༺ Teacup Chat with Tanith Rowan Designs ༻

The “Teacup Chat” series on Lavender & Twill is a short and sweet spot where we take a glimpse behind the scenes of a brand’s creative process. I am very inspired by all the talent I see building a corner in the world to showcase their work, and also making it available for others to enjoy. So without further ado, let’s get to know some more about the artist behind Tanith Rowan Designs!

As we found out in the previous post, Tanith Rowan Designs is the work of the talented milliner, Tanith. She’s a hardworking mother of two little ones, who still finds time to pursue her dreams and creative interests. She recently released her own hat pattern, which is super cool and I can’t wait to hear more about her creative background and how she got to where she is now.

Hello Tanith, welcome to Teacup Chats! We can’t wait to learn more about you. So let’s jump right in! What first drew you to creating hats, as millinery seems to be sort of a forgotten skill these days?

I've always loved making things and I sort of stumbled onto hats as I was dabbling in historical costuming. I was just playing around at first, but the more I started to learn, the more I really loved the process and wanted to make more hats. The millinery world is quite active in Australia thanks to the races so I was lucky to be able to take a lot of workshops and keep learning all the time.

How do you go about finding the inspiration and the patterns for your creations or do you make them up yourself?

Inspiration is very easy to find! With vintage books, films, magazines and genuine vintage hats, I will never run out of ideas. I love curling up with a book and sketchbook and drawing up possibilities. I've had good training in pattern drafting so when a pattern is required for a hat I start from scratch, but a lot of hat shaping is free form or on blocks. Sometimes the fun is in the challenge of working out how to make the sketch a reality.

How do you figure out techniques to create vintage styled hats ~ is it easy to replicate them by pictures and visual details?

It's usually not tricky to work out how to make a hat look right for a vintage style, but some of them can be very perplexing and I'm left wondering how on Earth they've done it! I read vintage millinery books and magazines to learn more traditional techniques. The ones from the 1940s and on are easy enough to understand as the terminology and materials haven't changed a lot, but they are harder to interpret the further back you go.

{Those with sharp eye might be able to recognise the beginnings of the beautiful straw boater from this post! It’s so fascinating to see the process of creating something like that.}

It’s been very interesting to find out more about your business, but we’d also love to know a little more about the creative mind behind these beautiful pieces.

What is your favourite thing to do beside create your delightful hats?

I love all kinds of making really. I do a bit of sewing for myself and the kids, I'm learning how to knit, and I like cooking and gardening too.

And finally, what are five quirky things about you that not everyone might know about?

1. I wanted to be a zoo keeper and did my school work experience at the zoo

2. Plucking my eyebrows or pulling my hair makes me sneeze (anyone else afflicted with this??)

3. I listen to Christmas music at any time of year (just a little)

4. I genuinely enjoy solving mathematical problems

5. I was once at a meeting where a man in a business suit was hit with faeces (see point 1)

Oh! Christmas music! I totally agree Tanith! Sometimes I just want to sing along to a carol, and  some of my favourite lullabies to sing to my children are carols. I think being in a Christmas choir helped a lot with my love of all Christmas music.

Thank you to Tanith for sharing her time with us, it was wonderful to have the chance to learn more about her and her inspiring creative work! And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out Tanith on Instagram and Etsy.

xox,

bonita

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༺ Within A Dream ༻

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes,
Within a dream.

Ernest Dowson - 'Vitae Summa Brevis'

If there was a soundtrack to these pictures it would be ‘The Silk Road’ and ‘Alba’ by The Sidh. But even though I am sure I could have music playing along thanks to the technical genius of The Mister, there’s no way I’d subject you to that horrible moment when a website randomly starts blaring out music and scares the heck out of you! Haha!

However, the celtic inspired tracks do meld beautifully with the magic of this amazing winding road into the sunset…

I finally found my golden hour, the treasure of light and location that transports you to a distant world when you find a place that feels like you stepped into a dream.

Where the misty beams of glittering light transform the deeply overgrown road into a place of wonder, a scene from a fairy tale…

But the reality of it was that I had to be so careful not to twist an ankle as I trotted down the rutted track as fast as humanly possible over terribly uneven ground, in heels no less, to beat my camera timer! Haha! Whew, I was “glistening” by the time I finished that shoot, that’s for sure. Romanticism has it’s place but nothing beats a cool lime popsicle from the restaurant next door after an hour of shooting in tropical heat!

