Workshop recap for those of you who missed this one:

We met in Redwood City at the home workshop of Wayne Wichern, our instructor.  He first told us about his path to making hats by way of dance, florist etc.  He showed us his many blocks that he uses to form the felt and straw hats.  He then blocked hats in various forms as we watched.  They are first steamed and then pulled over the hat blocks and string is used to form the lines where there will be fold etc.  Some of the blocks are very oddly shaped and you can’t imagine who would were that hat.  But then he showed us what it looked like after the blocked hat is removed and fold or creased and then you see the most interesting and amazing hat to wear.  It is just so hard to explain in words but trust me they are great looking hats.  We also looked at the hundreds of hats that were around his studio.  So many unusual styles but surprisingly one us looked good in each of the hats.  We had so much fun trying them on and hearing the verdict that we should quickly pass it on or sneak it home!

After lunch in the shade of his back yard we came back and started working on our hats. Wayne had done the blocking for our own head size.  And after seeing him block the hats, I am glad I didn’t have to wrestle with the hat block, it is a lot more physical that you realize to block a hat.  It was then our turn to embellish our custom hats.  We searched through his box of silk dupioni to find the perfect color to add to our hats.  It was some trial and error and a lot of taking it outside to check the color but it was fun digging through all of that fabric.  The silk Dupioni was cut on the bias about an inch longer than the crown of the hat to create the ribbon banding.  Some of us added “loops” to create bows or other fabric to add to the hat.  The crowning touch was the silk flowers.  All of us happily came home with a COMPLETED hat.  Some did more than one hat.  I sure wish more of you had come because we all had a blast.