Last weekend, I went to the annual vintage fashion market. Normally, you’d hear me say “there were some top hats but I didn’t have enough cash for one”, NOT THIS TIME!!! This time I thought to take my cheque book and I went wild! I was walking about the market when I came across a [...]

The winter sales have only just started here in France and though I don’t really have any money to spend, I know I’m going to end up buying some clothes – some that I need (new swimming costume), some that I don’t … I was going round the American Apparel web site (on the first [...]

` Honest, I have been sewing, just not on anything very new – I got an order in for some cycling caps, so that goes before any other projects I’ve got going! My Etsy Shop (Chalkie’s Bazaar) is therefore looking really bare! Sniff!  Hopefully I’ll get round to putting up some new headwear soon and [...]

Hello there! I’m back to work tomorrow, so my holidays are officially over! It also means that I’m back to my own personal hat projects and blogging! First off, thanks to everyone who voted for me in the Stephen Jones millinery design competition!! Your support means a lot to me! I didn’t win the public [...]

In Lyon, this weekend, is being held the annual vintage fashion market and I went to have a look around this morning (with a very, very, very small amount of money in my pocket…). As per usual there were a few stands selling hats, most of them battered and dusty – you’d think the vendors [...]

Hello there! Just wanted to share with you these cool prints that I got given for my birthday! Aren’t they fabulous?! I’m a big Marx Brothers fan and I think the Groucho Marx print (on the left there) is really great! Love the style!  They’re all by a guy who goes by the name ‘Dwitt’ [...]

Hope you’re not all sick of NY, cause, well, I’m not finished yet!! So, there I was, skipping down 6th Avenue when I came across a couple of cool stores for crafty folk : M&J Trimmings and Toho Shoji. There are probably other cool supply places in NYC (I’m just an ignorant tourist!), so please [...]

I wasn’t going to blog about this but I changed my mind when I saw it…I received an order last week that I had placed with ‘Hats by Leko’ in the USA (www.hatsupply.com) – just a couple of wool felts and a amazingly huge flower (they do have a large selection of flowers, and this one [...]

Here are some gros-grain ribbon that I ordered a while back from the american suppliers JKM Ribbons. I had never ordered from them before and I thought I’d have a look on the internet to see if there were any reviews about their service. And did I find some! A lot of people did complain [...]

So, I got my blocks finally! It was great opening the boxes and having that wood smell float out! Really no problems with them, they were so well packed (lots of paper, bubble wrap AND foam). I thought I’d try out my cloche multi-block first, it is made out of obeche wood which is a soft wood so [...]