January | 2014 | Kate Spade meets UGG

Like all great hobbies it is indeed about loving what you do…. I can hardly believe that my love of fabric and creative sewing has evolved into this at all…. when i think back to my Home Economics days in high school, the thought then was pure torture! You see, I had grown up surrounded by a very talented Grandmother whose sewing machine was a fixture in the kitchen! By the way, she will be celebrating her 90th birthday this summer and still has a sewing machine in the kitchen! All we knew as kids was that if we needed a new garment it was produced right there in the kitchen! You should hear my dad tell the stories of when he was young, she would make the winter coat, snow pants and boots! Oh and usually a size too big so they could get 2 season’s out of it! ANYWAYS… need less to say I never thought that sewing or creating such fabulous hats would become the one thing that I could not bear to be without!

Why Hats… Well that comes from necessity… you see I love to wear hats but was blessed with a tiny little head and baby fine hair so every hat I put on dropped right down over my ears and eyes so that I could not see a thing! This lead me on a very special journey to North Carolina where I was taught by a wonderful milliner on all aspects of hat making. I learned to block felt and straw and how to size a hat properly…. the talent that I had inherited from my Grandmother suddenly came bubbling to the surface and these fingers that were attached to my hands soon began to do things that I never knew they could do. I was told that I have natural talent! Magic hands! Of course my mind was reeling with the endless possibilities and that’s how this love of hats began.

Fabric Hats

These hats are hand sewn and usually one of a kind… some of the fabric that I buy may overlap into another hat as a trim or just a crown or maybe a rose. I try and keep a stock of your basic colours like black, white, off white, beige on hand for the basic body of the hat. Other than that I can make any style, any size any colour and it will be adjustable to your head size and will be so lightweight that you will hardly know you are wearing it. the hats fold down beautifully into a suitcase for travelling. Just a little pump of steam upon arrival and you’re good to go. If you look at the purple velvet hat I am wearing in the blog photo…. that hat has been all over North America in my suitcase and it looks as good as the day I put it together!

Summer Silks Coming Soon…. I am now working on some great summer duping silks and I always have a great supply of Natural linen on hand.

Heres a great Navy Linen…..