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Why
on earth would anyone just start sewing hats one
day?
I
have always loved hats; I think I inherited it from my
grandmother. This particular gene skipped my mother
altogether and found me in its most concentrated form. I
have always bought hats, vintage and new, but never made
one. Well, one dark and stormy day, when Austin was
snowed under for the first time in this millennium, I
took one of my moth-eaten cashmere sweaters that I
couldn't bear to throw away, chopped it up, and made a
simple hat with it (I confess, the inspiration to use an
old sweater came from my idol, Martha). The ease with which I constructed
this cap gave me false confidence and I plowed on to
making a beret, using an outdated wool skirt I hadn't
worn since I had a corporate job, and more of the
moth-devoured sweater. I was so proud of my creation
that I wore it to a party, where, much to my surprise, a
wonderful woman with a keen eye for beauty, bought it
right off my head. So, I went home and made another,
even more ambitious hat that probably took me all day to
construct. I wore it to a restaurant and a cheerful
waitress bought that one off my head. Thinking this was
just luck, I made yet another, even more outrageous hat
which a stylish young woman sitting next to me at a
coffee shop bought on the spot. At this point, I decided
three data points made a pattern, not just a random
coincidence. With this faulty logic, I embarked on
a hat making spree and I'm still going at it with full
frenzy.
Why
only recycled fabrics, you ask?
I
only used vintage fabrics, and their plain cousin,
second-hand clothing. I believe there is too much of
everything on this earth and I will do my best to keep
my corner of it as tidy as I can. With this
obsessive/compulsive drive to tidy up, I started
scouring Austin's thrift stores to find the best
cashmere, angora, alpaca, rabbit hair, silk, cotton,
leather clothes I could round up. The only new items in
my hats are the thread, and the lining I use to make the
brims stiff.
Why
the little coffee cup and the name
"demitasse"? 
My
sister, who is a fashion maven, told me that I needed a
French name to do well in the fashion business. All the
ones I could think of sounded fussy and impossible to
pronounce with a Texas accent. I wanted to find a name
that reflected the size of my business - miniscule - and
my Turkish heritage - avid coffee drinkers. Since
everyone with or without a Texas accent already knows
how to say Demi, as in the actress, I went with
"demitasse": the French word for those little
half-sized cups with which we serve Turkish
coffee.
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