Linda Jenkins - milliner: Lisa tries on a hat in the Kangaroo Island region of South Australia

There's no shortage of inspiration on Kangaroo Island for anyone with an artistic flare. So for milliner, Linda Jenkins, it's the ideal place to base herself while she creates hats that are a hit with the young and old.

We caught up with her in her Penneshaw workshop where she was putting the finishing touches to a hat that began with an old belt-buckle collected from the Kingscote Op Shop.

Linda once worked as a machinist for Myer in Adelaide so the process of hat making is second nature to her. It's the mixing and matching that really fires her imagination.

"I think it's in my genes…" she laughed as she explained that her grandmother was also a milliner. Her Gran worked with felt but Linda works with anything she can get her hands on like sea shells for a summer hat.

"I've been playing with fabrics for over thirty years so I just manipulate all sorts of things."

And it works. All of her hats are the product of a long quest for materials and hours and hours at the sewing machine - with a fundamental philosophy:

"I like them to be functional, practical and beautiful," she said.

Linda's hats are available at her workshop in Penneshaw. You need to call first. There are also plenty on display at Adelaide Hatters in Adelaide Arcade. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Linda Jenkins - Milliner
Penneshaw workshop
Ph (08) 8553 1559

Adelaide Hatters
Shop 47 Adelaide Arcade
Ph (08) 8224 0131

Published 13th August 2006