This exciting course will give you the unique opportunity to learn the techniques needed to design and make a hat.

With inspiration drawn from history, you will be encouraged to develop your own style and to learn techniques for your creations.

Autumn Term – An Introduction to felt

The course will introduce you to the basics of using felt whilst being encouraged to explore the capabilities of the material. Through tutor-led demonstrations, you will be able to use these techniques for your own creations to take away and wear. The skills acquired on this course will enable you to construct hats in different styles, and to finish your unique hat designs with your choice of trims.

Spring Term – Hat construction using sinamay straw

The course will introduce you to the basics of using sinamay straw whilst being encouraged to explore the capabilities of the material. You will start with making a fascinator to enable you to explore the capabilities of the material whilst making a small base and then trimming in your choice of decoration. Then you will move on to making a full sized hat where the sinamay is blocked over wooden hat blocks before finished in your choice of trims. The hats created are bright and delicate and can be worn to special occasions from weddings and parties to Ascot!

Summer Term – General Millinery

The course will be ideal for complete beginners; it is also perfect for the more advanced milliner who would like to learn how to construct hats using buckram. These hats or fascinators will be constructed using flat buckram pattern pieces before being shaped by hand. They will then be covered and decorated with materials and trims of your choice. In addition to learning the basics of millinery, you will also be introduced to the techniques or constructing your own hat blocks.

What you need to bring

A basic sewing kit including paper and fabric scissors, small snips, hand sewing needles of various sizes, household pins (these are thicker and shorter than dress makers pins), thread, tailors chalk, tape measure, pliers, apron and a pencil. You will need to purchase quantities of specialist materials to complete your hats.

Dates

Autumn Term

• Tuesday 8th Oct – 10th Dec 2013

Spring Term

• Tuesday 14th Jan – 18th March 2014

Summer Term

• Tuesday 29th April – 1st July 2014 or
• Thursday 1st May – 3rd July 2014

Class size
Maximum 12 students

Course code
LCMIL