Hello! My apologies for being a bit MIA.... I had intended to post at least once a week, but with an upcoming market, I was busy making fascinators. But it did give me an opportunity to take photos of the process, so I will be blogging about something I recently rediscovered.... blocking sinamay.
Hopefully, this will also help to explain the difference between a milliner and someone who makes fascinators or hats. Anyone who can sew (or as I found out when I taught a beginners class, anyone with the ability to use a glue gun) can create a fascinator. The putting together of fascinators and hats is still creative, and requires work. But think of it as someone who cooks something made from the basic ingredients and someone who uses a packet mix sauce. They both end up with a dish, but the flavour and complexity is different. The basic ingredients in millinery are things like blocking, which takes the making of fascinators and hats to a whole new level.
Blocking involves utilising a block (usually a head shape or brim shape made of wood) to block material (felt, straw, sinamay etc) into a shape. I hadn't blocked anything for a while, and when I started, I realised how much I enjoyed doing it. And that I had been avoiding it. The last time I did it, I was blocking sinamay to create a hat (see below), and the brim caused me a few issues (okay, a lot of issues) because of the size. Blocking a brim that is bigger than any brim block available is a little bit difficult. And, like anyone with a bit of an avoidance issue, I then went and blocked ten skull caps and ten plates. Yes.... twenty pieces! I do like to go overboard, don't I?
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| Spring Flowers by All That Jazz |
So...... onto the blocking!
First off, I chose a head block, and covered it with cling wrap. The cling wrap protects the block from colours and chemicals. I then cut three pieces of sinamay of equal size (sometimes for lesser quality sinamay, four pieces is required) in a lovely gold colour. Because this was for a small skull cap, I cut 15cm x 15cm. I also blocked a plate which required larger sized pieces and a brim block, but I'll be showing the skull cap.
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| Materials: Covered block, pieces of sinamay, hammer, blocking pins, spray bottle. |
With the three pieces of sinamay, I lined up the pieces, gave them a good spray and pinned to the block. Its a very good idea to have a full size apron on as you're leaning on the block to while you're stretching the sinamay. Some materials leak colour (just as well I wasn't blocking on my beautiful dining table!) and unless you're wearing something old, you dont want to get colour on yourself. There is a bit of an art in blocking corners, as you need to get a flat piece of sinamay to shape to a curve, without any creases (or as little as possible). Luckily for me, with a skull cap, the piece I was creating wasn't difficult.
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| Blocking.... stretch, stretch, and more stretch. |
The wood of each block can vary in hardness, but its always handy to have a hammer, a thimble, or a pin pusher handy. Some milliners are anti pin-pushers, for no reason other than "its not the correct way to do it". Bah, humbug. They may be the ones who recommend milliners use their thumbs to push in pins... personally, I like my fingers intact, so I avoid that method. I was using pin pushers for a while, for no other reason than I had bought it so may as well get some use out of it, but since I couldn't find it, I was looking for anything. I had seen hammers and thimbles all around the house, but like all things, when I needed them they all went into hiding! I finally found a small hammer that I had received as a bonus with something - just as well, as my fingers were getting sore from pushing the pins in.
Once the sinamay is blocked, it's time to stiffen. You can use either millinery stiffener, or PVA glue to stiffen. A previous teacher that I saw recently recommends PVA, which I had never used other than to stiffen lace, so I tried it - it's a 50 / 50 mixture of PVA and water and works well. She also recommends using a foam roller, rather than a brush, as it gets to all layers more evenly.
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| Roll, roll, roll. Rolling on the stiffener, the mixture is seen in the glass jar. |
Then its a matter of letting it dry!
As I work in my garage whilst blocking (less hassle with mess and toxic fumes) I can leave the back door open to let in lots of air. It also means I can let it dry overnight without having to pack things up. I had a number of blocks with sinamay drying at various times, so it was nicknamed "The Sweat Shop" by a friend who saw it. It wasnt quite that bad, but my car did spend a few cold nights shivering outside.
Drying time can vary, but generally half a day will do it.
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| Drying time.... time to chill. |
Once dry (you can usually feel if its dry by touch), its time to peel off the sinamay from the cling wrap. When peeling, I often found that there was still some stiffener on the cling wrap. In that case I removed the sinamay and let it dry for another hour or so away from the block.
And the result - a blocked piece of gold sinamay, waiting for cutting!
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| Ta-da! Blocked sinamay. |
