sustainable fashion Archives

Following My Heart, My Latest Business Strategy

January 29, 2020 by HatJunkie

I had a bit of an epiphany the other day. Well, my friend, Aimee, actually hit me over the head with my epiphany, but that’s what friends are for, right?

She surprised me with a visit, so I put down my work and we went for a walk. I must have really needed to talk to her because it all came blurting out. I was not really happy because I was making the hats that I felt people wanted to buy and squeezing in the hats I really wanted to make when I had the time.

In about a two minute time frame, she set me completely straight. Aimee is a straight talker. ” Why the hell would you be self-employed if you are not doing what you love? You may as well get a job and at least have some security. Do what you love and the money will follow!”

I have always known that . Those words have guided me for so many years, but sometimes fear of not being able to pay the bills can make you forget. So, I found myself making the same hats that I have been making for so many years and feeling like my creative wings had been clipped. It got to the point where I avoided going in my beautiful studio and instead would sit at the kitchen table and knit. I have really never been very good at doing what I didn’t feel like doing. Instead of putting my nose to the grind stone and cranking out my best sellers, I became the master of procrastination. Just one more row of knitting, I kept saying, and then I’ll get back to work.

Somehow, Aimee’s sledgehammer over my head made me realize that it was time to be brave and have faith that if I let myself follow my creativity and inspiration that my customers would come along with me. I needed someone else to give me permission to do what I needed to do. Shut one door and open another one. And that’s what I’m doing. I have talked about phasing out my fleece hats, but I have decided to speed up the process. There will still be fleece hats available in my Etsy shop, but I will slowly be replacing them with the hats I truly love to make. I know that I won’t be making everyone happy, but I need to first make myself happy. That means working with natural textiles, working slowly and enjoying all the fine details of slow fashion.

The amazing thing is that when I brought my new knitted and felted hats to the Lunenburg Farmers’ Market, the ladies went right to them. I think people can feel how much I love them. This beautiful mother and daughter duo bought these two berets. And incase any of you out there tell yourselves that you are too old to wear a hat…Joyce is turning 90. She was wearing gold sparkly shoes and wouldn’t let me take her photo until she put her lipstick on.

Joyce and Fawn in their new knitted and felted berets

All these hats take a really long time to make, so my plan is to just list them in my shop as I make them and write a blog post when there are enough to talk about. Here are the knit hats that are currently available in my shop. You can click on the caption to purchase if you feel like you can’t live without one.

Hand knit and Felted Beret from Canadian wool

The sweetest blue, Hand knit and Felted From Canadian wool

Colours to melt the snow. Hand knit and felted Canadian Wool.

I have also been having a blast diving into the scrap pile. Here are two Scrappy Charlottes.

Thanks so much for spending some time with me. See you all soon.

Local Handwoven Beauty

January 21, 2020 by HatJunkie

I just finished making this Maisie hat and I need to wax eloquent for a moment…I love this fabric!!! O.K. that wasn’t exactly eloquent, but I don’t know how else to put it. I love that in choosing to have this fabric made for me by Marrie, of Double Whale Handwoven Designs, that money is kept circulating in my community, but it’s more than that. The fabric is truly more beautiful than any machine made fabric. I did actually consider trying to find another source of fabric to keep the cost down, but once you see such beautiful quality there is no going backwards.

Marrie had thought she could not weave me any more of this fabric, but I whined and begged and she has agreed to try again. My next batch of two colours will be coming at some point soon. Can’t wait to share it with you.

Scrappy Happy Hats and a Zero Waste New Year

December 31, 2019 by HatJunkie

Hello, hello! I am writing just in time to wish you all the happiest of New Years. I’m one of those people that happens to like New Year’s resolutions. Not in a write a list sort of way, more in a mindful mess of intentions for the future way. So, I’ll begin with this hat and everything it represents to me.

This hat is made from my scrap pile. These fabrics are all remnants of the handwoven wool that Marrie of Double Whale Handwoven Designs made for me. I know I repeat myself in my blogs, but I also repeat myself in my daily life, so I’m consistent. Zero Waste. It’s not an achievement by any means, but it is a goal. Zero Waste is actually what keeps me up at night. I know, I know, there’s a drug for that, but I feel that this is a small corner of the world that I can impact. It is, however, a very hard goal to incorporate into a business.

Working from fabric scraps takes a zillion times longer than laying out yardage. This is why so much fabric ends up in landfill. It is way more cost effective to throw out large amounts of fabric scraps than to turn them into wearable art. Fixing this problem requires that designers and large scale manufacturers choose to slow down, but it also requires customers to understand that this is an expensive process.

Actually, it also requires that designers collectively choose to charge for this work. It’s just damn hard to make something by hand and then look someone in the eye and casually say this costs $325. Well, it is for me, anyways. I know I don’t throw around $325 easily…well, unless it’s for yarn. It’s scary to charge what an item is actually worth. Particularly when most designers are seriously undercharging.

