"Hello, I’m Susan Widlake, and I have always had a passion for hats. I started my millinery journey in 2009, at a hat making taster course at the V&A Museum in London. Since then I have taken many courses over the years.

I’m an IT auditor by training, and have been really fortunate to be able to travel the world with my job. Since discovering hat making, I’ve packed a sewing kit along with my business attire. I’ve made felt hats on Eurostar, silk flowers in Zagreb, and folded ribbon rosettes on a plane, sitting next to the voice of Spongebob Squarepants.

At the end of 2018 I hung up my corporate hat, came back to the UK, and turned my passion into a business. I now make hats at my home studio, a windmill, just outside Saffron Walden on the Cambridgeshire/Essex border. Hence the name Mill House Millinery

My hats are named after places and locations that have captured my imagination. I love to incorporate local silk, woven in Sudbury in Suffolk in my designs, and my millinery wire comes from Great Dunmow in Essex. A case of global inspiration and local implementation!

Everything I make is unique, from wedding hats to show stopping creations made for racegoers and millinery competitions. I’m particularly proud that one of my pieces was selected from hundreds of entries to be exhibited at London Hat Week, now rescheduled for October 2020.

So please get in touch – I’d love to create something tailored especially for you." — SUSAN