Who's Who catch-up

We can't believe we are already over halfway through the year, so we wanted to highlight some of the amazing people we have had the honour of interviewing this year so far. We have some really cool 'Who's Who's coming up in the next few months and we can't wait to share them with you, but for now here is a look back at the last six months.  

February was the turn of Hatastic.  Chloe's advice to herself  'Take a step back and breathe a little and then see how it lies. It's surprising how some things seemed like a brilliant idea at first, and then turn out to be a bit of a turkey!' Too true!

March was the turn of Laurel Howells, a Designer-Maker, Illustrator, Photographer, Collage artist and all round creative hailing from Taplow in Berkshire - Just near Sammy and it turns out went to the same Uni as H, small world hey!

In April we brought you Craft Candy.  Zoe's Advice to her past self? 'If I could go back and whisper advice in my ear it would be to get references when engaging with a company or freelancer to do work and to simply be patient.' 

May was Miss Maker's turn, Clare Blackmore-Davies, wife to the lovely John, mum to the adorable Finn, and around all that Miss Maker - prolific crafter and excitable sewing tutor.

In June you got a peek into the world of Holloway Smith Noir, Established in 2010 Holloway Smith Noir are stocked in luxury lingerie boutiques across the globe. their cheeky sellers can be found making mischief weekly at The Wam Bam Club, Miss Polly Rae’s Between the Sheets and a luxe collection is available at Proud Cabaret, London.

July was the month that saw Mr X-Stitch answer our questions, Jamie Chambers the king of modern cross stitch reminded us that 'it takes a very long time to be an overnight success.'

Hope you enjoyed that little look back, if you missed them the first time you can click the links to check out the full interviews.

H and Sammy xxx

Live it: We Make London 5th Birthday Event

Last Friday we were invited to the We Make London Pop-up shop in Camden for their 5th Birthday event. You may remember I went and checked out the shop a few weeks ago and bought a couple of necklaces! oops. You can see that post here.

Who's who: Hatastic!

This month's who's who is all about a fantastic milliner, Chloe Haywood who is a Designer and founder of Hatastic.  Chloe designs and make hats, headpieces and hair accessories from her workshop at the end of her garden in Surrey - Just near H.  She also facilitate's workshops for hens, parties, team building events, museums and children, which is how H knows her - so we thought we should have a chat!

How did you start?

It all began with my want of a finishing an outfit for a wedding where I was wearing ivory. I wasn't the bride and couldn't find anything in the shops that wasn't bridal and that fitted my ridiculously small head. So I made a small headpiece from bits and pieces I had at home. I had some lovely feedback from people at the wedding so I decided to challenge myself into making a different one for each of the five weddings I had that year. I was then commissioned to make a bride and her bridesmaid’s individual pieces... Then I discovered Folksy and set up shop! That was in 2009 and it was still a hobby then...

But in 2010 it all started getting exciting, so I decided that Hatastic! was my business!

What's Next?

2012 was crazy busy with shows at Milan and London Fashion Week, oh and Birmingham and Alternative Fashion Week, London and intense (but beautiful) photo shoots, a new website and lots of workshops, I was quite pooped by Christmas! So 2013 is going to be a little more calm. I have a few things in the pipeline, but I'd like to take time concentrate on another collection, whilst carrying on my workshops and look forward to my 2013 collection hitting Fenwick, Bond Street in May 2013. Exciting!

What advice would you give yourself if you could go back to the beginning?

Hatastic! started as a gut instinct, and that is what has driven me throughout this process so I wouldn't like to say that's a bad thing. But, it's always a good idea to not jump at the first hurdle if you're not sure. Take a step back and breathe a little and then see how it lies. It's surprising how some things seemed like a brilliant idea at first, and then turn out to be a bit of a turkey!

We think that Chloe's advice sounds very sensible to us, sometimes you can get so caught up in the idea that even when it starts going wrong you don't notice.  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.  Who wants to look back and realise they were the one who never gave things a go!

Live it.  Love it.  Make it

H & Sammy