Keeping it light TOOLS


• Pattern paper • Round nose pliers


• Wire cutters • Craft scissors • Cork board or a polystyrene sheet


• Cling film (optional)


• Fabric clips (or small bulldog clips)


• Glass-headed pins


• Tubes and sticks to wrap around


• All-purpose glue


• Coloured pencils


• Permanent markers/pencil to mark wire


1 1 MATERIALS


• 1.00 mm millinery wire


• 0.8 mm millinery wire


• 2.5 mm crinoline tube


• Thread: see- through nylon and polyester thread the same colour as crinoline tube


Designing the frame pattern Choose a shape you would like to copy by using one of your brim blocks as a template. Make a paper pattern of this shape. For best effect, keep the design simple. I have drawn around a ribbon disc to create a comma shape as the basis of my design. Hold the shape against a dolly head or try it out on your own head to check proportions and style.


2


Mark out the design you want on the paper. This will be your design pattern or template. This is where you can use designer licence with your wire, changing the shape as you go if required.


Making the template pattern


Keeping a hat light on the head is something that milliners are always aware of.


The Downton Abbey actress Dame Maggie Smith once said about her characters’ hats that she “would love wearing the hats if they weren’t so heavy”. In this issue, I am going to show you my way of making light and airy brims using two sized wires and a thin


2/2.5 mm crinoline-covered tube (other crinoline tube sizes can also be used).


I will also show a ‘template plotting’ method of constructing the wire frame, giving every milliner – beginner or veteran – a chance to create weird and wonderful shapes for the head.


on the head by Denise Innes-Spencer


TECHNIQUES


Denise Innes-Spencer is the creative director of the British School of Millinery. She is a qualified


teacher of millinery and fashion


and has taught at universities all over the world. In 2017, she published ‘Tiara Headdresses’, a book about wire techniques for bridal headpieces.


3


Lay out the paper template in the centre of the polystyrene sheet or cork board. See tip for Step 7.


may 2023 | 63


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