I'm sitting in my workroom staring at the rain lashing against the window. It's another typical British day outside. This depresses me for like a second because then I remember I am surrounded by beautiful feathers, luxurious ribbons, felt and straw. Heaven! Who needs sunshine when i can be tucked up in my workroom creating things! Creating hats to be exact, as that is what I do. I am a milliner and have been hand-making hats to sell for a few years now and I adore it! I wish i could spend all day doing this and one day soon I hope to give up my office job and do this full time but it's a slow process. I need to earn money to help build my business so for now I am juggling the two. I don't care though, because even after a long, frustrating day at work I can come home and spend the evening being creative. When I get such lovely emails from my customers thanking me for the hats they have received, it makes it worth it.
I have always loved making things and spent most of my childhood covered in PVA glue and glitter. I studied art and textiles and school and went on to do Fashion at college. My mum taught me to sew and I really enjoyed it. I was obsessed with costume and history and so I went to study Costume design at university. It was the best 3 years of my life and I learned so much. It was here that I first started learning about millinery. Creating a fabulous hat to match the costumes I had made really finished them off. When I finished I set up Sally Anne Costumes. I created a website to show of my work and started doing custom work for people which is so much fun. I decided I wanted to learn more millinery skills so started taking a class. The very first lesson we blocked a felt hat. I was hooked. I was so proud of the little navy hat I had made, all with my own hands! All the work I put in, steaming the felt, stretching over the hat block and then hand stitching the wire and ribbon to finish the brim was so satisfying. Then of course I had to decorate it. Oh my, the possibilities! I rushed home with my handmade treasure and showed it off. I got a great response, which made me want to make more. Not long after i decided to take the plunge and purchase my first wooden hat block. I love top hats and when I found the range of midi sized hat blocks from the company Guy Morse Brown I was smitten and ordered the top hat version immediately. I was so excited when they arrived it was like Christmas morning! Taking them from their box, all shiny and new I spent the next few hours cooing over them adoringly. When I was brave enough to actually start sticking pins in i starting blocking. My very first top hat was red and feathery and I was so thrilled with the finished creation. Everyone loved it and I started thinking perhaps I could sell these. Etsy is a handmade marketplace full of handmade and vintage items and i decided this would be the perfect place to try and sell my little hatties. That is when sallyannecostumes Etsy shop was born. It took a while to sell my first hat but orders steadily grew and the response I was getting from all my customers was really positive. I have now expanded my range of hat styles and I am improving my shop all the time.
In my blog I will be sharing new ideas, designs, and all the exciting happenings while my business grows. I hope you enjoy reading it and keep checking back. Please check out my website www.sallyannecostumes.co.uk and my Etsy shop www.sallyannecostumes.etsy.com
Anyway, that's enough of my ramblings. With a glass of red wine on hand and Lola, my Bassett Hound puppy snoozing in her bed, it's time for me to get back to my hats!
Love and Hattiness
Sally
