A special millinery make for Easter & a workshop!

It's time I gave you something pretty to make - just in time for Easter. And no, I'm not talking about an Easter bonnet....they're sooooo two centuries ago! Instead I give you the Spring flower hairpin which you can create in abundance and scatter through your hair however you choose. These flowers are crafted using a vintage technique that I discovered when I purchased a 1930's satin nightdress-case a few years back. The flowers had been worked in pale pink ribbon, but I prefer something more vivid and real looking, so this is my modern take on the technique. I hope you like it. Please share your pics on my Chic on a Shoestring Book Facebook page. I'd love to see the flowers you come up with.

You'll need. Cotton organdie fabric (I get mine from The Cloth House on Berwick Street in London) - 25cm will make lots of flowers. Scissors, needle and thread, felt-tip pins, hairpins, a scrap of felt, and a gluegun. A small paintbrush and some water.

Cut your organdie into strips around 40cm long and 5cm wide. Then fold in half along the length. Use the felt-tip pens to add colour along once side and blend using some water and the paintbrush. Allow to dry.

Use a double thread with a knot on the end and stitch as shown along the raw edge for about 6/7cm then gather up the thread to make a petal. Repeat the process to make a second petal.

Continue all the way along the strip until you have made several petals just like the strip below. Don't worry about it curling up. It will naturally do that.

Arrange the petals in a circle as shown stitching through the centre to hold in place.

Make a little loop of thread and form into a figure of eight as shown.

Stitch into the centre of your flower and chop through the ends of the two loops. This creates stamens. You can scrunch the flower in your hand to give it more of a textured finish. The organdie will hold the shape well.

Use the glue gun to stick each flower to a hairpin and cover with a tiny circle of felt on the back.

Pop in your hair and celebrate the Spring! 

If you'd like to learn lots more about this method and create a unique floral millinery headpiece using other vintage techniques, then sign up for my workshop taking place on Saturday 2nd April at my friends' beautiful Scottish wildflower farm - Scotia Seeds in Farnell (near Montrose in Angus). It costs £55 for the day all in, and there will be homemade soup for lunch and endless tea and coffee! 

For further details please email me: maryjanemillinery@hotmail.co.uk - it would be lovely to see you there. 

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Beachcomber Grotto Pot

I'm currently living up in the town of Montrose on the North East coast of Scotland. There is a beautiful beach here and when the tide is out, you can walk for miles. I'm always on the look-out for interesting things brought in by the waves - shells, pebbles and driftwood for instance. Last week when I was feeling particularly low, the sea gave me a really generous present. Washed up on the sand were lots of broken plates and bits of crockery. I didn't have a bag with me, but nonetheless, I gathered them all up, grateful for the unexpected gift. 

It's the one and only time I've seen this sort of stuff washed up in Montrose, but elsewhere I've been luckier. A few years ago I stayed on Tanera in the Summer Isles on the West coast of Scotland, and was always finding broken bits of china and sea glass along the shoreline. I remember making a mosaic mirror frame with the pieces I found, and I decided to do something along the same lines again.

Once home, I washed and dried the crockery, and laid out lots of old newspaper. Then I  wrapped the ceramic in an old tea towel so that I could smash the pieces up one by one. Very theraputic. I also used tile nippers to give more shape to the pieces as I worked and to remove the sharpest points. ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES when smashing up and shaping your bits of china. You might also want to wear protective gloves. When you've finished breaking up the bits put them onto a clean bit of newspaper and carefully wrap and throw away anything you don't want in the old tea towel. Clean any surfaces with damp kitchen towel.

As well as the china I found on the beach, I added in a couple of charity shop plates bought locally for a couple of pounds. I needed a bit of brightness for the mosaic.

For my base I used a cheap terracotta flower pot and then bought a tub of all-in-one tile adhesive and grout. Using half an old clothes peg as a spatula, I stuck the broken pieces onto the pot one by one. I probably used a bit too much adhesive/grout to start with. It's better just to blob and stick the bits on one by one I think. As I worked, I also added in a few little ceramic favours or fèves that I found at brocantes in France during my Mobile Makery trip in the summer. These little figures come in all sorts of different designs and are hidden inside the Galette des Rois - a traditional cake brought out to celebrate the Epiphany. The person who finds the favour inside his or her slice of cake gets to wear a crown and make a wish!

As you can see, the pot looked a little rough and ready after the first 24 hours of drying - a bit like a crazy Christmas cake with too much icing! But then I grouted it carefully using a damp sponge, gently scraping back some of my over-enthusiastic gluing. I'm really pleased with the final result below, and it's a lovely momento of my walks along the beach in Montrose. A great idea for your own holidays.

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Dutch Hat Magazine feature

A big thankyou to Elly Stemerdink for featuring my Mobile Makery Europe tour in October's English edition of HoedenNieuws - the excellent and very glossy Dutch hat magazine. It's a real privilege to be included. 

I met Elly during an incredible hat festival in the South West of France at a place called Caussade, which was once the centre of the French straw hat-making industry. Having e-mailed the organisers and failed to hear back I decided to gatecrash the event, hot on the heels of having attended a little music festival at a place called Lagrasse. I was warmly welcomed and invited to set up a stall - with Bambi taking a starring role - comme toujours! 

I met all sorts of incredible people involved in the hat business in one way or another, and was offered the warmest hospitality, in spite of being a complete stranger. Elly was amongst a group of milliners from the Netherlands who come to Caussade every year to ply their wares and make contacts. Not only has she featured me in this month's magazine, but she's invited me to run a vintage-trim-making workshop in Eindhoven on National Hat Day - 7th November. Click on the website below for further details. Thanks Elly!

If you're interested in subscribing to the magazine then please e-mail Elly:

press@nederlandsehoedenvereniging.nl

Please look at the website for all details relating to the National Hat Day event (where I'll be amongst a group of milliners offering classes in different skills) www.nederlandsehoedenvereniging.nl

Mary Jane's Mobile Makery - How to Make: EASY PEASY Vintage Pillowcase Top

Whilst in France I've bought dozens of vintage 1960's pillowcases in bight bold florals.  Many of them are the old bolster-style pillowcases which people don't use any more. These tend to be open at both ends and just simply hemmed.  They cost as little as 50p each, and are lovely and soft after being used such a lot. 

In this little tutorial I show you how to make a very easy top from one of these pillowcases creating your own pattern first from newspaper. Don't worry - you don't need to be an expert pattern draughtsman or woman - it's really easy! My cunning time-saving tip is that if you position the pattern at the top and bottom of the pillowcase, you won't have to bother hemming your top as the hem on the pillowcase is already there for you to use. Hey Presto, no tricky hemming! This pattern will work for a size 10 - 14 (UK) - it'll be loose and breezy on the 10 and a little more fitted on a 14. For your info: I'm a 14 so you can see how it looks on me. If you need another size you'll have to adjust the pattern a little.  

Hope you like it! Please send me pics when you make yours! maryjanemillinery@hotmail.co.uk. If you don't have a vintage French pillowcase to hand (and why should you!) you can just use fabric of course. Recycled is best! GOOD LUCK!

Mary Jane's Mobile Makery - How to Make: Vintage Pillowcase Top Trailer!

Coming Soon! How to make a fabulous vintage top from a recycled French pillowcase thrifted on my travels!