The whole zero waste, sustainability, handmade movement will only work with a massive change of perception and that’s going to take some time, and I’m O.K. with that. In the mean time I will also make the hats I need to make in order to feed the tall kid and I won’t achieve my zero waste goal in 2020, but I think I will get there.

I have also been on a mission to come up with hats that have the same qualities as polar fleece, but are made with natural fibres. I played around with cutting up used textiles, I ordered some organic wool jersey fabric, the whole time muttering to myself that I just wanted to knit the hats. But, if we are on the topic of undervalued work, there ain’t nothing as undervalued as knitting. So, I had this story in my head that I could not sell a hand knitted hat. Instead, I needed to take a piece of knit fabric, cut it up, sew it back together, add to the scrap pile and then, only then, could I charge what I needed to charge to feed the kid and keep the heat on.

I made a few hats like this and then the insanity just became too much for me. Why in heaven’s name should I not take yarn, use only the amount it takes to make the hat, making the world’s oldest zero waste hat. That’s what knitting has always been. There is no cutting. All the shaping is made while making the fabric. It’s serious zero waste innovation, except that it’s hundreds of years old.

So, that’s what I have been doing. I’m knitting up a storm of hats and then felting them for super warmth and then wet felting pretty flowers to sew on and nothing is added to my scrap pile. I don’t have these hats up in my shop yet, but if you would love one then please let me know.

I have a thing for flowers on the top of my head.

This is Faye from The Mariner’s Daughter modelling this beret.

Felted seed stitch is truly a wonderful thing.

O.K, what else did I want to chat about? Instagram. I went back on Instagram. I just got to a point where I missed seeing what everybody else was making. There is much to be wary about with social media, but I do love how it can connect people through common passions. I am going back with open eyes. I don’t engage in anything remotely political or controversial. I prefer long form thoughtful media for the harder topics of life, but for connecting with local friends, knitters, designers and other local businesses Instagram is a pretty good tool You can find me @thehatjunkie.

Speaking of thoughtful…If you are someone that likes to think about those big topics like climate change then you might like this podcast. It’s actually the first interview regarding climate change that made me feel hopeful. If This Link doesn’t take you to the specific show, it’s called, How to Save Climate Change and Make Life More Awesome.

And Lastly, I need to show you the coat that I knit.

The pattern is called Sylvie, by Mari Muinonen

Well, that’s about enough for now. Thanks for spending some time with me. Have a wonderful new year.

The Slow Hat Shop, a Slow Walk Video and a Slow hat maker

October 31, 2019 by HatJunkie

A seriously Pink Felt Hathttps://www.hatjunkie.com/product/pink-felt-fedora-hand-felted-merino-wool-size-medium-plus/

Hello! I have emerged from under a pile of fabric and yarn and I’m excited to share what I have been up to this past month.

For starters, I have finally added a web shop onto this site. Well, technically, I have had my Etsy shop linked here all along, but this one is a bit different. It is my Slow Hat Shop . It’s questionable whether I should be promoting the fact that I work at a snail’s pace, but after years and years of fighting my desire to do everything slowly I have finally given in. Slow has won the race.

Because Grey is so beautifulhttps://www.hatjunkie.com/product/grey-felt-ladies-hat-hand-felted-flapper-cloche-size-medium/

I’ll try to explain. Since I began The Hat Junkie 25 years ago, I have been trying to make beautiful hats that are accessible and affordable to many women. (Don’t worry, I have not completely abandoned that goal.) No matter what hat I was making there was always a timer in my head keeping track of how long the process took. I confess, I have often wanted to throw that internal timer off of a cliff. I just love making hats. Making a living has always been secondary to me. I’m not proud of that brain deficiency. My teenage son who eats a full size container of yogourt a day serves as a reminder that this having an income thing is no laughing matter. All I’m saying is that money has never been my motivator. I am motivated by beauty.

So, to make this long story even longer, I am constantly putting the hats that I most love to make on the back burner because they take so long to make and the price that might seem like a lot of money is actually not enough.

But lately, I have been rethinking…everything. I’m finding it harder and harder to separate what happens in my little studio from what happens on this planet. I’ll try to keep my insufferable preachiness to a minimum, but I have come to the conclusion that figuring out how to make hats faster, so that I can make more and make them cheaper is not the future I want. I want to make hats slower. I want to make hats from fibres that biodegrade, that are grown sustainably and most of all from fibres that already exist in the form of used textiles. I want to make hats where I can pay attention to all the beautiful, time consuming details. Yes, this means hats that are more expensive and I have way too many thoughts on that word, but I’m afraid if I go there you will click that little x in the corner of your screen.

