Interview with Julie Lecours-Ouellet, Milliner
A few months ago, I sat down with Julie Lecours-Ouellet, of Création Sydéral. She's an amazing milliner I've worked with a few times. She makes everything from LARP headpieces to everyday hats.
If you're into hats, and the technical side of how they're made is your thing, I think you're going to love this interview.
A self-taught milliner's journey
✂ How long have you been making hats?
I've had my business officially since 2003. But I started making hats at 16… so it's been a good number of years now (I just turned 40).
✂ That's the age where everyone's asking themselves what they want to do with their life, and nothing's really clear… You decided at 16, "I'm going to make hats"?
Yeah. I had a huge flash of inspiration.
In grade 11, I had to figure out what to enroll in for CEGEP. And nothing interested me at all. I had no idea…
Then, in January, I got really sick. I had a bad case of appendicitis and missed three weeks of school. But you know, back then there was no Netflix… there wasn't much of anything. So in the mornings I'd watch the little daytime talk shows. And one morning there was an interview with a milliner.
And I was like, "Oh! You can actually do that for a living?" It was a revelation. I told myself, "Okay, that's what I'm going to do."
When I got back to school, I was so excited. I went to see the guidance counselor and said, "I want to do that. What do I sign up for?" And he told me, "Uh, no, that doesn't exist anymore."
So, in the end, I went to CEGEP for social sciences.
At some point, someone told me about a hat exhibit on Mont-Royal. So I went. I got there and thought, "Okay, I need to learn this."
The following week, I went to meet Élise Delafontaine (a milliner who taught classes at the time) at her workshop. I started taking private lessons with her — twice a week, three hours at a time, for two years. And she taught me everything.
Running a millinery business
✂ You make all kinds of hats — straw, felt, fabric. You cover a lot of ground. Do you have a specialty?
I'd say felt, probably. But I like pretty much everything.
✂ And who's your clientele?
It's pretty varied. I have a solid clientele for everyday hats — mostly women, roughly 35 to 60-something.
And then there's the historical/fantasy/LARP character side, which is a lot of fun and something I really enjoy making.
✂ Do you have a favorite between the classic side and the more fantasy side?
I like doing both. But I'm definitely more of a fantasy/historical nerd at heart.
I've always loved anything historical. I don't LARP myself, but pretty much everything I read or watch is historical, or fantasy… with dragons. Ha! Ha! It's a world I really love.
With an everyday hat, it generally has to stay more straightforward. It has to be practical. With LARP, you can really let loose.
✂ I know you have a shop, but you also do custom work. Do you do more of one than the other?
It's maybe half and half, I'd say. I do a lot of both. Sometimes people pick a model from my shop but want to tweak it a bit, or ask for a different color.
I don't really have time to get bored, let's put it that way. Ha! Ha!
Making a hat: felt and straw
✂ What are the steps when you make a felt hat?
I don't sketch beforehand. Sometimes I'll scribble something, but it's mostly in my head. I just go with the flow.
I set up, heat up my felt, and mold it onto my block. It needs to dry, usually overnight. Sometimes I'll rework the shape a bit. Depending on the style, it can stretch over a couple of days.
After that, it's finishing touches. Then decoration.
✂ When you're working with heat, is it just with your iron?
No, I have my steaming heads. I put a wet cloth on them, which creates steam. And I also have kettles and a regular iron.
Say I want to flatten a brim, I'll use the iron — but always with a wet cloth. It takes a lot of heat, but at the same time it has to be wet enough. That's what makes the felt malleable. That's how you can stretch it, shrink it, add pleats… you can do pretty much anything with felt. That's why I love it.
✂ And straw — is the molding technique pretty similar?
With straw, I mold it with just water. Water and gelatin. It depends how rigid I want it. It also depends on the type of straw.
Some straws I'll add a little patina to first, with paint. Sometimes I can dye them too, depending on the straw. You know, felt I don't dye — I buy it already in the right color. But straw, you can dye it… before molding, though, because you need to soak it.
Little tips for the tinkerers
✂ If someone wants to modify a hat that's already made, what do you suggest? Say, for changing the color?
Felt isn't ideal. But straw takes paint well. Some straws are a bit slicker, so if you rub, some of it will come off, but generally it takes paint really well.
✂ And if you want to change the shape? Is there anything to check for?
There's a lot of synthetic straw out there, and there's really not much you can do with that. Usually you can tell it's synthetic. If there's a label, check it — if it says polyester or nylon… that's not straw. That doesn't grow on a plant, you know. Generally if it smells a bit like grass, there's a better chance it's real straw.
That said, straw can be harder to reshape. It'll dry out, it'll crack. Felt is forgiving all the time, but straw is a bit more fragile.
Felt reworks better than straw, generally.
✂ Sticking with felt for a second — is there anything to look at on a hat you want to transform? Ideally, I'm guessing, you'd start from a molding capeline made for that… but say you're starting from an actual hat, is there anything to check?
