Why handmade Millinery is so expensive!

I'm new to millinery. I don't proclaim to be an expert, and I still have a lot to learn, but I'd like to take you through the process of making a fascinator base.

You can buy fascinators in most shops these days, they are mass produced and unpersonalised, but they are pretty cheap! I've bought fascinators before, and I've never spent more than £24. It's only since I've actually learnt HOW to make a base that I realise why the price of bespoke millinery is justified.

Some people just use ready made bases, I don't do this, as generally you can only buy round ones and you can pretty much make any shape you'd like.

Firstly, we start with the sinamay. Handmade millinery normally has 3 layers of sinamay, as opposed to the mass produced one or two layers (if you're lucky).

This is cut on the bias, 3 layers are pressed together and then you can cut your shape.

Once you've cut the desired shape, you sew wire around the outside of the shape.

This is a pretty time consuming job, as you need to use a special stitch to secure the wire.

Once the wire is secure, you need to create the binding. You can buy this, and I won't lie, when I have the money I will, but I've made my own here.

Then once the binding is sewn round the outside of the wired base, you have a finished base ready to decorate!

Don't be fooled by my basic instructions. This base has taken me around 4 hours to complete. Imagine you're paying yourself £5 an hour (less than the minimum wage) that's £20 without even factoring in materials or the time taken to decorate and finish! You can see why bespoke millinery is so pricey now can't you?

I love doing this, its therapeutic and the possibilities are endless shape wise, but even taking in to account that this is a small base, it's time consuming and expensive.

I'm waiting for the materials to decorate this to arrive, so there'll be another post on putting it together as a whole.

When you consider you can pay up to £100 on the high street for a generic run of the mill fascinator, would you now consider buying bespoke?

Cabin Fever!

Ok, so on my way out to work yesterday I was rushing and managed to fall down the stairs of my Victorian house. Ouch. Suffice to say, I hit the bottom with a bit of a thump (and every stair on the way) so I've been pretty much housebound with a very sore shoulder and a broken little toe. Other than being in pain, I feel ok, but I've had to take sick leave (as opposed to working from home, my preferred option!) So after a full day of doing nothing but resting yesterday, I've been bored out of my brain today.

I found some bits that hadn't been shifted to the attic studio (obviously out of bounds with my foot the size of an elephants!) and after throwing a couple of painkillers down my neck, I decided to play around with some materials. This resulted in the below necklace, which all in all, I'm amazingly happy with!

I've spent a fair bit of time using up some charms that have been lying round, I finally made use of the cameo settings I ordered a while back and I've added some glitz in the way of pearls and crystals. So see, skulls can be pretty, ladylike and sophisticated without being scary or too 'gothy' (for the record, I dig 'gothy')

I'm loving the style of this necklace. It's really pretty and very cute. At least I haven't wasted today. (I also repressed some eyeshadows and a blusher that had shattered using alcohol gel. A post for another day!)

Chain and Charm Cameo Necklace - £15 The Treasure Chest

Skull Love

The Treasure Chest is all about skull love! Check out this beauty! He's a decanter but doesn't have a stopper so I'm using him as a decorative piece in the house.

Here he is with a button bouquet I made and a multi coloured mosaic candle holder in my bay window.

He'd look pretty cool with a candle in too! I'm hoping to get a few more of these to decorate and sell on. I'm thinking day of the dead themes!

What do you think?

Goodbye Timeline, Hello Blogging!

My first post, well, hello and welcome! I've decided to set up a blog to give you a bit more insight in to The Treasure Chest, my life and how it fits together. Now Facebook has kicked the page on to the dreaded timeline, its harder to keep in touch with my fans and followers so after musing on it a while, I figured I'd start a blog and you can keep up with me that way! A blog is a bit more personal and I can fill you in on stuff other than The Treasure Chest so you can really get to know me and hopefully see where my ideas come from! So yes, hello, welcome and here's to my foray in to the world of blogging!

PS) Just to clear up any confusion, I will still be using my Facebook page and you can contact me via Facebook or my email the_treasure_chest@hotmail.co.uk

Ciao for now!