So, I hope you will join me on my slow journey of setting up my Slow Hat Shop. If I have thoroughly confused you with having both a Slow Hat Shop and an Etsy shop, here’s the difference: The Slow hat shop will have my one of a kind creations and hats like my my hand woven hats which just take forever and a day, whereas Etsy will have the hats that I can reproduce, like my fleece hats and my Organic Jersey hats. Right now there’s an overlap, but I’m working on it.

My Goodness! Sometimes I just can’t stop talking.

Here’s another one of my latest creations. It’s made from upcycled denim jeans. I have been wanting to put a pocket on a hat ever since I listened to this Podcast about the history of pockets. Did you know that the French Revolution was the beginning of the end for women’s pockets? It began as a movement to downsize women’s dresses. Large dresses were considered excessive. This new style of less fabric meant no room for interior pockets on women’s clothing. From there the fate of pockets for women spiralled downwards. And in case you fear the current level of division in the world today has never been matched, take heart in the fact that two hundred years ago this issue of pockets was so controversial that people were grouped as pocketists and antipocketists. To this day, women’s clothing is often made with decorative pockets that are completely useless. It’s a wonderful bit of history.

Now, you may be asking yourselves if a pocket full of flowers is a useful thing, but I argue that there is nothing more useful than beauty. (I know…I’m just a bundle of contradictions.)

Speaking of beauty, I am so lucky to have customers like Kendyl who let me run wild with my creativity. Kendyl is a plein air painter and this is her winter painting hat. I lined the inside with fleece and pre painted the outside, so that any paint splatters would just add to the hat.

And don’t forget to check out my most favourite part of my website, Hatjunkies. There’s nothing that makes me happier than visits to my studio. I also love to meet people via the internet, but nothing beats face to face communication. Every hat has a head and every head has a story. I love to hear your stories.

And finally, in the spirit of slow, come join me on this beautiful walk from a couple of weeks ago. I truly live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Thanks for spending some time with me. Anna

A Hat Making Demonstration and Lots of Chatter

May 8, 2019 by HatJunkie

Hello again, Thanks for tuning in. Last I left you, I was off to visit family in Toronto. Nothing like being air lifted out of your everyday reality to help one contemplate life. One little trip, so many conclusions. More on that later, but first I have a video for you. I thought you might like to join me in my studio for a hatting demonstration. I also threw in some lovely Lunenburg interludes. This town can make anyone feel like a professional photographer/ videographer. It’s just so darn colourful here.

This Thumbnail makes me look a psychopathic hat killer.

Hope you enjoyed that. If you’re still with me I’ll share some of my life altering revelations from my trip to Toronto. (I’m prone to exaggeration.)

It was a real treat to have a few days of walking around the city by myself. I visited some friends, saw family and even took myself to the Art Gallery of Ontario. I grew up in Toronto, but I don’t think I have been to the AGO since I was a child. To be honest, I have never thought of myself as a real museum person. I have trouble taking anything in on demand or in large quantities. I love to sit in Cafés and stare at one picture for an hour.

But I heard so much about the renovations that were done and I’m older now, so I decided to give the museum thing another shot. So glad I did. There was an exhibition about the impressionist painters of Paris during the Industrial revolution. I was truly blown away. Looking at these paintings was like a religious experience. I’m not even going to try to explain it. It’s just amazing to witness such beauty.

One thing I did, being alone, was I took my time and only walked around around the one exhibit. When I got tired, I sat in the café and rested.

And then I went back to the same exhibit and took it all in again. This really worked for me.

Ack, I can’t find the name of the artist. Please fill me in.

When a long time customer, who is a plein air painter, asked me to make her a hat that she wouldn’t mind getting paint on, I figured the best solution was to pre splatter the hat for her. (Tony suggested that this could become a theme, where I make chef hats with food stains, mechanic hats with oil stains…)

Anyways, the colours in the above painting inspired the colours in this hat.

A pre splatted painting hat for Plein Air painters

Here’s another photo of Toronto for you, taken from my brother’s office.

I think the above photo is what a lot of people think of when they think Toronto, but once you get down into the neighbourhoods it’s actually a very colourful city.

O.K, Now for those Toronto induced life revelations. I’m a bit of a tangential person, so you need patience to hear the end of a sentence.

I visited a couple of fellow artisan friends. One was, Karyn of Lilliput hats. Karyn is an amazing milliner, but she’s also an inspiring business woman. It was humbling to see how hard she works, running a store, overseeing her assistants and also travelling across North America to do high end craft shows.

And then I visited my friend, Andrea, of Pomp and Ceremony. Andrea makes beautiful mens’ accessories from Liberty of London Fabric. I was also blown away by how hard she is working, doing the show circuit and making all those ties and pocket squares by herself.

Andrea gave me a bag of Liberty of London fabric scraps and they are slowly being turned into fascinators.

