Where are they now....April & May edition

April 2012

May 2012

Where are they now...the March 2012 Edition

The map is filling up nicely, especially over North America, and through Europe. As expected though, South America and Africa are still elusive, who will be the first to put a pin in it?

It s been a month since the last post, but thats because I have actually had some time to make new hats (yay!) But I have been posting an insta.gram-a-day diary over on flickr but here's a sneak peek of a new bridal line I am working on alongside some new hats.

Finally finished!!!

Remember the Orange sinamay mini smartie hat I had blocked a looooong time ago which was one of those ongoing nemesis projects that never gets finished because it never looks "just right"?
Well inspiration struck this week! And now its finished - yay!

I've wanted to work on making curled feather flowers for a while now, but bridal season commissions and tax season have all gotten in the way.

I was originally planning on just using the turquoise coque feathers against the orange, complimentary colors and all that, which I spent a long time hand striping myself, and just swirling them round the base in a halo.

But as I was curling the pink feathers and starting the place them together in a flower shape, it struck me that they would make the perfect oversized stamen for the centre of the oversized flower and the color combination worked perfectly with this seasons neon and color blocking trends!

Also, I'm now totally obsessed with making feather flowers :)

Ingenious Vintage Hattiness

Whilst perusing Twitter today I found this awesomely practical 1950s "Puff" rain hat, from one of my favorite vintage Etsy sellers, who specializes in 1940s/1950s fashion Fab Gabs .

How IN-geeeenious?!?

Feel a drop of rain? Just had a fresh shampoo and set? Realize you left your umbrella at home this morning?

No problem!!

Just take your (deflated) "Puff - the sun or rain hat" out of your purse, inflate by blowing through the tab on the outer edge of the brim, and place on your head in seconds! :)

Once it stops raining you simple remove the stopper, deflate, fold back up, pop it back in your purse for the next unannounced downpour.

Simple, and far more stylish than those clear old lady tie around helmets you get today. And the inflated rings also help channel the rain away and off the back of the hat.

Anyway, she only has a few left in stock from NOS so get one now still in the original packaging!

-Photography by Lulu of Camerabandit

-Model: Solanah

Where Are They Now

January and February locations are now in.The map is filling up! US and Canada has busied up as well as the UK and Australia is starting to pull alongside.

Rolls and Rolls of Ribbon

A big box a ribbons arrived yesterday, grosgrains to match all the sinamays I have in stock at the moment, to edge, tag and detail.

Pretty Pretty Flowers

That went out today.......

Haaauuulllll!!!

Todays haul, mainly topping up little habby items like pins and fray check and stem tape. But I also picked up a few new tall flower buckets for holding tall things on my desk like hammers and rulers. I picked up some pearls, buttons, wire and some great vintage grosgrain ribbons and FINALLY managed to match a really hard to find turquoise to bind this one particular turquoise sinamay that I have. (waiting for a big stash of rolls of sinamay to arrive in the mail)

I've been away so loooong.....

It's been super busy round here! That time of year where spring and early summer and 2014 brides kick into high gear, and I start dream I'm making wedding dress button 24/7 for months on end.

But I have bought a few great vintage millinery pieces (pics to come) and I have a few interesting projects in the pipeline.

I'm really going to keep up with my "Where are They Now" map this year, as its interesting to see where products are going to.

Above is a map of just January 2012's orders, and quite honestly its very typical of my average entire years map. Africa, South America and Eastern Europe/Russia are places I never sell to (although I think I once sold to Brazil) But we'll see how this year pans out month by month :)