Still, I was so thrilled to be able to shoot at a dream location with a dream dress and a dream chapeau.

It’s such a fantastic moment when unicorns land on your doorstep!

This Tatyana Flower Cart Dress is one that I immediately loved when it came out years ago. But I also had to admire it from afar as it was way out of my budget. Fast forward several years and it pops up in a BSS at a decent price AND in my size!

It was meant to be!

Just in the same way this darling hat dropped into my lap…

Some months ago, I saw a notice pop up in my Instagram feed that Tanith, a talented and lovely friend of mine, was giving away some of her old millenary work for the cost of postage. I don’t think I breathed a single second when I posted to put my hand up for this amazing raspberry pink straw boater hat with cherries!

You see, I remembered this hat!

Tanith had posted about this particular boater when she’d made it, and I completely adored it back then. I gasped aloud when I first saw this delightful confection. That’s how much it spoke to me, I felt like it had been made from the stuff of my dreams!

I have always told myself that one day I’d save enough to purchase one of her amazing pieces, but I thought there was no way that the cherry & raspberry boater would still be around because it was {is} STUNNING and I’d just have to accept it would be snatched up in a heartbeat!

And honestly, I have no idea how this one wasn’t whisked off immediately, but I’m so grateful because it’s allowed me to own this dreamy chapeau and I couldn’t be happier!

Tanith’s work is so impeccable. I love the way she’s paired the pink straw with red cherries, and the how the rim of the hat has straw that goes inwards rather than it being simply coiled around in a circle. It’s those little details ~ such as a tea rose pink satin lining and loops for bobby pins to secure your hat to your head that make this such a special piece.

Of course, it came carefully packaged in it’s own hat box, and that is so great for storing your hats away from the evils of dust and sun fade. I have footage of me unboxing the package in my Instagram stories, so feel free to check it out if you want to see it in live action!

I’m sure it will be back on the blog as well, as I’ll have to force myself not to want to wear it constantly. And if you want to see more of her awesome work, she has Instagram, a blog and an Etsy shop so be sure to check those out!

xox,

bonita

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Cherry & Raspberry Straw Boater  | Tanith Rowan Designs
Daisy Everlasting Dress Clips | Teacup Girl
Tatyana Flower Cart Dress | BSS
Cherry Days Basket Purse | Chiang Mai, Thailand
Tan & White Giselle Spectator Heels | Chelsea Crew

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༺ A Picnical Day for a Lark ༻

When I was little, one of my favourite stories to read was a Golden Book ~ it was a story about Goofy, Mickey, Donald and Co. driving out for a day in the country, having lots of fun and naturally, having a giant picnic with a humongous chocolate cake! 

Of course Donald tries to steal the whole cake for himself, and gets a soaking in the creek for his trouble, and that’s just about all I can remember of the story! Except for the song that my Mother would sing when she read the story to my sisters and I ~ it was the song they were singing in the story ~

It’s a beautiful day for a picnic,
It’s a picnical day for a lark,
We will frolic all day in the happiest way,
And we won’t get back home until dark, until dark,
No we won’t get back home until dark!

Which is a rather roundabout way to say that on Saturday we had a picnic lunch and spent the day at Weston Park next to Lake Burley Griffin. It was really nice to be out in the sunshine, and there was a delicious cool breeze to keep us from becoming to hot! (•ᵕ ᴗ ᵕ•)❀

I wore this lovely vintage straw chapeau with a great wide brim ~ I had gone to a thrift shop where I spotted it at the top of the hat rack, and knew I had to bring it home with me. Unfortunately, the beige decorative Petersham ribbon is little worse for wear, so I might have to replace it.

Also, whenever the slightest breeze would blow, my hat would fly off my head! It looks like there might have been something sewn to the inside band to hold the hat down at one point, but it’s long gone now so I shall have to replace that too. Hat elastic for the win…

Regardless of the work it needs, I love the shallow crown and swooping brim of my new hat. Especially as it appears that summer has made it’s grand entrance. We went from a very wet four weeks from mid-October to mid-November, with long sleeves and jumper weather to melting hot sunshine that requires careful covering up when we’re outside or I’m burnt before you can say boo!

