After doing a degree in embroidery at Manchester Metropolitan University. My first hat collection – of 30 vintage-inspired hats – was made in my bedroom and sold out in a day to boutiques in Oxfordshire. I decided to move to London to expand the business but for the first three-and-a-half years, I lived on a narrowboat so
I could afford my showroom near Richmond. Money was tight, but I feared teaming up with an investor would mean losing creative control. Instead, I did everything myself: design, finance, bookkeeping, advertising, sourcing materials. It was a learning curve.

Is a mix of client meetings and actual millinery. When I’m working on a piece I start by seeing how a fabric works on the hat blocks (the wooden shapes the hats are made on) then steam and pin it in place, stiffening it if necessary and waiting for it to dry. If the design has a brim then I make that out of wire, stitch it to the edge and cover it in fabric. Trims such as feathers are dyed, cut and curled into the right shape. I work seven days a week, until 7pm, though I do give myself Saturday and Sunday mornings off.

Was when the Duchess of Cambridge wore one of my pieces to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Seeing it on TV was the best moment of my life – I was at my parents’ house with my friends and we had champagne to celebrate.

A day in the life of Jane Taylor, milliner to Kate Middleton