A Trip to NYC and New Hat Ideas

Wrapping up my last art show at the Old Bakery and Emporium Museum was bittersweet. A culmination of a year’s work ended in a quick six weeks, and now I am back at the studio with my next project: a smaller display at Austin’s Asian American Resource Center. I will be a part of a collective of artists on display between late November 2024 through February 2025. This show will close at the end of my auspicious year of the Wood Dragon—my 60th year.

I had the opportunity to celebrate my birthday in New York City, a long-overdue return visit. My plans of returning annually for millinery supplies were squashed by Covid, and I saw first hand what the pandemic has done to many of the smaller fabric shops in midtown. With the exception of Mood Fabrics, I was practically the sole customer at the other stores. I bought as much as I could from everyone because I felt I needed to do my part and help these businesses stay open. I implore everyone who uses fabrics of any kind be it professional or hobbyists to patronize these stores. Like millinery products worldwide, these special fabrics might start becoming a thing of the past.

I learned about the NYC fabric show held the very next day while shopping at Elliott Berman. After an afternoon in Brooklyn the next day, I high-tailed it to the fabric show hoping to catch the final three hours before day’s end. I wasn’t allowed photographs of most everything I saw there, but I was impressed by some Indian silk manufacturers that I plan on ordering regularly for all my silks, as well as incredible custom hand beaded pieces from an outfit directly out of India. I ordered a sample card from this silk vendor for reference, and hopefully be able to offer different color options on a consistent bases. I was so overwhelmed with the custom bead booth, I couldn’t make any on-the-spot decisions with ordering. If I get another opportunity to attend, I hope to be able to order some of these works of art in the future. These “insider” trade shows are how clothing manufacturers and retail stores purchase unique stock. It was right in line with what I want to focus on for the next remaining years of my work. These suppliers really inspired me. The amount of creativity they had to adhere in order to attract buyers. I was not in their target market, given the tiny volume of materials I use on projects. But it did give me the enough inspiration to think about how I can create my own beading, and even unique textiles by blending many hand techniques.

I started exploring traditional handicrafts like patchwork and embroidery in my work this year, starting with my two bucket hats that were on display at the Harrogate Gardens art show. These bucket hats were blocked with a base material before I covered it with fabric. Because of the unique and unevenness of my hat block, I could not create a traditional sewing pattern. The strict sewing machine stitches doesn’t allow the hat to naturally lay flat. This is the same reason why hand-sewn clothes also drapes better on the body. I mostly draped the panels of the hat after I embroidered them directly onto the hat base. The result was a softer hat without puckers or pulls. The indentations you see from hand stitching says the hat is handmade. After decades of heavily manufactured clothes and fast fashion, consumers have forgotten what hand sewing looks like. I personally feel seeing a speck of a stitch mark exudes hand crafted and contrary to just plain badly sewn pieces be it clothing or hat.

You See Me bucket hat with Sashiko, appliqué, and bead embroidery. Fabric: denim and vintage kimono silks, and Obijime silk cord.

“I See You” bucket hat using vintage kimono fabric designed in a patchwork style. The crown top is covered in am embroidered image. Fabric: silk, and silk Obijime, denim, muslin for the embroidery.

Mixed textiles and media designs are in my future. I recently acquired an embroidery sewing machine, where I hope to not only create my own lace designs but also create more intricate embroidered backgrounds for my hats. Although I am not sure whether my machine can embroider straw without destroying it, I do think slow and steady hand embroidery would not be a problem. I recently created a new hat using hand knitted fabric secured on top of a blocked wool hat. It is another piece I have been exploring that moves into more streetwear. I personally think milliners should look at the viability of hats and the wearer. If we want the art of millinery to survive, we may need to start innovating designs while still holding true to the classic millinery techniques. Without being faithful to the blocked hat, we begin to forget and lose these artisanal skills.