Jocelyn Curry

My little hat company, as I'm fond of calling it, is now two years old and moving along with the passing seasons. It's past time to write an update for all my customers and interested souls. (To go to the shop, look to the left of this column and click on softshelterhats below the photos, or click on the logo placed to the left.)

FIRST: The first big sale ever has BEGUN in this Etsy shop. Except for the spring and summer sunhats, I've put every handmade, one-of-a-kind hat and headband in the shop on sale for 50% off the original price, and also, off sale prices. I'll be sending out an email to alert everyone, and will also post the sale notice on Facebook.

SECOND: The spring and summer collection will feature 2 hat lines: my original linen sun and garden hats embellished with my own artwork, and Christine Smith's hand-dyed and decorated cotton sunhats. For mine, each hat will be either stencilled with motifs, or adorned with fabric image transfers of my drawings and paintings. This is something new for me, and it opens up an array of images that can be added to my hats. Christine's bold color palettes and jaunty fabric flowers on her hats make lively accessories. They have sold well during the first two years of Soft Shelter Hats' existence.

THIRD: Throughout the winter months, my fleece hats have been for sale at a local artisan gallery in the Greenwood district of Seattle. Tasty is a vibrant, artful place where a lot of hat wearers shop, so there are always many creative chapeaux available there. My fancier fleece hats have sold well there. Come autumn, I will be taking fresh fleece designs to Tasty. The linen and cotton hats will be available only online.

FOURTH: With every ten hats sold, I have sent the 10% of sales to either The Humane Society of Pierce County (a family favorite) or HopeLink of King County. The total contributions add up to a nice sum, and it feels good to send these modest checks off.

If you are curious as to how I come up with hat designs, here are a few sketches I've gathered up from the past year or so. With the sketches you will see two photos taken at Tasty's Millinery Trunk Show held last December. The sketches turned into fancier fleece hats which found happy owners.

The sketch with the leaf form was turned into a Valkyrie-type cap with a single pearl-embellished leaf form. The happy owner had been looking for an unusual but warm topper for dog walking. A perfect fit! The hat with the chubby blossom became real, too, as seen in the Etsy sampler to the right of this column.

On the left is another gorgeous redhead wearing my signature organza rose hat. She bought it for her mother, but it looks smashing on her!

More sketches

Thanks to my customers for allowing me to share these photos taken at Tasty.