deep dip in the top of the crown, the brim I blocked in the normal manor on a hat block so as it does not fit around the head like a normal trilby it is kept in place by a hat elastic.
The lovely black feather was steamed and curled into shape then secured with a small pearly black button.
I have used black raw silk as the trim around the brim and band around the crown which is striking against the light straw
It's maybe not a hat for the 'shy' but sure will turn heads.!

Little Red Cloche

This lovely red fine straw cloche hat is a real winner in the cute stakes, so far just about everyone popping into the shop has fallen in love with it.
I also made one in cream but that went to a wedding in California a while ago.
I took this photograph for my new web site which is slowly making progress.
My friend Clare Lupino looked so good in this shot I decided to post it on the blog first.