Late 18th Century/Regency Era Capote Bonnet

A one-day intensive

with Mela Hoyt-Heydon of Atelier Mela

at Richard the Thread

1960 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034

Join Mela in creating a buckram-brimmed bonnet similar to those worn in the 1995 film, Sense and Sensibility. Mela will provide everything you need in a kit, except your fashion fabric (1 yard of silk or synthetic taffeta, dupioni, polished cotton, linen, or lawn is suggested) and thread to match your fabric. This class is a great introduction to millinery and will incorporate both machine and hand sewing (more machine than hand!). You will take home a completed hat, ready for trimming. Suggestions for trimmings will be discussed and demonstrated.

Mandatory Kit Fee paid at sign-up. Your kit will include: Pre-cut buckram brim, pre-cut mulling for brim, pre-cut cotton organdy for inside of crown, ribbon wire for headsize, cotton cording, millinery wire, sewing machine needles for buckram, millinery hand-sewing needles, wonder clips, patterns, and instructions.We will send a list of student-supplied required tools and supplies upon purchase.This is an intermediate-level intensive. Students should be familiar with basic sewing techniques and how to operate their machines.  

Tickets on sale through 12/3/26. 15 spots available

Click Here to Register

Mela Hoyt-Heydon. Mela is a member of 829, Costume Designers Union, and owner of Atelier Mela, designing and producing period millinery for the entertainment industry. Mela’s professional costume design work includes the musicals Jane Eyre, Beauty and the Beast, Miss Saigon, My Fair Lady, Cats, and Secret Garden, among the 400+ shows she has designed. She has designed for a variety of television commercials for Mattel, Worlds of Wonder, Pacific Southwest Bell, and McDonald's, including dancing Chicken McNuggets. Mela retired in June 2016 as Chairman of the Theatre Arts Department at Fullerton College, where she had been teaching and resident costume designer for 35 years. She has been a member of the board for The Costume Society of America, a member of The United States Institute of Theatre Technology, Ex-President of Costumer’s Guild West, Dean of Costume College twice, and a past member of the Smithsonian’s History Research Team. She received her BA in Theater Arts from the University of Redlands, her MA in art history from King's College, England, and her MFA from the University of California, Irvine. Mela currently resides in Salem, Oregon where she is remotely working on several projects for Walt Disney Imagineering and creating hats for her business, Atelier Mela.