What’s happening to buckram? ||

Discover what's happening to buckram in the world of millinery. Learn about this traditional material, its uses, and who's trying to keep it available in hat-making.
Diagrams of buckram/wire construction details in this video are featured in From the Neck Up: An Illustrated Guide to Hatmaking by Denise Dreher (1981).
Other useful links:
The Hat Magazine: www.thehatmagazine.com/
Parkin Fabrics: www.parkinfabrics.co.uk/
Hat Supply/Hats by Leko www.hatsupply.com/
This is the pilot of a "Buckram Alternatives" miniseries of project vlogs. Video links will be added as these episodes release.
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• Buckram Alternative: F...
Phifertex straw braid bonnet Project Vlog: • Buckram Alternative: P...
--Remaking Lydia Bennet’s Bonnet - #VirtualJaneCon Project Vlog [PREMIERING July 14 2024]V
--Millinery Buckram Alternative: Sinamay [FORTHCOMING]
#millinery #buckram

[@saulemaroussault6343]

I know next to nothing about millinery but I love to learn about every aspect of textile crafts ! Thanks !

[@kieraoona]

at George Brown college in Canada, they're slowly starting to shift to Fosshape, because buckram is really hard to get. I'm not even sure if the next batch of students will have opportunity to use buckram as a lot of places aren't ordering it because of the cost.

[@stevezytveld6585]

Another industry felled by the modern age phenomenon of 'we don't know how to repair the [Victorian] machines'??? That's heartbreaking. I suspect burckram also gets used for needlepoint, so there's another part of the industry that's going to be scrambling for substitutions. Thank you for brining this to light. I'm looking forward to your series about the other options available.

[@dysonsquared]

Hi Rachael,

[@angellover02171]

A while back, I saw a show called the Chef's table. One episode was devoted to a guy who made gelato. He mentioned that many of the almond farmers in Italy were selling off their farms or choosing another crop. The reason was they were being squeezed out by middlemen selling the almonds to restaurants and other food businesses. The was able to work with the famers and restaurateurs to cut out the middle men. Hard work I'm sure, but inspiring.

[@WorldsEnd84]

I am not a milliner or costumer, but I enjoy an extensive collection of vintage hats, as well as practicing many decorative stitching techniques. My mind immediately jumped to the rang of non-metal window screen materials, easily available, and how they might be managed and manipulated for millinery construction.

[@beareid6053]

I have just found you!!!! I have been looking for someone like you for years. I have been teaching myself from books all this time. I hope you keep this channel going for years to come.❤

[@Cantseemuch]

I don’t believe that they don’t know how to repair the machines, it’s probably just too expensive for them. And that’s a shame.

[@elizabethclaiborne6461]

Thank goodness! I’m an intermittent hat maker, but use buckram for other things building costumes. As a hobbyist I’ve been lost with no idea what to do. Thank you!

[@carolinehawkins1105]

I wonder if an open-weave fabric (a mesh or coarse canvas or netting, maybe the mesh used for counted cross-stitch?) could be painted with glue. PVA would be ideal as it makes a coating of plastic that would help the mesh hold its shape when dried? I havent worked much with milliners buckram but i loved loved using it.

[@catherineleslie-faye4302]

Please let me know if and when you find a North American supplier of buckram.

[@seamrapt]

I haven't shopped there in ages & have no idea if they have competitive prices but I used to get buckram and sinamay at California Millinery Supply in the LA fashion district area. I'd be curious to know if they have had to change, too, or if they manufacturer theirs but maybe on a smaller scale or...?

[@scottgray6276]

I like lenomesh. It’s a nylon material, that comes in many densities/weights, one of which is very similar to medium weight buckram. Seattle Fabrics, pre Covid, l think it was $15/yd, 63” wide. Very strong, waterproof, l haven’t tried blocking it, but it doesn’t ravel, so you can lap your seams, and get remarkably subtle shaping! They only have it in black. It takes paint. It’s also used for sacking in lighter, more open weaves, and those “gimme caps”, with the mesh backs.

[@dalestaley5637]

It looks like needle point backing.

[@NeighborhoodOfBlue]

Alas, another product traded for plastic. How truly disappointing.

[@songindarkness]

This is really sad because plastic is so terrible for the environment.