When her daughter got married, Anne searched everywhere for the right hat. “But the only ____1____ that matched cost a fortune,” she says. She had to go for a straw (稻草) one in the end.
It struck Anne that she could begin to ____2____ the art of hat-making at the age of 55. She took weekend classes, during which she watched a wonderful sun hat come to ____3____ between her hands for the first time. The experience reminded Anne of her early ____4____. “I really wanted to go to art school but my father wanted me to have a career that I could support myself with,” she says. However, making hats ____5____ her creativity and allowed Anne to start again.
Once she retired, she ____6____ for a hat-making course at a college. Once a week, she would take the train to London and begin the complicated ____7____ of handcrafting pieces. She learned everything from finding inspiration to sketching and making a range of stylish hats.
“Even at home I can lose myself in it, put the radio on and get going,” she says. “It was such a(an) ____8____ task.”
Anne,77, now has a hat-making workshop in her home and it has really refreshed her interest in fashion and fabric. She also recycles old dresses into hats, thinking of making a whole collection out of ____9____ used fabrics next.
She now has more ____10____ than she can keep up with and she is keen to learn new techniques. “I’ll keep going as long as I can, since people always need something interesting to wear.”