22nd March 2012

DORCHESTER: Expert milliner to give talk at exhibition

A Day school is being held at the county museum at the end of the month to complement the museum’s current Hats to Handbags exhibition.

The event, on Saturday, March 31st will focus on professional milliner Liisa Walker from Swanage.

Taking place between 10am and 4pm, she will talk about her work and how she came into the millinery business, as well as demonstrating some basic hat-making techniques.

Alongside demonstrations, Liisa will display examples of hats made from different materials such as felt, straw and sinamay - a modern straw-like material made from banana fibre.

Originally Liisa worked for a textile company and seven-years-ago was attracted to a “Make a Hat in a Day” course. She went along, produced the best hat there, and was immediately hooked.

Liisa has continued her training through professional courses run by Rose Cory in London.

Today Liisa runs her workshop from her Swanage home – an area with a history of hat-making dating from the early 19th century when workshops were established in the town to provide girls with suitable employment. The area grew to be a centre for the manufacture of bonnets and straw hats although there is little evidence of this left today.

A selection of her hats can currently be seen in the front window of the museum.

The museum exhibition continues until mid-April and features items from the museum’s costume and textile collection to show what was worn, made and bought in Dorset from the 18th century onwards.

Illustrating how fashions adapted to keep pace with the change in women’s lives, the exhibition covers the history of women’s fashion in shoes, bags, gloves, fans and parasols.

Tickets for the Hats to Handbags Day School on Saturday, March 31st cost £15 and are available now from the museum shop on 01305 756827 or by emailing [email protected].

DORCHESTER: Expert milliner to give talk at exhibition

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