"To be a custom-hatter must be a tedious and exacting
vocation, but one also steeped in pride and integrity, rich in satisfaction. Sheila Graves
Kirkpatrick who plies the hatter's trade in Montana's remote Big Hole Basin would be the
first to tell you that.
The daughter of South
Dakota rodeo announcer Lyle Graves, Sheila grew up amid cowboy hats and the people who
wear them, acquiring very early a feel for the importance of a hat's appearance. At age
eleven Sheila decided the hat her dad had bought her didn't reflect quite-the-right-touch
of her personality. Using the trial-and-error system, Sheila overhauled it, unaware that
she was discovering skills and learning techniques she'd someday use in her vocation.
Others soon discovered her knack for getting the hat 'just right' and asked her to shape
theirs. 'I worked with hats so long, I just kept getting better,' she noted. 'I didn't
think I was doing anything special. It took me a long time to realize it's an art.'
Kirkpatrick Custom Hat Company, founded in 1983, is located in the town of Wisdom,
Montana. According to Sheila, hats are cleaned and blocked for 'bread and butter' but
custom hats are created for 'love.'
All Sheila's equipment is
antique, specially-made for use by hatters in an era when beaver hats were an essential
attire. 'We make hats the way they use to - every piece of work we do is by hand,' she
proudly insists. A Western woman dedicated to perpetuating her cowboy heritage, Sheila is
practicing and popularizing a nearly vanished art form, not only through her business but
also through hat displays, programs and seminars."
*Sheila
sold Kirkpatrick Hatters
in 1996. She now lives in the small ranching community of Twin Bridges, Montana and has
re-opened her hatmaking business under the name of The Montana Mad Hatters. Only the name
has changed. The quality, care and experience that go into making each hat remain.
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