Class projects: buckram forms, part one!

My millinery students have finished their first round of projects, hats made on buckram foundations.

I have them do three projects for this topic, successively more complex structures. First, we do a cocktail base for a fascinator, just a single piece of buckram shaped, wired, and finished. Next we make pillboxes, to learn about setting a tip into a sideband and to begin exploring relative scale and fit, and the final and most important of the project in grading terms is a complex structure from a research image which must have a crown and a brim.

We've started a new thing this class to deal with process shots--i have them take process shots along the way of all crafts class projects, as part of their grades. This is to get them into the habit of thinking about when to document their processes. How many people have gotten done with a show on which they made a bunch of amazing costumes and thought, "Crap, i don't have any pictures." Because i made it a personal goal to foster scholarly documentation, research, and publication among my students, this process-shot requirement is a part of every project.

Previously, they've emailed them or printed them out, but my most recent academic-related goal was to incorporate more utilization of digital technologies in my classes, so we've created a class-specific image hosting account to which they can "turn in" their process shots and upload their pictures. Hopefully this will allow them to turn in their pix easier, have access to them anywhere all over the web, share them on Facebook and blogs more easily, and generally encourage discussion of processes in online fora.

It also allows me to blog about them easier, so it's self-serving, too. This is the first of a couple posts on these projects, as the photos trickle in on the account. In it, we can compare their research image with their final product.

I make no demand on the source of their research images, beyond that i need to see and approve them in advance. I do this rather than assigning them hats to make, because it allows them to explore hat shapes and styles that excite them in a guided-learning environment. You get your hat styles handed to you enough as a professional theatrical milliner.

As a result of this, we get images from all over the place--some historical sources like paintings or engravings, some photographs of extant vintage hats, some contemporary styles, some modern historical reproductions. This is great, i think, because in the theatre, you never know what a costume designer is going to provide you with for hatmaking--it might be a detailed design rendering, or it might be a photo of a historical or modern hat, or it might be the hat itself (like in my recent post on reproducing a hat for our mainstage show, As You Like It). So, they show me the image for approval, but they can make it in a different fabric/color (a common designer request) or alter some things about the image in their process if they discover ways of improving upon it or ways they need to change things to accommodate the materials they've chosen.

First up, then, are a Dior-inspired fascinator, a couple of pillboxes, and two brimmed hats from modern historical reproduction inspiration photos.

Research image of a little hat from the Dior 2007 collection for Claire Fleming's fascinator

The finished fascinator in teal dupioni satin, mounted on a narrow headband
(This one got worn around all day by several of us!)

Claire's research image for her pillbox hat

Pillbox by Claire Fleming in silk crossweave dupioni and dyed-to-match tulle pouf

Research image for Kaitlin Fara's pillbox

Kaitlin Fara's pillbox covered in dupioni satin and trimmed with Mokuba ribbon medallions

Kaitlin Fara's research image for her complex form

Kaitlin Fara's finished hat, covered in a peach satin with embroidered lace overlay,
trimmed with a handmade ostrich pouf, a pleated band and ribbon of the satin, and an antique cameo.