GCSE Preparation Paper 2008

Inspirational theme: Hat designs from the 20 th century Research context: Exciting fashion hats for young people

In the exam you will have to design a hat! It could be a hat, a fascinator or some sort of head piece It must be made of fabric…so don’t design a straw hat Keep the design simple, but exciting.

You have to design a hat which will be sold in a specialist hat shop As you can see from the picture, this hat shop stocks a wide variety of hats. This is because people wish to match their hat to their outfit, so a wide variety of colours, fabrics and styles are needed.

Some hat ideas

Fabrics and components for hats White Sinamay Banana fibre for hats, for the hat itself, rather than the decoration Roll Width: 90 cm £7.50 per metre

Elastic Canvas Cotton canvas used in hats Roll Width: 110 cm £4.13 per metre

White Double Sided Buckram Glued both sides for millinery – stiff fabric for making the hat base Roll Width: 110 cm £7.45 per metre

French Canvas used to make the hat - 100% linen, Roll Width: 60 cm £8.12 per metre

Millinery Canvas used for the hat base 100% cotton Roll Width: 110 cm £4.50 per metre

This hat is knitted in garter stitch, using cotton or wool yarn. Some hats are made using fabric. Silk Dupion is a luxury choice Cotton Denim Wool felt

Bondaweb - Fusible web, for millinery to bond together two layers of fabric. (This stuff is great for making fabric flowers, when you want to see the front of the fabric on both sides). Roll Width: 150 cm £2.50 per metre

Veiling Net - Nylon Roll Width: 30 cm £3.45 per metre

Rigid Crin Braid – used for stiff, sculptural decoration, such as flowers, leaves and swirly shapes. 36mm wide cost per metre: £2.50

100% Cotton 38mm Grosgrain ribbon per metre: £2.05

Base Combs & straw fascinator base This is then decorated and a veil is added

Clear Comb Used for holding small hats in place

Beading wire Thread beads onto this wire to make a decoration for your hat.

Clear Headband Good for holding small hats in place on your head

Water based fabric stiffener suitable for most fabrics. Good for making ribbon flowers and decorations. per bottle: £4.00

Wool felt is often used and is shaped over a wooden block, using steam. This requires specialist milliner skills (a hat maker), so don’t do anything this complicated.

Hat blocks This is how professional hats are made. Don’t design anything as complicated as this in the exam.

Decorating methods In the exam you will be asked to design a hat, with some decoration on it. You will need to be able to accurately explain how to carry out a decoration of your choice. It is important that you practise writing out & drawing instructions for your chosen design. Don’t try to learn them all. 1.Design your hat first. 2.Decide on colours and fabrics. 3.Practise writing about how to do your decoration. This is easier to do if you have actually had a go at doing the decoration yourself. (Writing about making a ribbon flower is easier if you have actually done it).

Bias binding sbinding.html

Begin with needle and thread on the underside of the fabric. Place the sequin on the top side of the fabric, sitting in the position that you want it to be. Bring the needle up through the fabric and draw it through the centre of the sequin. Leave a long tail of thread on the underside. Come back to the backside of the fabric. Cross the thread over the top of the sequin. Tie the ends of the thread together on the back side to create secure knot. Move on to the next sequin. The more that you sew, the faster this will become as it becomes second nature and you just go through the motions. Sewing sequins Fabric

A brilliant website that shows you how to make lots of lovely bows crafts.com/howtomakebo ws.html wto.html Bows

This website shows to how to make lots of different roses, plus other things too. Load the page and scroll down. Click on the one you want to look at. Satin-or-Ribbon-Roses Ribbon roses

Ribbon rose Try it – it’s easy!!

Dior bow howto.html Wool felt flowers

Some templates to help you design your hat

These are simple head drawings, which you could trace off & practice drawing so that you can easily draw it in the exam.

What do I need to do to prepare for the exam? Read this presentation very carefully, revise it thoroughly. Design some simple exciting hats. Practise drawing heads & hats. Choose your best design. (check it with your teacher). Decide on a fabric & decoration for your hat. Find out how to do the decoration of your choice. (Have a go at it). Practise writing out instructions on how to do the decoration. Practise diagrams.