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Millinery
Millinery
The further from centre, the more strongly this hobby leans that way. Your quiz answers are scored against exactly these fifteen.
Shaping felt or straw over a wooden block and finishing it with wire and trimmings to make hats and headpieces.
This weekendTime to first win
A few hoursA session
Mostly indoorsWhere
Step 1: Get a block, millinery needles and a steam source.
Is it you?
What you need
5 thingsThe honest floor, taking the cheapest option in each$85
How we make money: if you buy through one of these we take a small cut, and the price is the same either way. The cheapest option that works is always listed first.
The path
12 questsASetting up1 thing to sort, in any order$29
BThen the quests
9 more, revealed as you goMore on Millinery
Everything else we have written about it. Free to read, no account needed.
Guides
Browse all guidesWhat to buy2
Best Millinery Needles (2026): The Eye Is No Wider Than the ShaftA millinery needle, also sold as a straw needle, has an eye no wider than its shaft. That sounds like a trivial detail and it is the entire reason the needle exists: the whole length passes through stiff buckram, felt and sinamay at a constant diameter, so nothing catches halfway and nothing leaves a hole bigger than the thread.Best Millinery Wire (2026): Gauge Decides Whether the Brim Holds Its LineWire gauge runs backwards, so an 18 gauge wire is thicker than a 20. That catches people out in exactly the wrong direction: they buy a high number expecting something substantial, wire a brim with it, and watch the brim sag the first time the hat is picked up.
From the blog
Read the blogHobbies like Millinery
Same shape of evening, different thing to hold at the end. Or follow a tag sideways.
