Put on your Sunday best, join others for tea

When she was a young girl growing up in England, Rita Newberry said everybody wore hats.

Today, here in the states, hats are not seen as often, except for special occasions, such as a spring tea where fancy hats are encouraged, or at the Kentucky Derby, coming up in May, where in some circles the colossal hats draw as much attention as the horses.

Newberry is a Marysville hatmaker who makes and sells hats for all those occasions. She will be at the Marysville Historical Society’s Spring Tea on Sunday selling her millinery creations.

Newberry’s hats could be the hot item for sale at the society’s 10th Annual Spring Tea and Vintage Fashion Show. Prizes will be awarded for Best Hat and Best Decorated Table.

The Marysville Historical Society is using a “Think Spring” theme this year. Guests are encouraged to consider the theme and wear their Sunday best.

On the menu will be tea sandwiches and sweets, along with coffee and hot tea and hot chocolate for children. The tea tables will be arranged in classic fashion with cloth tablecloths and napkins and feature a variety of china patterns and centerpieces.

A vintage fashion show will also take place so, really, it’s the best type of event for a hat.

Newberry said she’ll have a variety of her hats for sale, including “fascinators,” which have soared in popularity because of the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, who is fond of fascinators.

Fascinators are based on the idea of a headband that is elaborately embellished with flowers, or feathers or veils. So they are not really hats so much as headbands with attitude.

Newberry said some of her fascinator creations have butterflies, feathers and veiling.

“I’ve lived here over 30 years and all my family is still in England and I do like to see what the queen’s wearing and what Kate is wearing,” Newberry said. “They have the best hatmakers over there.”

Newberry has been making hats her whole life and seriously selling them for some 12 to 14 years. She was trained as a clothing designer in England where she received some training in hats, but it was her special affinity for hats that made her want to make them.

“It’s really something I’ve just done on my own,” Newberry said. “I’ve always been sewing and the creativity, which, I guess, I always had was brought out when I got to college.”

Newberry will either buy plain hats and decorate them or make hats from scratch, a complicated process that involves a variety of specialty equipment, wiring, steaming and sizing using a hat block.

“It’s not easy,” Newberry said.

Newberry said she can make pretty much any kind of hat but has her favorites, including Edwardian style and the cloche, made popular by the flappers in the 1920s.

She has actually received requests from women who need a hat for the Kentucky Derby or for a Derby party they plan to attend. Newberry likes to do those in a black and white pattern with pink roses or feathers.

Newberry acknowledges that not many people wear hats anymore.

“It’s a dying thing, to be honest,” she said. “When I was little, everybody wore a hat. My husband’s mother, who is German, even today, she has her big hat on if she’s going out because it’s part of being well dressed.

“Today, we are just so scruffy,” Newberry said and then laughed.

She admitted that she herself is a “very scruffy person” who just wants to make the hats.

“I’m not a real dress hog,” Newberry said. “I like the art part of it. If I could get up and do them in my pajamas, I’d be happy.”

Spring Tea

The Marysville Historical Society’s 10th Annual Spring Tea and Vintage Fashion Show is from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Tulalip Resort Hotel,10200 Quil Ceda Blvd., Tulalip.

Individual seats are still available for this event. Admission is by registration only. Seats are $25 each. The best way to register at this late date is to call Ken Cage, historical society president, at 425-308-8707 or society treasurer Meg Engelter at 425-314-3706.

Need a hat?

You can find Rita Newberry’s hats at Attic Secrets Cafe and Tea Shop, 4229 76th St. NE No. 101, Marysville, and at Katelyn’s Korner, 317 N Olympic Ave., Arlington. Or you can call Newberry at 360-651-1919.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Brandon Hailey of Cytrus, center, plays the saxophone during a headlining show at Madam Lou’s on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lynnwood-based funk octet Cytrus has the juice

Resilience and brotherhood take center stage with ‘friends-first’ band.

FILE - In this April 11, 2014 file photo, Neko Case performs at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. Fire investigators are looking for the cause of a fire on Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, that heavily damaged Case’s 225-year-old Vermont home. There were no injuries, though a barn was destroyed. It took firefighters two hours to extinguish the blaze. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP, File)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Singer-songwriter Neko Case, an indie music icon from Tacoma, performs Sunday in Edmonds.

Sarah Jean Muncey-Gordon puts on some BITCHSTIX lip oil at Bandbox Beauty Supply on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Langley, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Bandbox Beauty was made for Whidbey Island locals, by an island local

Founder Sarah Muncey-Gordon said Langley is in a renaissance, and she’s proud to be a part of it.

Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli
Tangier’s market boasts piles of fruits, veggies, and olives, countless varieties of bread, and nonperishables, like clothing and electronics.
Rick Steves on the cultural kaleidoscope of Tangier in Morocco

Walking through the city, I think to myself, “How could anyone be in southern Spain — so close — and not hop over to experience this wonderland?”

chris elliott.
Vrbo promised to cover her rental bill in Hawaii, so why won’t it?

When Cheryl Mander’s Vrbo rental in Hawaii is uninhabitable, the rental platform agrees to cover her new accommodations. But then it backs out. What happened?

Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn, seen here in 2013, will perform April 20 in Edmonds. (Associated Press)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

R0ck ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, frontman of The Byrds, plans a gig in Edmonds in April.

Mother giving in to the manipulation her daughter fake crying for candy
Can children be bribed into good behavior?

Only in the short term. What we want to do is promote good habits over the course of the child’s life.

Speech Bubble Puzzle and Discussion
When conflict flares, keep calm and stand your ground

Most adults don’t like dissension. They avoid it, try to get around it, under it, or over it.

The colorful Nyhavn neighborhood is the place to moor on a sunny day in Copenhagen. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves: Embrace hygge and save cash in Copenhagen

Where else would Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid statue and lovingly decorated open-face sandwiches be the icons of a major capital?

Last Call is a festured artist at the 2024 DeMiero Jazz Festival: in Edmonds. (Photo provided by DeMiero Jazz Festival)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Jazz ensemble Last Call is one of the featured artists at the DeMiero Jazz Festival on March 7-9 in Edmonds.

Kim Helleren
Local children’s author to read at Edmonds Bookshop

Kim Helleren will read from one of her books for kids at the next monthly Story Time at Edmonds Bookshop on March 29.

Chris Elliott
Lyft surprises traveler with a $150 cleaning charge

Jared Hakimi finds a $150 charge on his credit card after a Lyft ride. Is that allowed? And will the charge stick?

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.