Make a Real Felt Hat — From Wool to Finished Millinery

Meet Sigrid Bannier

Sigrid Bannier is a German feltmaker and milliner, and the founder of Bannier Filz. For many years, she has been creating one-of-a-kind handmade felt hats, combining the freedom of wet felting with the precision of classical millinery. Her special passion is the meeting point between these two worlds: felt as a living handmade material, and hatmaking as a craft of form, proportion, structure, and finish. Sigrid’s work is rooted in real making: wool, water, steam, wooden blocks, strong hands, careful shaping, and professional finishing. She is especially interested in traditional and folk hats, but her methods also open the door to contemporary felt hat design. In this course, Sigrid shares the essential techniques that allow handmade felt to become a real hat: making the hat body, stiffening, blocking, shaping the brim, stabilizing the edge with gimp, sewing in the sweatband, and adding the final decorative details. Her approach is practical, precise, and deeply respectful of the material. She shows that a beautiful felt hat does not begin with a large studio or a wall full of blocks — it begins with good felt, clear form, patient hands, and an understanding of how wool can become shape.