Working spaces

My first ever headpiece was made on the kitchen table. I needed something to go to the races (my first time), couldn’t find anything in the shops. So I bought a few “ingredients” in a craft shop, got out the hot glue gun and “nailed” something together that complemented my outfit and in return got compliments by other racegoers. The rest as they say is history.

Almost instantly the millinery bug got to me. Some years earlier we built a big garage with attached guest house. Being from Europe makes one a popular holiday destination for friends and family who usually stay anything from 4 weeks to several months…it is a long way to come after all. So we wanted to provide a nice accommodation that gave both them and us privacy as well.

My initial hat making took place in a corner of the lounge part of our guest house…then on the pool table…then I moved the pool table into the entry part and made that space mine. After that I got myself a big cutting table, moved it back into the lounge corner, made this my workspace and the entry part became my showroom. The pool table was sold.

This is what it looked like a while after claiming the space, fairly crammed and  cluttered. Things were shifted around a few times:

   

This is what the showroom looks like now after a paint job, new floor, a lovely vintage cabinet and a pretty chandelier:

   

One corner of the showroom houses some of my hat blocks – clients always comment and are quite interested in them

As of now – the open plan living / bedroom space has been divided off and I now inhabit the whole ex living area and entry space. I accumulated a few vintage cabinets, they have a nice feel about them and provide excellent storage.

  yes, I do use all 3 sewing machines….

I am enjoying the space I have now. It’s quite spacious, I get a good amount of daylight which is so important. Most things are well organized – I doubt you will find a milliner who will ever say they have enough space . …
Am I done rearranging and shifting around? Probably not, but this will do quite nicely, for a while at least 🙂

p.s. there is still a guest bedroom with bathroom available for guests 😉

Melbourne and puppies

It’s been a while since my last blog, I think I suffered from a bit of blog block.
Nevertheless, things have happened, hats were made.
End of June I made it over the ditch and spent 10 days in Melbourne – mainly a “Eat – Shop – Culture” trip.

It was a healthy mix of shopping malls, Yum Cha, patisseries – yes, we paid our visit to Adriano Zumbo as well, museums and we saw Wicked, which was absolutely wickedly awesome. We walked I don’t know how many kilometers ( just as well with all the food we had), but Melbourne invites you to do just that and discover all these small alleyways with their delicious cafes, restaurants and boutiques.

Of course I also took the opportunity to learn new things and was lucky enough to catch a  weekend workshop with Waltraud Reiner from Torb and Reiner…. and I filled my suitcase with supplies from their store. My daughter, who was with me and gladly wears hats but has no great interest in making them, ended up fashioning her first ever hats under Waltraud’s guidance and is now the owner of 2 beautiful fur felt hats she proudly shows off.
 hard at work

      listen and learn

 Waltraud’s beautiful studio

my supply stash..filled my suitcase to the brim

The other exciting thing that happened in the meantime….our dog ( Bearded Collie) had puppies. 11 to be exact.

It’s been quite an experience and very full on, all of them have now gone to their new families and we are back to normal family life with one cute addition to the pack.

her name is Nia 🙂

While we were in Melbourne we got to hang out with another puppy:: Waltraud Reiner’s Dachshund puppy Mr Button, aka Monsieur Bouton – here they are, ready to go to work. Tres chic much?

I hope it won’t be too long until I make it back to Melbourne and do it all over again!