ABOUT THEA C. CRAWFORDThea Crawford has had a passion for hats her entire life. As a little girl, she would run around the house wearing a tea-cozy on her head. Her mother taught Thea to sew at a young age, so when she made an outfit, she always made a hat to match.
Thea graduated from the Costume Studies programme at Dalhousie University in 1996, and began work as a tailor’s assistant for the Canadian Department of National Defence.
In 1998 she went to the world-famous Stratford Theatre Festival in Ontario, Canada, where she worked on a tailoring team, building men's costumes for the stage. Later that year Thea attended a Masters' Millinery course at the Banff Theatre Festival in Banff, Alberta, and as a result, her childhood love of hats finally became a career in millinery.
In 2004, Thea joined the millinery department at the Stratford Theatre Festival. She has returned each season since, learning new techniques and perfecting her craft. She brings her professional training and considerable expertise to design and create her own one-of-a-kind hats.
The hat-making media Thea uses are straw, felt, buchram and fabric. Employing new and traditional millinery techniques, each one-of-a-kind hat is first meticulously shaped by hand on wooden blocks. Once a hat is trimmed and finished, that particular piece will never be reproduced. The basic shape can be made to fit almost any size, but the medium and embellishments will be completed according to the style and taste of the individual customer.
Thea brings true pride and joy to the creation of each one-of-a-kind headpeice that will set you apart from every other hat in the crowd.