Chateau Dumas Straw Hat Workshop July

Some of the wonderful 18th century millinery creations made by students at Chateau Dumas Straw Hats workshop last week  taught by theatrical milliner Jane Smith

****Millinery Masterclass with Dillion Wallwork- Chateau Dumas 16-23 July 2011****

MILLINERY MASTERCLASS: 

Total Beginner Level with Dillon Wallwork

16-23 JULY 2011

Those who enrol on our beginner’s millinery masterclass also get the opportunity to visit the local international hat festival, Estivales du Chapeau, which ends on the evening of Monday 18 July. With its numerous stalls, catwalk shows, exhibitions and hat design competition, the festival is an inspiration to anyone interesting in hat-making. The festival is the perfect place to pick up ideas for hat designs and the visits we plan to make on the first two days will really help you to prepare.

As a beginner you will be guided and supported at every stage of the hat-making process by Dillon Wallwork . In his role a Design Director for Philip Somerville, Dillon oversaw the production of millinery for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Diana, Princess of Wales as well as other high profile clientele including Joan Collins, Jerry Hall and the Begum Aga Kahn.

"A fabulous week with so much fun! The food, accommodation, activities, picnics and candlelit dinners were all wonderful - not to mention the millinery course!" Suzanne from NSW, Australia.

All the skills and technique required to make hats in felt, sinamay and straw are covered during the five days of full-time tuition. Through daily demonstrations and discussions you will learn about every stage and become both competent and confident with the basic techniques of blocking, brim wiring and trimming.

 Dillon is a patient and thorough teachers whose warm and pleasant manner generates an enjoyable and productive workroom atmosphere. You’ll leave this course with a basic grounding and all-round knowledge of couture millinery and a familiarity with the millinery terms, materials and stitches. You can expect to complete at least two hats during the week in a choice of sinamay, straw or felt.

The Essentials

The price of 1400Euros (non-participating partners: 950 Euros) includes:

•7 nights Chateau accommodation and all meals
•5 days of tuition for 7 hours a day
•Transport to the Festival and hat factories
•Craft kit with scissors, needles, etc
•Use of equipment and all foundation materials
•Felt and straw cones and capelines, sinamay by the metre, petersham and other materials are available to buy at the Chateau


The workshop will run with a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 12 participants


A 25% non-returnable deposit wil secure your place with the balance due 8 weeks before the start of the workshop.


We take Visa & Mastercard
To check availability please email: enquiries@chateaudumas.net

Travel

Chateau Dumas lies one hour north of Toulouse city centre and Toulouse Blagnac international airport. Many trains a day also run to Montauban and Toulouse from Paris. We offer pick up service at Toulouse airport or Montauban Station for 30E pp each way. Alternatively there are trains to the local station (Caussade) where we can pick you up for free.






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"A Feather in Our Cap" Chateau Dumas Giveaway Workshop 2011

People think I must be a skilled milliner because of the three hat-making classes I organise every year, but the truth is I wouldn’t know where to begin. Fortunately, though, I know a Man Who Can! Enter Dillon Wallwork, a milliner who oversaw the design and production of headgear for HM Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana amongst others and who has been the millinery tutor at Chateau Dumas for the past three years.  He’s even designed a hat for Kate Middleton."

Dillon is that rare thing. An accomplished and talented milliner, a patient and thorough teacher and an all-round nice guy – funny, charming and down to earth.


He’s often assisted by Adrian Howard who is the in-house milliner at Fortnum and Mason and the two together make a superb double act. I love my millinery weeks at Chateau Dumas, as much for the fun and laughter as the glorious hats that people make from felt, straw or sinamay. It’s so good to see people return and this year we have 3 budding milliners who’ve come back for a second to learn with Dillon.

So why millinery? Chateau Dumas lies at the heart of France’s hat-making region and it seemed an obvious workshop to run. Simple as that! There are three hat factories locally (among them Europe’s largest) and the very sweet International Hat Festival which takes place every year in July. We shall be taking our students down there again this July to soak up the atmosphere, gather ideas and encourage the inspiration to flow.

Hats off to Chrissie for inviting me to write about millinery at Chateau Dumas. Our prize draw will soon be over – Like to win a place on Dillions Millinery?

See  http://www.chateaudumas.net/ for details of the courses. Please leave your prefered cousre in the comment box of the blog to enter the giveaway – the winner’s name will be announced on 1 April on the original blog post here  http://bit.ly/hDCR2S .