Find my shop here http://www.etsy.com/shop/janinebasil or click on one of the products pictured to the right. Below that are my favourite shops, some wonderful sellers there!

Follow me on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/JanineBasilHats

And Instagram
@janinebasil

And Pinterest
http://pinterest.com/janine_basil

You can now find my glitter fabric for sale here!
http://www.janinesupplies.etsy.com

For Gift Certificates and WHOLESALE, see this section for listings http://www.etsy.com/shop/JanineBasil?section_id=6787086

Thanks to AmityUK for interviewing me for the UK Edition of the Storque! http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/uk-edition-interview-with-janinebasil-9017/

Tell us a wee bit about yourself.
I’m Janine, I’m 37 and I’m originally from Devon. I’ve lived in many areas, but now I’ve ended up in North London and I really like it. Most people do it the other way around and leave London for the countryside!

How did you begin your foray into the world of creating hats and headpieces?
I’d first dipped into millinery at the age of 18 when I was doing a BTEC in Art and Design, specialising in fashion and textiles. I did a week-long mini course and made one hat that was a giant wrapped sweet,
the other a huge rippled crisp top hat. I wish I had some pictures now! Stupidly I didn’t take up millinery then, even though I thoroughly enjoyed it. Many years later, after wishing I could find some hats I liked in the shops and not just a bunch of feathers (nothing wrong with them, it just wasn’t what I wanted), I decided to do a millinery course at London College of Fashion. That was last summer and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Educate us on your artistic methods: What’s the physical process like and why do you love it?
There are several ways of making hats, but I do like blocking with buckram, which is a loose weave fabric coated with adhesive. Two layers of this damped down and blocked make a wonderful shaped, stiff base for fabric-covered hats. I also use machine embroidery and computers for my embroidered headbands and embellishments. I find this quite a satisfying way of getting my artistic vision onto fabric, as my painting and drawing skills were never the greatest.



I love millinery because hats can be as complex or as quick and easy as I fancy — I can satisfy my instant gratification side as well as my more patient side. I often start on a whim, like my Queen of Hearts Crown. I woke up wanting to make a crown, so I did!

Tell us about your love for all things vintage and retro. Can you pinpoint a moment in time that awoke this passion within you?
I started watching old movies when I was little. We had a black and white TV for several years, so they didn’t look a lot different from modern films, but I can remember liking the ladies’ hair, hats and dresses even then. In my teens, at around 15 or 16, this turned into an odd hybrid style of dress, somewhere between goth and ’60s mod, to hippy with Spanish flamenco dancer hair. I’m not sure it worked when I think back, but we had no camera at the time so I can’t check any photos. I’ll choose to believe it worked wonderfully!

Does this style cross over into your home’s decor?
In many ways, yes. I don’t have as much vintage as you might expect, though. It’s more of an eclectic mix of objects that my boyfriend and I love, from video game action figures to a huge French-style bed.

In your opinion, what is the value and appeal of the handmade movement?
More than anything it gives me, and all of us, more choice and the chance to find that special something that speaks to us. Mass-produced doesn’t always have as much of that appeal.

What does an average day in the life of janinebasil entail?
I wake up anytime between 6 to 9, with 7:30 being most common. I get up, have a shower and then get straight into making! I’ll set my embroidery machine working while I get on with other things. I generally find myself like this all day long until my boyfriend gets home around 7 or 8 and one of us will make dinner. Then maybe some more work. All the while I’ll have old movies or South Park on — what that says about me, I’m not quite sure!