Millinery Workshop with Wayne Wichern

I just completed a 3 Day Felt & Straw Blocking Millinery Workshop with Wayne Wichern. I have been looking at Wayne's classes for some time now and decided it was time to take the plunge. I have honestly been dreaming of learning how to make hats since I was small child and would gaze at the beautiful hats at the Cohen Millinery on our annual trips to Greenfield Village. I always thought my dream job, besides being a writer, would be a Milliner with my own little shop. This weekend I got to try my hand at it and you know what...I really loved it! Once I entered Wayne's studio I was mesmerized by the amazing collection of hat blocks he has, my brain was on instant creative overdrive. I had to reel myself in as I wanted to stick with at least some of the ideas I came to class with. Wayne is a wonderful instructor who gently guided our small class of 4 (wonderful women) through the hat making process with patience and grace. Wayne is a master of his craft and is really inspiring, he even has a ballet background, which most of you know is very near and dear to my heart. Wayne is a problem solver, creative genius and was able to make us laugh while teaching us valuable millinery skills.

Creating hats is both physical and gentle at the same time. Parts of the process (like blocking) you are putting your entire body into it and smaller parts (like adding trim) you are sewing with a light hand paying attention to detail. Wayne got me over my fear of the sewing machine and helped me create some beautiful hats that I cannot wait to wear around town. I may even take a sewing class soon to work on being more comfortable at the machine. I have a machine, but it always gives me problems, I realized that the machine may not be the problem (gasp...).

Here are some of my creations...
This one is still in the works; I need to add the trim.
These are ready to wear. I wish more people wore hats. I think some ladies believe they have to be "dressed" to wear hats, but I don't think that is always the case and would like to shift that sort of thinking. Why not wear a nice button down shirt, some dark jeans, nice boots and top it all off with a great hat? I say go for it!

PS - used my old point and shoot this weekend, which worked great in Wayne's studio, not so good at home when shooting the hats on my make shift hat model.

For more photos, check out my Millinery Class set on flickr by clicking here.