Hanging hats to see how much sag each string would approximately create.

Folding and organisation of thousands of hats to create the desired density. Once the concept was secured the production began.

The day was spend presenting the various design proposals for the Making Headway Catwalk to the collaborators and the client. The final design was quickly chosen and discussions about the production process were underway.

Site visit to St Mary's Church in Stockport followed by a tour of The Hat Works Museum to provide us with some inspiration to begin presenting ideas for the backdrop of the hat fashion show to take place in May.

This image to the rear of our catwalk site. The site, St. Marys church Stockport is the oldest church in the parish of Stockport.

The net which we will use for hanging the hats from the church was tested on the 4th floor. Using the large space we tested the hats and worked out key points and locations for the big fit at the end of the week.

Attaching strings of hats to the net to test whether it will hold their weight.

Stretching out the net to work out where the hats will be hung from and how much it will give under their weight.

All the strings of hats have been completed and are now ready to be attached to the net.

Attaching the last few hooks to strings of hats.

Air propulsion calculated and concept model tested we concluded:
FAN + FEATHERS = MESS

Original concept for a air propelled screen of feathers :)

Hat bath:
The bath of hats on the 8th floor is well and truly full. An efficient and stylish workforce have combined to produce over 3000 hats. With a top speed of 700 HPH (Hats per hour). We certainly haven't 'hat' enough yet !

Having made 4000 hats in 2 days, we spent the rest of the week making threads of hats according to the layered plan we had created. After a while we got quite fast at it, and having made 90 threads on wednesday, we managed to step it up to 300 threads on thursday, and were able to finish all 380 threads for the screen before the weekend. Next week: clouds of hats, same system, hopefully a few less hats!

After group presentations on the 1st of April a backdrop installation was chosen. A mass production of paper hats bagan. More than 3500 of them!

Further development of group proposals over Easter and final presentation on the 1st of April.

First session: 29th March
Visiting St Mary's church in Stockport and the Hat Works museum. Brainstorming ideas in groups of 2-3 people. Brief presentation.

Attaching hooks to hang the hats.

Knotting Hooks. 400+.

The boxes used to store the completed bundles of threaded hats are filling up! By the end of day 4 the hats and threads required to make the screen are completed and ready to install.

To hang the installation, a fishing net will be stretched across the ceiling of the church, and each thread of paper hats carefully hooked on. We decided on using curtain hooks to hang the threads from. Knotting them was a fiddly process to say the least!

The patching process involves threading the hats together and using duct tape to separate them, before bundling them together ready to put on the hooks.

In order to hang the hats, 380 threads needed to be measured, cut, separated and marked ready for the 'patching' process.

Modelling the installation using computer software enabled us to accurately work out how many hats, threads and hooks we will require to make the installation and how it will fit into the church.

Hats, hats and more hats. By day 2 we have made over 3,800 and can now all probably fold them with our eyes shut!

The aim of our project is to create and install a backdrop and screen for the hat show taking place in St Mary's church in Stockport. These are the first of many paper hats to be made and strung up to form the installation!

DAY 3: Through trialling hanging the hats, we worked out how many strands of hats needed to create the screen. We then put the design into a grid system working out how many strands we needed in total: 380

DAY 4: Thread everywhere!
Cutting the different lengths of thread and sewing the hats together.

Stringing up.

box, box, box: A to Q.

First Day. Location: Saint Mary's Church. Stockport.

My very efficient box system.

Sewing sequence.

Day 4: Testing out different hooks and fastens.

Mad Hatters

Day 3: Quota: 4,000 paper hats.

Watch the clip below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm-M9tMMPnQ

Day 2: We looked at different methods of hanging the hats. We settled on threading the hats with white nylon thread, using duckt tape to secure the hats in place

Day 2:
2,000 paper hats folded.
Watch the clip below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byKPW6YYjaA

Paper hats won the vote.

Day 1 Events:
Over Easter in groups of 3 we had to come up with a concept for the set design. We shared our proposals with OSA architects.

To view part of our proposal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3t6lEguAM4

1:1 mockup from Friday 2nd May.
By making a 1:1 model we were able to try out different thread and fixing methods, to then find the most effective solutions. This exercise also allowed us to determine the density of hats required to block out everything behind the screen from view.

Bin full of hats.

1 unit = 15 stacked hats.

Fundamental organisation.

Proposal- Ephemeral-
Further screens made of hanging information cards, to be partially dismantled at each shows' conclusion via inviting the audience to take the cards away. The cards become a catalyst for re-engaging people with Stockport and millenary. Each card included different information- from the hat designers in the show to the history of millenary in Stockport- #bringhattingback was to be a social media platform to be launched during the show, and then carried through after in an attempt to reinstate Stockport in the hat design world.

Proposal- Site specific-
Rebecca + Rachel
Rather than taking inspiration from the process of hat making, we decided to respond to the site. Here we incorporated the stain glass window (that is hidden as part of the 'green room' area for the fashion show) by hanging screens that projected light from the window back into the church, thus keeping the ambience of the space.

Render of the the chosen proposal following further development within the group. The hat target is set at 2,822!

folding hats all day every day.
3000 already!

Concept testing through models!
'10k paper hats"

The initial proposal for the backdrop of the hat fashion show.
"10k paper hats"

Site visit
St. Mary's church in Stockport will host a hat fashion show on the 17th of May.

Tony and I presented our proposals for the Making Headway Catwalk show to the client and our collaborators from Office for Subversive Architecture.
Information about the event can be found online at -http://www.stockport.gov.uk/services/leisureculture/visitstockport/museumsandgalleries/exhibitionsatmuseums/makingheadway

Trips to our site (St. Mary's Church, Stockport) and The Hat Works Museum offered some inspiration for our project proposals.