Simplicity Pattern Photo

Theresa LaQuey is a very talented custom clothier who specializes in Art Deco and vintage-inspired evening wear and wedding dresses. We first met years ago when I hired her to help out with my 1930s-style wedding dress, and I was impressed with her combination of impeccable style, top-notch sewing skills, and attention to detail. In addition to her sewing business serving individual clients, Theresa is also a skilled pattern designer and produces her own name-brand line of patterns for the Simplicity Pattern Company.

I was super thrilled when Theresa recently asked me to provide hats for the photo shoot for her most recent design for Simplicity. Theresa chose a cherry Una mini top hat and an Yvette top hat to compliment the steampunk-Victorian theme of the clothes. Here's the image of the pattern envelope. Love how the photos turned out.

Soon on Simplicity

Theresa LaQuey is a brilliant custom clothier who specializes in vintage styles for men and women, including gorgeous wedding dresses and Art Deco-era fashions. She's also a best-selling pattern designer for Simplicity Patterns. She's just borrowed some of my hats to use in a photo shoot of her brand new styles for Simplicity. Until the patterns are officially announced, the designs are super top secret. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Hat Making Inspiration - Sewing Patterns Part 2

Below you'll find some of my favorite images from sewing patterns for making hats. In my last post on this subject, I included several photos of hats in fashion illustrations on sewing patterns. As I mentioned, these pictures are often a fantasy of the illustrator, rather than reality-based, but sewing patterns for MAKING hats are another story. As you can see, these have more detail, they are closer-up, show seams, etc., all so you can get a better idea of the construction. Right now I'm working only with blocked felt, but I've made soft fabric hats in the past- looking through these again is fun, maybe I'll try some of these out later this year...



















And be sure to check out the Hats category in the Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki!

Hat Making Inspiration - Sewing Patterns

People often ask me where I get ideas for millinery design. One of my favorite places to look for inspiration is the fashion illustrations found on vintage sewing patterns. There are two kinds of sewing patterns that depict hats: those that include patterns of hats, and those that don't. The ones that do include patterns for hats tend to be a bit more sedate, because a real hat, designed for construction by the home sewer, is being represented. But the ones that are clothing patterns that have added a hat onto the illustration for effect, to show how the clothing might look with accessories, are often more extreme in style -- they tend to be a bit more fantastical, because the artist doesn't have to work from a pattern or show something the home sewer is actually expected to make. Of course, these imaginary hats are exactly the ones I want to wear. For sheer kookiness, my favorites are from the late 1930s and early 40s, here are a few I especially like. For more photos of hats on sewing patterns and sewing patterns to make hats, see my flickr page.