Maker's bio

I worked in IT Audit for 25 years, and from 2009 onwards, started making hats after a taster course at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I was very fortunate to travel the world with my job, and always used to travel with sewing materials in my suitcase, and have made silk roses on a flight from Zagreb, sewed a hat brim on Eurostar, and folded ribbon rosettes on a plane, sitting next to the voice of Spongebob Squarepants. I worked in Switzerland for the last two years of my corporate life, which allowed me to save some money that I could put aside to allow me to start up my own millinery business. When I returned to the UK, I turned my old study into a hat studio, and now instead of books on IT audit, I have rolls of fabric. I still use spreadsheets, but to calculate ribbon widths and hat diameters, as opposed to analysing profit and loss. I started running my hat making business full time in 2019. 2022 was been my busiest year yet, and this year as well as making hats for weddings and races , I’ve made hats for Buckingham Palace as well as the Orient Express and also a Pantomime Dame. I've taken multiple courses over the years, and continue to do so. Rather than getting people to wear more hats, I'd rather that more people enjoy them. Hence I want to make my workshops accessible! If there is something you'd specifically like to learn, please do get in touch with me as I do offer private tuition.