Saturday, July 14, 2007

Millinery: Couldn't have said it better myself...


The Aristasia Knowledge Base posted a vintage article about hat wearing and hat collecting that says it all...so I didn't have to!

Oh my, how right the article is...there is such joy in a psychological make over via a visit to the millinery shop.

It is no wonder that there are so many troubled women in the world today; there simply needs to be more millinery shops around and all would once again be well amongst womankind.

Think about it. Doesn't "Gee, you look swell! What a beautiful hat" sound a lot nicer than "You seem to be depressed/obsessive/angry/hostile/anxiety ridden?"

Why yes it does.
It certainly does.

Here's a bonus tip for hat owners: Create collages of hat trims to co-ordinate with your frocks and outfits from silk flowers, ribbons, pins, feathers, lace, buttons and anything else that is too slow to make an escape.

The picture at the top of the post is an example of a collage that a friend and I created awhile ago. The blue hat at the top of the side bar has a collage as well.

Do not stitch the collage directly to the hat.
Instead, stitch everything to a bit of scrim or a bit of felt or stiff interfacing. Use enough stitches to stablize the design. Trim the scrim so the edges don't show, then you can easily either pin the collage piece to the hat, (as I have done with the side bar blue hat) or stitch it to the hat with just a couple of quick stitches. This looks much neater inside an unlined hat.

When you want to wear the hat with an outfit with a different color scheme, it is a snap to simply remover the collage, and replace it with another creation and head out the door.

9 comments:

Demara said...

You're so innovative Jill!

ANd thanks for the idea...I replied you on today's post. ;)

Julie said...

OK, Jill, I am convinced!!
The world would once again turn right side up if only women would wear hats!!
I love your collage, very tasefully and creatively done!
I enjoyed the article too -- my, you almost need a degree of some kind to understand the etiquette of wearing hats!!
(I have a quizz on my post today..you might want to see if your eye is better than Lovella's! smile)

Lovella ♥ said...

See, that is exactly what I was trying to do the other day with my bulls eye, I just didn't have the good sense to make it detachable. There is an answer for every dilemma in Millinery.

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Well, I see I have a long way to go before they will let me inside the gates of Kandia! Very instructive article!

Last week I said I'd be looking for hats in church today. Well, I saw five hats (this from a congregation of about 700 people). Three of them were on men; you know, the ever present baseball cap, a golf cap and a rather dapper looking felt hat that I don't know what to call. Kind of the shape of those hats Swiss men wear with a little feather in them.

The other two, gracing the heads of ladies, were simple straw numbers, nothing fancy. The straw was not of the fine quality of your hats, but more roughly fashioned. One was light beige with a wide brim and simple narrow black ribbon around it, no bow or other embellishment. The other was a beautiful shade of turquoise, with a smaller,rolled brim, matching the lady's turquoise linen cropped pants and matching top. Very summery. Just a simple cream ribbon around the crown. That's my hat report for this Sunday. This lady looked like she'd be a real character (translate that to mean fun and outgoing) and I'm going to watch for her again, I bet she has more than one hat.

The only other head adornment I noticed was a young 20-something with a green crocheted snood. Does that count as a hat? I'm not sure - what would a milliner say?

Anonymous said...

A big truth that is. A hat can change lives and makes life much more bearable (for the wearer and for the ones watching). Have you read Lilly Daché's book "Talking through my hats"? She talks a lot about the life and mood changing powers of a hat, and it's also loads of fun to read, just like your blog!

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

Sara-My church had one lady leaving first service in a black straw hat with a wide brim, and me going in with my brown pointed hat; a sad showing of only two, but it was raining a bit, so maybe that slowed the movement down. Snoods! I love snoods! Much nicer than dangling seaweed hair down a woman's back. That look hasn't been around since the 1960's.

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

Wait a minute..the men were wearing their hats IN church?

How rude.

And tell me, what charming hat did you wear to grace the occasion of worship and fellowship?

Kate said...

Millinery certainly has transformative power. When I first moved to Texas I was the only one in my church wearing hats. Gradually, more ladies started wearing them. I had one gentleman stop me as I was leaving and tell me he always looked forward to my hats on Sunday.

Snoods were very big in the 40s when women took over the mens' jobs in the factories while they were at war. They definitely count as millinery. I once made a lace one for a bride. Fun! K Q:-)

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Well, sadly, the only hat I own is my gardening hat, but it was made in Australia and has green felt under its wide brim to help cut down on dangerous rays from the sun...and I don't wear it gardening much, cause I'm not much of a gardener. I bought it a few years ago to wear while walking during lunch breaks at work to keep the sun off my face. Amazingly, I do recall a couple of times someone passing me and saying "Nice hat!"

I am seriously hat deprived. Guess I need to go check out the local Walmart and see what I can find to embellish. Embellishments would be just up my alley, I can imagine creating quite a few lovely things to adorn a hat.