Sydney

A blue S shape headpiece covered with intricately folded millinery Petersham ribbon and ribbon rosettes.

Sydney is named after the Sydney Opera House which I was fortunate enough to visit in 2018. I hadn’t realised until I saw it up close that the whole roof is covered in tiny mosaic tiles. The blue reminds me of Sydney harbour, where my much loved Panama hat blew off my head, never to return.

The whole hat is handmade by me at my studio in rural Essex. The base is made in buckram, with a wire added to maintain the shape, then covered in blue silk. It is then lined with silk from Sudbury in Suffolk.

There is over 10 metres of ribbon folded to make the origami design which covers the hat. The ribbon folding design was based on some pictures I had seen in an old 1920’s magazine, Weldon’s Home milliner, which showed ladies how to update their hats with ribbon rosettes. I wanted to bring a modern twist to it, and hence made up this design.