Hats off to north coast milliner!

Fee McToal Millinery is making heads turn…

For some self-employed people, running their own business is a life-long dream. They know where they want to get to and they’re single-minded about getting there. However, for others, entrepreneurship can creep up on them. They start in one career, follow a few twists and turns along the way and finally, end up somewhere new and utterly exciting.

It’s this second route that led North Coast milliner, Fiona (Fee) McToal, to her hat-making business – Fee McToal Millinery. Originally from Melbourne, but now based in Ballymoney, Fee has found her way back to an industry she dabbled with years ago – but only after training for and working within various other disciplines.

Specialising in the creation of bespoke hats, fascinators and headpieces, as well as providing hire and alteration services, Fee has a love of sewing which seems to be in her blood…

“My mum taught me to sew and her mum taught her,” she says. “My mum’s great-great uncles all came from England and were tailors, so there was always that connection. I also loved art at school. When I was 15, I studied art and textiles and sewing along with the rest of my school subjects. I remember one of the teachers said she thought I would go far in fashion – she said she could see me as a buyer. I thought not.”

Although obviously having an interest in sewing at a young age, Fee, who admits she always liked to do things differently, instead went on to do mainly office work in later years. This was despite completing a City and Guilds youth training programme in sewing, when the family moved back to Northern Ireland in 1989 – her father being originally from Tyrone.

“I then went to Dungannon Tech to do a fashion and design BTEC Diploma course,” she says. “It was brilliant but at the time, it just wasn’t for me. I worked in a bar while I was studying and then did a nursery nurse diploma course. I really enjoyed it and thought I was going to go down that path. Then my parents decided to go back to Australia, as my grandmother was ill.”

The move took Fee back to Melbourne, where she began doing agency childcare work. Homesick for Northern Ireland however, she soon packed up, returning to the province in 1996 and retraining again – this time, in business studies. An office job followed, where Fee learned how to do manual wages and accounts, before she got another position at a local   engineering firm. Shortly afterwards, she met her husband (on a blind date), then moved to the Causeway Coast and Glens Regional Tourism Partnership in Coleraine, where she worked until being made redundant.

“I also had my wee boy by then and he was my priority,” she says. “I loved my job but at the same time I thought there must be something better out there. It was a very emotional time. I just needed something different. I was sitting at my kitchen table one day and my mum said, ‘why don’t you go back to sewing – do something you like’.”

So, Fee started making quirky clutch bags and exhibiting her wares at craft fairs, making everything from keyrings to bookmarks. Advised to set up a Facebook page, she also got online as ‘Made by Fifi’ and soon afterwards, met Geri Martin (of Chocolate Manor NI), who ultimately inspired her next move…

“It was Geri who actually started me where I am today,” says Fee. “She contacted me and said she had a wedding to go to and needed a bag. She also wanted me to make something for her hair – something very small. What I came up with was just a little silver clip with an organza rose. That was it. Then I thought – bags and hats – that’s what I can do.”

Although she couldn’t find any millinery degree courses in Northern Ireland, Fee did stumble upon a basic hat embellishment class in Belfast. It was enough to confirm this was what she wanted to do, so she was delighted when a six-week couture millinery course in Derry popped up, delivered by a former London milliner.

“I did the course and absolutely fell in love with millinery,” she says. “There’s no glue – you don’t stick things together – everything is handstitched, so it takes time and patience. Once I started doing that class, I felt I had come home. I knew exactly what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be.”

Another millinery course followed and Fee continued posting pictures of her creations on Facebook, with people soon starting to contact her for wedding commissions. She then spent a year selling her work at the newly opened Ballymena Business Centre, which was showcasing local crafters and designers and acted as a stepping stone for her business.

Advised by a mentor to rebrand, Made by Fifi subsequently became Fee McToal Millinery by 2015. What was to follow? Well, a TV appearance of course…

Spotting a Tweet about a new hat show on IrishTV.ie back in October 2015, Fee made contact and soon found herself in Dublin doing an interview for the series. The Hat Show, which aired in March 2016, subsequently featured milliners from the north and south of Ireland, showcasing their hats on the catwalk.

Meanwhile, having competed in Derry’s Hatwalk competition in 2015 and named as a finalist, Fee entered again in 2016, determined to bag a prize.

“It was brilliant in 2015 – I couldn’t believe my hat was on the catwalk,” she says. “But it spurred me on and I thought – I want to win next year. So for 2016, I made a pink and orange smartie hat with pure lace leaves – all individually beaded. I was in the Up-and-Coming Milliner section and won third place, plus I came first in the Audience Choice vote.”

2016 also saw Fee complete a leadership course in Coleraine, which inspired her to expand her services to include hat hire as well as bespoke millinery. “That’s really taken off, along with the bespoke commissions,” she says.

As for what’s next?

“I’m self-taught, but I’ve learned a lot from ladies who have been milliners for years,” says Fee. “It’s all about experimenting with fabrics and materials and finding that something different…”

 

Quick Q&A

What’s your biggest challenge as a self-employed milliner?

Getting people to know you’re there. It’s a mixture really, of that and my own confidence of stepping out into the unknown…

What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?

That there’s room for everyone in this business. Also – (entrepreneur) Lara Morgan told me: ‘You put your big knickers on and pull them up and keep marching on!’

What do you most enjoy about running your own business?

I never thought I would find something I loved doing, and that I think about 24/7. I just love making hats! I’ve discovered me again.

Visit Fee’s website: http://feemctoalmillinery.co.uk/

Find Fee on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/feemctoalmillinery%20/

Sneak a peek on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/FeeMcToalMillinery/

Chat on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FeeMcTMillinery