Outside of racing season, the art of millinery doesn’t get that much attention. It was given centre stage last week at the Hyatt hotel, where tomorrow’s millinery masters showed off their range of handmade wares to celebrate the completion of their CIT Certificate III in Millinery.

One of the graduates, Linda Walsh, said it was a relative who inspired her to enroll in the 18 month course.

“A seed was planted some years back when I discovered that my dearly departed Nana had an interest in Millinery,” she says.

“When I then decided a couple of years ago that I wanted to incorporate more art and creativity into my life, Millinery seemed like the obvious choice.”

Walsh found that with millinery, there are no boundaries and you are only limited by your own imagination.

“You can learn preferred techniques, but true creativity occurs when you take a leap of faith and try something new. You should never be afraid to takes some risks and be experimental.”

The graduation event was an opportunity for the graduates to show off their beautiful creations to family and friends.

“My favourite piece is the one I wore to the event, a sweet little red number that I slaved over for hours and hours and, for the most part, I absolutely hated. I felt that is was going to be too big and would sit too high. It wasn’t until I’d almost finished the piece and started playing with some of the trims, that it really fell in to place for me,” she says.

“It proved to me that you can’t always tell by looking at a hat if it is going to a good fit. Sounds like a really obvious thing to say but, you really need to try it on for yourself.”

While it’s back to her day job as a public servant, Walsh still hopes to set up a small Millinery business in the future.

“The course has ignited my interest in the art of Millinery and I’m really keen to maintain the level of creativity it has bought into my life, and ultimately seeing where I can take it,” she says.

“I think there is plenty of room for new milliners to enter the industry a make a name for themselves, but you wouldn’t go into it expecting to give up your day job!”