Both of these visits made me realize that I was a tad spoiled. I have been a bit whiny lately because my head is always full of new ideas and it’s hard to make myself go into production mode where I make best seller hats that I have been making for years. Creatively, I just want to go to the next thing, but financially I need to also make what people want.

You are probably not grieving for my little problem and you shouldn’t. My hardest days still entail working in my beautiful studio, taking breaks to go for walks and not needing to travel anywhere further than my local Post Office to sell my work. In short, I am blessed. I have a pretty sweet deal.

I also was keenly aware of how privileged I am to live in Nova Scotia. Not that we don’t have our problems here, but my day to day life is pretty amazing. I am surrounded by quiet, fresh air, space and beauty. A family doctor would be nice, but at least it’s easier to stay healthy here.

I have beautiful customers, like Lynda, who come right to my studio to buy hats.

I’m knitting the Kidalton Cardigan by Kate Davies

At lunch I get to sit in my yard and knit.

Meerschaum socks in Felicia Knock’s yak sock yarn

And knit…….

Also Meerschaum socks in Mondim sock yarn.

And when I need a change of scenery I just walk down the street to The Mariner’s Daughter to inhale the colours and textures of all that beautiful yarn. I have a beautiful life.

So, thanks for joining me. I really appreciated the comments on my last blog. Sorry, I’m horrid at responding. I did respond in my mind, but it may not have reached you. Take Care and hope to see you soon. Anna

All Your Beautiful Faces

April 7, 2019 by HatJunkie

Beautiful Mandy in a handdyed wheat straw braid hat.

Hello Everyone, I have missed you. As you may know, I took the radical step of deleting my social media accounts. Was it a month ago…two months ago? At first it felt very awkward. With twitching fingers, I kept picking up my phone, trying to find an app to open. There are only so many times you can check your email. It took about a week, but my fingers did eventually stop twitching and I even found myself forgetting to carry my phone from one room to the next.

I have gone back to listening to podcasts, audio books and the radio. Slowly, slowly, I am recovering my attention span. Knitting is still a major work distraction, but I’m not giving up my knitting needles. In fact, let it be known that I would like to be buried with knitting needles in my hands. I also won’t report that without social media I am all calm, cool and collected. I wasn’t calm, cool, and collected before social media was invented, so it wouldn’t stand to reason that I would be now. But I am happier and I am enjoying existing in only one reality.

With the absence of social media, I have finally found the time and the will to work on my website. I can’t tell you how many years I have been thinking about creating a page of customer photos. Well, I did it! I finally did it! You can find this page by clicking on “Collections” and then scrolling to “Hat Junkies” . Or just click HERE. It makes me so happy to look at all your beautiful faces. Over the years I have connected with so many women and even a few men who have purchased hats from me. I have been tipped with many a hug, both physical and virtual. Meeting my customers is the best part of my work. If you don’t find your face on this page please email me a photo. I promise to include you.

I have been very busy in the hat studio filling a Spring order for Beauchapeau Hat Shop in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario. One of these days I will get to this beautiful store in person.

I have also been playing with my antique straw braid sewing machine. You can see one of my latest creations on Mandy in the top photo. Mandy actually bought a different hat, but I was quite impressed with how beautiful she looked in this hat. I also made this pretty one…

Wheat straw braid hat with organic cotton and hemp band

I ordered a couple of yards of the striped organic cotton and hemp fabric, which makes up the band, just to see if I liked it. I do! There will be more. this particular hat is a large size (23.5 or 24″”) So, if she is calling to you and the hat fits, let me know.

And then, of course, there is my knitting. One of the things I do while hand sewing flowers is watch knitting videos. I am a huge fan of Bluprint (formerly Craftsy) It’s a paid subscription, but so worth it. It is full of online courses in knitting, crochet, sewing, cooking, calligraphy. Basically, anything that matters. Well, I was watching this course in shawl design and I learned that you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to design a shawl. Shawls are basically a template and then you fill in the template with the stitches that you want. I seriously thought that you needed to have an advanced Mathematics degree to understand pattern design. But this truly mathematically challenged human has designed a shawl. Here it is! Wrinkles and all…

I made this using Mungo by Rosa Pomar, purchased at The Mariner’s Daughter in Lunenburg.

In other news, I am very temporarily leaving this beautiful place…

And heading to Toronto to visit my family. I had to make myself a new “city hat”.

My new hat. Fabric woven in Lunenburg by Double Whale Handwoven Designs

I explained to Tony that I needed to make a new hat because I wanted to look like a tough city chick while in Toronto. I didn’t want to look like a country girl frolicking through the daisies. He laughed and assured me that I still look like a country girl frolicking through the daisies. Oh well, I should probably just own it.

It’s been a pleasure chatting with you. I love your comments, so send them along. Love, Anna