All Posts Knowing When to Stop

Knowing When It Is Finished

Once I am happy with the design, the construction begins properly.

Everything needs to be attached securely while still looking as though it belongs there effortlessly.

The back, sides and underside matter to me just as much as that first view from the front. A handmade piece should look considered from every direction.

Eventually there comes a point where I look at the hat and realise that moving something, adding something or taking something away would make it worse rather than better.

That is usually when I know it is finished.

So while a completed hat might eventually look as though every element was planned from the beginning, the reality is usually much more interesting.

It has developed through looking, experimenting, changing direction and drawing on years of things I have seen, studied and remembered.

The influences may begin with Dior, old Hollywood glamour, something my mother taught me, a vintage trim or simply a flower that caught my eye.

But from there, the hat has to become something of its own.

And for me, that is one of the best parts of creating it.

This was one of the first hats I made when I began bringing Bateman Original Designs back.

I loved the large pink dahlia, and the purple just spoke to me. I spent some time getting the loops exactly where I wanted them, and I enjoyed the effect so much that I later used the same process again in a grey and white fascinator.

I don't often repeat a process, and when I do, I tend not to use the same colours or finish. I like seeing how the same idea can become something quite different simply by changing the materials, colour and balance.

I am happy to share these parts of my design process with you, and I will continue to show you more as Bateman Original Designs grows.

Helen Greville

Handmade in Melbourne by Bateman Original Designs.

Designed by Hand. Defined by Heritage.