It definitely helps if the hat is in one piece. Because often they're cut where the crown meets the brim (you can see that by looking inside). If you take it apart, you end up with two small pieces of felt instead of one big one.
Also check that there aren't too many glue spots, or that it isn't too beat up.
✂ If it's stiffer, it's probably had some product on it. Does that mean it'll be harder to remold?
It's not that bad. It still works. You'll need to heat it a bit more, or a bit longer. But generally it still works fine.
You do have to keep in mind that the hat has already been stretched, already worked, already stiffened. So you'll be a bit more limited in what you can do compared to starting with fresh felt. But overall, it still reworks really well.
I rework a lot of old hats that I recycle.
✂ And in terms of color — you said you always work with felt that's already the right color to start. Have you ever tried dyeing felt?
No… I should try it. Everyone's always told me it doesn't dye evenly… and I've just never gotten around to testing it. Though usually, when someone tells me something can't be done, the first thing I think is "I'm going to try it." Ha! Ha! Yeah. I should try it.
✂ Some felt hats keep a bit of softness. But a bowler, a top hat you'd buy in a store, that's pretty stiff. How is that made? Can it be reshaped?
It can be modified… but it's more complicated. Bowlers and top hats fall more under men's millinery — they're not really handmade. It's more machine work. And it's very, very heavily stiffened.
I'm a milliner. Men's millinery is kind of the same process, but with more industrial machinery.
You can make it stiffer by hand, but it would take a lot more product.
Personally, I like keeping a bit of softness.
Milliner vs. hatter: what's the difference?
✂ Can you explain the difference between a hatter and a milliner?
Sure. Basically, hattery is the manufactured side — series production of hats. It's often associated with men's hats too.
Milliners tend to make smaller lines, custom, exclusive hats, more by hand.
Back in the day, say the 1800s, when everyone wore hats… for men, things were a bit more uniform, made in series (by hatters).
Women all had hats too, but they were more personalized (made by milliners).
✂ Going back to the product that makes a hat stiffer… what is it?
It's a powder I buy from my felt suppliers, which I mix with alcohol, made for stiffening felt.
✂ And where can people find that?
I sell it. If people want materials, or anything really — felt, straw, or even the stiffening product — I can sell it already mixed, or with the recipe. Mostly for the LARP crowd. Sometimes they'll call me after a few rainy LARP events, once a hat's gone a bit soft. I can supply them with the product so they can stiffen it themselves.
✂ Can people find all that in your shop?
My site isn't super up to date for raw materials. But people can contact me directly. I can get pretty much anything — just needs a bit of lead time so I can order it if I don't have it in stock.
If you want to learn...
✂ Do you also teach classes?
Yes. I teach private lessons — one person, or a small group of 2 to 4 people.
My basic course, the one I give most often, is 12 hours of class. In that time, we make at least 3 hats. Some people make more… it depends on the person. I show two felt techniques and the straw technique. And I show finishing. It's a good overview of the basics.
After that, people can pretty much do anything. All it takes after that is practice.
✂ And getting equipped too, I imagine? What do you need to set yourself up if you want to do this at home?
The basics… Ideally, a steaming head. Or a very powerful kettle. And not a kettle that shuts off when the water boils (it's surprisingly hard to find kettles that actually boil for real. Ha! Ha!).
If not, a steaming head with one or two wooden blocks can still be a decent base. Because with just one basic shape, you can still do a lot of things.
If not, people can also come work here (after taking the course). It's like an open studio. They can use my blocks, my equipment, all of it. It's not a private lesson — I do my own thing, I'm never far, but the person has to have taken the course. I need to know them.
✂ And for someone who just wants to reshape a hat, or something like that — who doesn't have the tools, but doesn't necessarily want to fully equip themselves to make a lot of them. Do you have any little cheats for when you don't have a block?
You can get by with pretty much anything. A plastic bin can do the job in a pinch. Basically, it's just a support to hold the shape of your hat. Sometimes I make one out of duct tape.
I made an Orc hat for the Artisans d'Azure… I had this weird Barbapapa-shaped block, but it was way too small for what they wanted. I used plastic bags, kodel stuffing, and tape. There's always a way to rig something. It doesn't work as smoothly, but it gets the job done all the same.
Final words
✂ What do you love most about your job?
The variety of projects is a lot of fun. I love starting completely wild projects. And people who are just so happy to see, wow, this is actually possible.
✂ My final geeky question: your favorite geeky universe?
I'm really into anything Arthurian legend. And you know, when there's a dragon and some magic, generally, I'm all in. Ha! Ha!
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A huge thank you to Julie for her insights. If you want to see what she's up to, you can follow her on Facebook or on Instagram.
To get yourself a hat (or even materials), check out her site: creationsyderal.com
🤓✂🐙
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Until then,
Happy sewing! Happy crafting! 🤓✂🐙