Polka Dot Hats – From the Milliner

Each new chapter in my journey as a fabric artist has required a departure from what is familiar. This conscious leap into the unknown has pushed me to explore fresh, challenging approaches to design, craftsmanship and presentation…

Years ago I picked up a camera to take with me on my nature walks here on Cape Cod. Through the camera’s lens I saw my native home with fresh eyes. It awakened my spirit and reconnected me to my childhood days by the sea where I played in the deserted cranberry bog behind our home and in the salt marshes next to the sea. Those experiences changed me forever.

Last year I realized I had a new mission as a fabric artist: My future millinery creations had to embody and celebrate my connection to the natural world and connect my parallel worlds of millinery and nature.

This spring I got an idea for a hat collection with a polka dot theme. It was serendipity! I love polka dots! I had featured this pattern in my hats since I started my custom millinery in 1998. Polka dots are timeless. They invite experimentation, and play. And they reminded me of the beautiful round stones I picked up as a child at the edge of the sea.

Yet the seminal moment came when I had my finished three of my new polka dot hats in my studio. I felt compelled to bring them all down to the sea with me, along with our cameras. There, for the first time, my hats were exposed to the same natural wonders that I see through my camera lens. Released from the studio, they were suddenly surrounded by the land, the sea and the sky.

Just as we began shooting, several deer appeared from out of the dunes. Stepping out onto the shoreline, they stood by the sea, sniffing the air; then turned around and ran back into the dunes where they chased one another through the grass.

For me it was an astounding, poetic affirmation that I was on the right path. That by stepping away from the methods and routines of the past, a whole new adventure lay before me to explore.

As a result of this encounter I experienced my own hats in a different way during subsequent photo shoots. I fell in love with how the sunlight fell on the materials. How the shadows from different angles brought out the drama that only polka dots set against a sea of blue can achieve. Back at work, in my studio, I saw my trims for the next hats became simpler. More stylized. And much more playful!

Creating this new polka dot-themed collection has challenged me as a milliner. I am now searching for ways to translate what I see in nature through my lens into textile form and connect the dots between them. This process is ushering in a veritable “sea change” for MAGGIE MAE DESIGNS. I hope that you will join me on my journey as I honor this Cape Cod world that I love through my connected passions of custom millinery and nature photography.

I would love to hear from you. To share your thoughts, simply click on the journal title at the top of this page to join our conversation! ~ Sally Faith Steinmann