Sinamay is a lightweight fabric traditionally used in millinery, or the art of hat-making.
It is ideal for making fascinators, hats, and other occasion headwear, as it can be steamed and blocked, holding its shape once dried.
Blocked?
Blocking is a millinery technique used to shape materials like sinamay over a wooden or metal hat block using heat and moisture. The dampened fabric is stretched and moulded to the block, allowing the crown or brim to set into a firm, structured shape, turning a flat material into a three-dimensional form.
Sinamay is woven from the stalk fibres of the abaca tree (Manila hemp) in the Philippines. This makes it a natural, eco-friendly, and biodegradable material compared to other common materials used in clothing preparation.
But it is also very strong, ensuring it holds its shape once shaped and dried.
It often has a fine, mesh-like texture, which can be made more solid by layering the material, or left quite lightweight and opaque by using just one layer
It is available in many colours as it is easily dyeable, and can be manipulated into loops, curls, and dramatic shapes.
Sinamay also comes in various ‘weaves’. Basketweave is quite open and lattice-like, scrunch sinamay is pressed together like felt rather than woven, and Lurex-woven is woven with Lurex fibres throughout, giving it a very silky and shiny finish.
Most milliners will have various grades of sinamay in their collection. A grade describes the weave of the material; the tightness of the weave will allow you to do different jobs:
Sinamay comes in a variety of colours and styles, from greens and blacks to blues and pinks. You can even purchase pre-made patterned sinamay.
Or, as sinamay is easy to dye, some milliners opt to dye it themselves for a particularly unique hat, which requires careful colour matching with an existing outfit.