My Recent Work
In this section you can see Veronica Main’s most recent hat making adventures.
The skills of Hat Plaiting are listed as Critically Endangered on the Heritage Crafts Red List of Endangered Crafts. To keep plaiting skills alive and relevant to today’s makers it is important to work in new ways and to take the old plait patterns and recreate them using different materials. This means that to produce enough plait to make a hat or headpiece can be both faster and more cost effective.
Veronica often works with Lucy Barlow Hats. Their work shares overlaps since Lucy is a highly experienced hat maker who uses a 17-Guinea sewing machine to make stitched braid/plait hats and understands the intricacies of using these materials.
Veronica also works with Trudy Comfort Hats, who is a talented and highly skilled Luton hat maker of bespoke and production hats and headpieces.
While Veronica would love to only work with straw and produce hats made from the finest of fine plaits, she realises that to keep the skills alive it is more important to keep innovating. Within the hat industry the term straw has always been used generically and to meet the needs of fashion these diverse materials have been pushed in many novel directions. She hopes her work using easily available materials will inspire hat makers to incorporate these endangered heritage skills within their work.
This hat appears in the December edition of HATalk – the e-magazine as a making project.
Using recycled strips of sari silk they were dip-dyed to create random colourways then plaited. The plait is a soft and bouncy contrast to the conventional hard shape of a boater giving the hat a softer romantic feel.
Another boater!
This original hat inspired the HATalk project.
The colour palette of the sari strips is just what is needed to brighten the dullest of days. It shouts summer, strawberries, raspberries, and happy times. Once again this hat was simple and fast to make using the techniques featured in HATalk.
Sometimes you need a warmer hat in the winter months. This beret is plaited using knitting yarn. It was quick to plait and a beret required surprisingly little plait.
The heritage techniques don’t just have to be confined to the summer months. Using the skills you can be making hats for every season.
Plaiting can be done anywhere, well almost anywhere! The plait for this beret was made while Veronica was on holiday and supposed to be sunbathing and relaxing! A plaiter’s fingers cannot stay still for long!
Collaboration Barlow x Main
This is another hat made using recycled sari silk strips. Lucy created a tall crown, and the brim can be shaped to be reminiscent of a bowler or simply curved up.
Once again, the sari silk provides beautiful texture and light reflection to a hat shape that is often associated as being hard and masculine.
Collaboration Barlow x Main
This cap was worn by Lucy’s son when they both attended the Heritage Crafts Awards Ceremony held at Windsor Castle in December 2023. Lucy was awarded the prestigious President’s Award.
The plait is made using paper tapes, now commonly but incorrectly called raffia by sellers. The plait pattern was chosen to create an illusion of tweed fabric.
Model: ricky_lee_dee. Photographr: Lucy Barlow.
This headdress was made as a little bit of fun for St. Catherine’s Day which is celebrated in November.
Sisal string, silk leaves, ribbon were plaited together to make a wide plait. The plait was sufficiently strong that it did not need any wiring. As a finishing flourish a ribbon rose and streamers were added.
For more information about the traditions of St Catherine’s Day visit the British Hat Guild website - Our Traditions where you will find an article written by Dillon Wallwork. Each year Stephen Jones OBE makes Catherinette hats for Dior employees.
Collaboration Trudy Comfort Hats x Veronica Main
Made to wear at the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Schweizer Strohmuseum, Wohlen, Switzerland the hat button was made by Trudy Comfort.
Veronica had fun going back to her roots by using spun straw threads to create the veiling and elaborate trimmings. The amazing hat industry techniques are explored in this website’s section More Straw – Swiss Straw Work.
Members of The British Hat Guild were invited to create hats inspired by WOW!house rooms at the Design Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour.
Returning to her traditional roots Veronica used dyed straw, then split it into splints just 2mm wide to make the mottled plait. Veronica was inspired by the room created by NICOLÒ CASTELLINI BALDISSERA and C & C MILANO SALON. @nicolocastellinibaldissera @cecmilano
She used her skills to reference the room design by interpreting traditional Italian plaits and techniques. Her creation reflects the Mediterranean colours so loved by the designer.
Collaboration Trudy Comfort Hats x Veronica Main
Brain Tumour Research invited members of the British Hat Guild to create hats inspired by the King’s Racing Colours and auctioned to raise funds for the charity.
Looking at the racing colours the decorative cord struck Veronica as being so like some of the historic Swiss passementerie work made with delicate straw threads.
Trudy Comfort covered a simple button with the perfect shot silk dupion silk which she delicately pleated. Then followed nine long days of creating the cords, two-ply straw threads, worked into the passementerie pattern.
Model: Dara McKenna Make-up: Maria @mariamakeupartist Photographer: Tim @timkent_photographer
Hair: Chris Glow and Dry @chris88hair and @glowandry Stylist: Alice @aliceharestylist
This hat is now part of the wonderful Hat Industry and Headwear Collection held at Wardown House Museum and Gallery, Luton. It was made for display in the Hats Made Me exhibition held in 2023.
Since it was intended to become part of the collection Veronica used wheat straw plait and traditional techniques including a trimming of a series of hat buttons so that future generations can see that these important heritage skills were still alive in the 21st century.
Collaboration Barlow x Main
Designed by Lucy Barlow this oversize cap features in Straw Plaiting. It shows how when colourways are introduced into plait patterns they can create drama on a finished hat. The plait is made using a durable, washable paper tape.
Model: Klay Evaorl. Photographer: Lucy Barlow.
Collaboration Trudy Comfort Hats x Baxter Hart & Abraham x Veronica Main
To speed up the plaiting process these plaits were made using hemp braid (machine-made) sold by Baxter Hart and Abraham of Luton. The hemp braid had been dyed at Barford Brothers, Luton.
Trudy Comfort stitched and formed the button shape and created the two-tone plait bow.
Using the machine-made braid was fast and produced a lightweight plait. This hat and the plait patterns it was made from feature in Veronica’s book, Straw Hats.
Baxter Hart & Abraham x Veronica Main
Another hat using the hemp machine-made braid. This time the plait was stitched, the brim wired and then lightly stiffened to allow it movement.
This hat was designed and made by Veronica Main and worn to her investiture at Windsor Castle in 2021.
The plait is made using the hemp machine-made braid supplied by Baxter Hart and Abraham and dyed at Barford Brothers.
The decorative trim incorporates a fine plait of Schnürli (twisted straw threads). Including them was important as it references Veronica’s passion for the Swiss straw techniques and Swiss straw industry.