REPORT
Sparterie and buckram Ellen Thommessen
In millinery, innovation often arises from necessity. For Ellen Thommessen, head of costume at the Oslo New Theatre, that necessity is the need for sweeping brim shapes that, for various reasons, cannot always be sourced in wooden blocks. One solution she has developed is constructing hat blocks from sparterie – a traditional material that allows for sculptural freedom and the creation of bespoke forms. Ellen first learned the technique in 1991 while studying with Rose Cory in London. She attended classes three days a week while also working at Philip Somerville’s atelier on Bond Street for the remaining three. The method begins with forming the
collar shape, using the material with its correct side outwards: willow on the inside and tarlatan on the outside.
The willow is cut on the bias and joined as required by folding the tarlatan back, trimming the willow 1 cm shorter, stitching the join, and pressing the damp tarlatan back over it. The piece is then dampened with a cloth and shaped by hand. Supporting blocks or pressing pads can assist, but the key is to keep the willow damp, not wet, to prevent it loosening. On working with willow sparterie brims,
Ellen advises: “You need to work in and out; everything that is happening at the head will have an effect on the edge. You have to think about not stretching, but keeping tension and considering how you can pull in the willow.” A heavy wire is added around the outer
edge for strength, with the first willow layer wrapped over it and trimmed to create a clean edge. Two further overlapping layers of sparterie strips are stitched on top (on the inside) to reinforce the form. A thick cord is sewn around the collar and brim so that pins can secure the material when stretching felt over it, for example. Once the form is complete, a layer of buckram is applied to smooth the surface, and the block is sealed with stiffener – though Ellen recalls radiator paint once being used for its heat resistance. Over time, Ellen has collected vintage
sparterie blocks during her travels. She notes that many older examples lack rope finishes and are often made from scraps rather than strategic bias strips, which causes them to crumble at the edges. “If completed, they last a long time,” she says. Today, she continues to replicate smaller blocks and develop new forms to meet theatrical needs, with the option of sending successful designs to a block maker for reproduction in wood.
More information
www.instagram.com/ellenthommessenmodist
Clay and buckram
Lina Stein
Lina Stein has developed a distinctive approach to block making that fuses sculptural artistry with traditional millinery techniques. Using clay forms in combination with buckram, the Australian-born milliner and hatter – now based in Westport, Ireland – creates cocktail hats, perchers and headpieces, often incorporating them into designs made with multiple blocks simultaneously. The process begins with a regular dome block. Modelling clay is built up and shaped on the form, creating a positive shape that becomes the foundation of the new block. Once complete, the clay is left to air-dry before the layering with buckram begins. At this stage, Lina advises: “The block is a 3D object and the maker must, at all
Hessian Wies Mauduit
After graduating from the Amsterdam Fashion Institute, Dutch milliner Wies Mauduit spent more than two decades in Paris working with couture houses. At the House of Barthet, she was part of the team creating one-of-a-kind hats. Central to this practice was the use of sparterie – a now-rare millinery material used to make fitting models, akin to a toile in dressmaking. These sparterie forms allowed for precise client fittings and could then be developed into more stable shapes to block the final materials over. “The great advantage of a sparterie model,” Wies explains, “is that you can turn the shape you tried on the client’s head and then adjusted, into an actual block – or rather, a ‘type’.”
48 | the hat magazine #107
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