Recently I discovered the Ballard Millinery Studio in Seattle Washington and decided to take some hat making classes.
First up is a two-day Sinamay hat class offered by Tina Guintini at the Studio. She supplied instructions, hands on assistance and many tips from her Millinery making career (US & British). As the student, I needed to come with a hat ‘idea’ and 3 yards of Sinamay.
My idea was to use a vintage Hermes carre and the print inspired a Safari theme.
Sinamay was purchased from 2 different supply houses: Petershams (in the UK) in the color Mint Green and from Hats By Leko (in Oregon) in the color Olive. Tina helped to select the block and instructed on how to shape and stiffen the hat. We finished with hand sewing. This hat is constructed of 3 layers of sinamay, giving a depth to the color. The Olive is sandwiched between 2 layers of Mint.
The style of hat I chose is a contemporary take on the safari pith to accommodate the Hermes ‘La Chasse en Afrique’ scarf and is easily worn alone as a sun hat in an urban setting. (see definitions for Sinamay, Pith and Hermes at the end of this post)
- Sinamay is widely used for blocking hats and trims, but it wasn’t introduced to the millinery world until the 1990s. It is woven in the Philippines, from the stalks of the abaca tree. Abaca fibers are very strong and long-lasting.
- The Pith helmet was first made in the Indian subcontinent sometime in the 1800s. It got its name from the fact that it was made out of the pith, the soft tissue found inside of the trunk of the Sola tree, a species native to India. The pith, typically worn in tropical countries served as lightweight protection from the sun.
- The scarf is Hermes , La Chasse en Afrique , designed by Hugo Grygkar, 1956. (Purchased in a Thrift) Hugo Grygkar was the Father of the Carré (square scarf) Hermès, he not only designed the very first carré for Hermès, but he also became Hermès’ most prolific artist.
A few years ago I took my first hatmaking class, read about that here https://msritzman.wordpress.com/2017/01/04/hats-1/
Own Your Encore 
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