![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Hat blocking is a technique that many theatre costumers avoid because of a number of misconceptions--folks are concerned that it'll be too difficult or complex, that it requires a collection of expensive hat blocks, that it means learning a new skill that will take too long to figure out. Our next project in millinery class is going to involve some hat blocking, so i have done a couple of examples and have process shots to share.
You can block with a variety of different materials--wool or rabbit fur millinery felt, Fosshape thermoplastic felt (using a modified technique), traditional or paper straw, raffia, or vegetable-tanned leather. Not all of them block equally well--some are more flexible than others and thus able to take more extreme shapes more easily.
My students are allowed to choose any blockable material for this project and either create a blocked hat or create a hat with a buckram or wire foundation that *looks* blocked. Thus, they either are taking a risk by trying a totally new, unfamiliar technique, or adapting a now-somewhat-familiar technique (pieced foundation hats) to include a new material. I give them guidance so they aren't attempting the impossible, but it's intentionally an exploratory crapshoot of a project. It's also kind of a trick: those who choose to block their hats usually complete the project in much less time. (This post itself is another--any of my students who follow the blog will know all of this information before class tomorrow, when i conduct a live hatblocking demonstration...)
Some blockable materials come in flat sheets or yardage. Sinamay straw is sold this way--sheets or by the yard--as is raffia cloth, and leather obviously comes in hides or by the square foot. You can also buy millinery quality felt in flat yardage.
Hatbodies, on the other hand, are preformed vaguely-hat-shaped units intended for blocking. Felt and straw are also sold this way, and can be purchased singly or in bulk (dozens or other multiples) from a range of sources. They are sold in two basic forms, hoods or cones (which look like floppy thimbles) and cartwheels or capelines (pronounced "KAP-uh-leens", for larger-brimmed styles). Capelines look like floppy cartoon-hillbilly hats before blocking and sizing.
For my demonstration for the class, i've used a type of straw hatbody called toyo, a Japanese paper-based product, in a fairly coarse weave. I picked up some of these on sale by the dozen from Judith M Millinery for exactly this purpose. They came in black and white, and i bought a split dozen--six of one, half-dozen the other. (Ha, i've been waiting to genuinely use that cliche for YEARS!) The exciting thing about toyo is that it's dyeable, so those six white hatbodies have the potential to become any color i require!
( Read more... )
So there's my blocking overview: not so daunting, after all.
You can block with a variety of different materials--wool or rabbit fur millinery felt, Fosshape thermoplastic felt (using a modified technique), traditional or paper straw, raffia, or vegetable-tanned leather. Not all of them block equally well--some are more flexible than others and thus able to take more extreme shapes more easily.
My students are allowed to choose any blockable material for this project and either create a blocked hat or create a hat with a buckram or wire foundation that *looks* blocked. Thus, they either are taking a risk by trying a totally new, unfamiliar technique, or adapting a now-somewhat-familiar technique (pieced foundation hats) to include a new material. I give them guidance so they aren't attempting the impossible, but it's intentionally an exploratory crapshoot of a project. It's also kind of a trick: those who choose to block their hats usually complete the project in much less time. (This post itself is another--any of my students who follow the blog will know all of this information before class tomorrow, when i conduct a live hatblocking demonstration...)
Some blockable materials come in flat sheets or yardage. Sinamay straw is sold this way--sheets or by the yard--as is raffia cloth, and leather obviously comes in hides or by the square foot. You can also buy millinery quality felt in flat yardage.
Hatbodies, on the other hand, are preformed vaguely-hat-shaped units intended for blocking. Felt and straw are also sold this way, and can be purchased singly or in bulk (dozens or other multiples) from a range of sources. They are sold in two basic forms, hoods or cones (which look like floppy thimbles) and cartwheels or capelines (pronounced "KAP-uh-leens", for larger-brimmed styles). Capelines look like floppy cartoon-hillbilly hats before blocking and sizing.
For my demonstration for the class, i've used a type of straw hatbody called toyo, a Japanese paper-based product, in a fairly coarse weave. I picked up some of these on sale by the dozen from Judith M Millinery for exactly this purpose. They came in black and white, and i bought a split dozen--six of one, half-dozen the other. (Ha, i've been waiting to genuinely use that cliche for YEARS!) The exciting thing about toyo is that it's dyeable, so those six white hatbodies have the potential to become any color i require!
So there's my blocking overview: not so daunting, after all.