Yay for large hats that assist with shading one’s head! The bigger the better right? What is your favourite kind of hat? Big or small, I adore straw hats, but I’m becoming very fond of just about any kind of vintage chapeau you can imagine. Hats are fabulous!  (⁎＾ᴗ＾⁎) 

xox,

bonita

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Vintage Wide-Brim Straw Hat | Thrifted
Vintage Navy Nylon Scarf | Ebay
Vintage Pearl and Silver Necklace | Thrifted
White Basket Weave Belt | Ebay {with a different dress}
Vintage 1950’s Daisy Does It Dress | Ebay {last seen on the blog here}
Canvas Underskirt in White | Pinup Girl Clothing
Lacey Daisy Ballet Flats | Target, Old

*Picnic Items*

Vintage Thermos | Thrifted
Wicker Picnic Hamper | Kmart

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༺ Perfectly Pill-a-licious ༻

*meep!* I’m so, so, excited to show you all this outfit ~ mostly because of this super amazing hat of awesomeness! “But it’s a pillbox hat” ~ I hear you say ~ “and you don’t like pillbox hats! You even wrote a post about it!”

Oh yes. So I did.

This lady reserves a woman’s eternal right to change her mind.  :P

After all, when you come across fabulous posts on how to wear and style a pillbox hat, such as the one written by Tanith of Tanith Rowan Designs, suddenly the endless eye-catching possibilities of styling a pillbox chapeau are revealed!

When I read Tanith’s guide to wearing pillbox hats, I was really excited to discover that not all pillboxes are the same, and that there are actually some really cute pillbox hats out there. Now, Tanith and I had been discussing a sweet offer for a loan of a pillbox hat from Tanith’s hat collection, and I was extra excited for it to arrive after I saw that post.

Much to my joy, when it arrived, the hat was everything I had hoped for and more!
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

I have discovered the important difference between pillbox hats I like, and pillbox hats I don’t like.

Because the pillbox hat was so popular in the late 1950’s ~ early 1960’s that’s the era that I most associate the hat with, particularly with the First Lady Jackie Kennedy and her classic style. As I am an enthusiastic fan of the 1940’s to mid 1950’s fashions, and much prefer those looks to anything later, I tended to dismiss the pillbox style as outside of my chosen era.

Recently however, I have discovered that the pillbox is actually quite a wide spread style, that spans back further than I initially thought. But there does seem to be quite a difference to the shape and the way the pillbox is worn between the different periods.

If you look at the classic 1940’s pillbox, they are actually quite small, and are usually worn on a tilted angle positioned towards the front of the head, or perched on the back of the head. Whereas later on, the hats are larger ~ they are taller and wider, and usually worn squarely on top of the head. You might also see them tilted towards the back of the head in a similar manner as in the 40s ~ yet the results of the look are entirely different due to the hair styles and shapes of the pillbox.

Now, whether this darling maroon pillbox hat is a vintage 1940’s chapeau or not, I’m not sure ~ but it works so perfectly for a 40s look that I just adore it!

I smitten with the cute bow on the front, the rich garnet color and the tiny size. Smaller is definitely better when it comes to pillbox hats I believe!

What do you think? Do you prefer small pillbox hats, or large ones? And have you ever changed your mind about a fashion piece ~ hate to love, or even visa versa?  ヽ(゜∇゜)ノ

Do tell me about it ~ I think it’s so fun when you discover new taste changes in your style preference!

xox,

bonita

P.S. ~ That’s 19 mentions of the word “pillbox” ~ er, 20…  How many times can I write pillbox in one post??! 21 apparently!   ….. (~￣▽￣)~

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Vintage Garnet Bow Pillbox Hat | Gift from Tanith 
Dove & Heart Brooch | The Moby Duck, Made 590
My Valentine Bolero | Thrifted
80s-does-40s The Pan Am Dress | eBay
1940s Russet Ruched Gloves | eBay
Garnet & Gold Belt | Thrifted
Black Stockings | Old
Red Alert Heels | Old

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