I’ve been lusting after this hat for a few weeks now & although it maybe half an inch too small, I bought it anyway. Well, what else are hat stretchers for??
Its just the redness & the height of the crown & the cute short brim – yummy! 
The last picture shows Julie from ScottieinaCanoe model the fabulous little hat in her etsy store.
It is…no really! This week has blown up with requests for custom orders & quotes throughout both stores, and its only January! People are starting early this year, and they are looking for a sweet deal. In this downturn market people are turning to handmade for quality & to have their dream realised by someone with the tools, rather than run to the big bridal stores & just make do with the readymade stock that they have.
I’m currently working on a large order for some Gold & Ivory silk roses (as well as several others)
Here is where I was up to first thing this morning with the gold roses a.k.a layer 1. 
Since the sinamay Calla Lilies, I’ve been working flat out, but I have managed to develop some more faux flowers.
First off are Roses using two different construction methods, both are proving popular. 
Handfolded & twisted Silk dupion rose head, have been bought & used by fellow milliners.
Whilst these roses formed with heat tools from individually cut petals are popular with bouquet makers. 
Meanwhile I have put some of the sinamay lilies to good use 
I have been working with manipulating my own Sinamay this week. Today I have been testing out making curved Calla Lilies.
Sinamay is great to work with like this because it is soft & flexible, but it also hold shapes & twists and turns into interesting forms.
They’re not finished yet, but you can see how the shape is holding up.
I have used a curled green biot goose feather as a stamen in the large one.
I think as well as using them on my hats I will sell them individually in my supply store too.
I already have several, but this month there seemed to be loads of hat blocks floating around eBay and Etsy at really low prices. Of these I managed to get my hands on 4 – shhhhh!
Left – 22” flat sided with asymmetric crown dome.
Centre back - 24” regular crown dome.
Centre front – 6” mini beret.
Right – Large beret. (this one arrived just this morning)
Cant wait to get working with them.
The mini beret turns out great -
And right now I’m working on the flat sided one after blocking a buckram base from it.
I’m watching the item counters & notice one set of buttons had risen considerably in views today alone. After some investigation I discovered they had been picked as a Related Item to a How-Tuesday article on making reusable lunch bags, sweet!
You can read the whole article here!
And these are the little darlings featured! Available here.
So August was a very busy month in both Etsy Stores!
This was mainly due to being featured on the Etsy front page 3 times in late July/early August.
I also bought loads of new hat making supplies, including new fabrics & lots of feathers.
So keep an eye out lots of new designs & mini tutorials coming soon :)
