Milliner Rachel Trevor-Morgan: Top hats

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I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel, I just want to make really beautiful pieces and make my clients look beautiful. Today, we're not as used to wearing hats as we once were, and for some people, if they're going to wear one, they want to make a bold statement. But it's very much down to the individual and working out what's best for them. I do have a lot of the more traditional shapes as bases as I think they're very flattering. But I also like to try and push things a bit here and there.

I set up around 26 years ago, after doing an apprenticeship with the milliner Graham Smith. It was sort of by accident, as I didn't know what I wanted to do after my A-levels – I thought I wanted to do theatre costume. So between that and my desire to live in London, I ended up doing the apprenticeship and absolutely loved it.

I don't think people appreciate the amount of work that goes into a hat. We use a process called blocking. We have many blocks – they're like shoe lasts – in all different shapes. We have them made to a standard hat size, and we can then add special fittings to make them smaller or pad them out. It's very 3D and quite sculptural, and creating the right shape for a customer is quite organic – steaming, pinning and shaping the straw. The decoration then goes on top of that. We shape all the feathers we use and dye them by hand. We make all the flowers by hand from various types of silk and we dye them by hand as well. We're always trying to work out what we can do to create different flowers – the lovely little details, such as the stamens, of particular varieties. It's very intricate and that's what's so pleasurable about the whole thing.

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For inspiration, I tend to look back to the wonderful 1940s and 50s, when everybody wore hats, and there were so many wonderful shapes. And, after 26 years, my clients inspire me, too. I also keep an eye on fashion to see what's going on with the cut of things as that affects the line of the hat, which is very important. It's all about creating balance with the rest of the silhouette. As hats are worn less, we can be more experimental. And I think women really enjoy wearing hats, deep down. People relish the idea of going to an event such as Royal Ascot, because everybody is wearing them so you can really go for it, whereas some may go to a wedding and worry about whether they are going to be the only one there with a hat.

It was amazing to be awarded the Royal Warrant – it's such a privilege. If nothing else happens, I feel it's a real achievement and I feel very fortunate to be making the Queen's hats. I have made about 80 hats for her, including for her 80th and 90th birthday celebrations, for Easter last year and a number of the pieces she has worn to Ascot over the years. She's probably worn more hats than anyone else in the world, and she always looks incredible. Her choice of colour blocking in the wonderful vibrant shades she wears really works.

The lead up to Ascot begins the previous August and September, when I do my spring/summer collection. A few keen customers who want to find a hat come in over the autumn months. But once we get past Christmas it really kicks off because women begin to think about their outfits and if they're having made-to-measure or bespoke pieces made they will be thinking about ordering those and then they'll come to me. I try, in my showroom, to have a really good cross-section of shapes and sizes and different ideas so that when people come in they can get a really good idea of what’s available. Their hat may then be based around something we already have, but with their bespoke colours and shapes.

I also do bridal wear and I find people are a lot more conservative with that. There aren't many brides who want to push the boat out because they want to look at the photographs in years to come and not regret their clothing choices. You have to remember that with bridal, it's really all about the dress. So you want to be complementing that, and not necessarily trying to make the grand statement. Although I do get some brides in who have a very simple dress and they want the head dress to be the main event – which is fun.

The tools of the craft of millinery haven't ever really changed – apart from our steam iron. But our wooden blocks are the same, our little metal tools for making flowers are the same – it's all very traditional. Although the great thing is that you can make hats out of anything, and people are making hats out of thermoplastics, for example. There are people who are far more experimental than I am, but I don't choose to go down that route as it's not what I feel is my handwriting as such. I want to bring newness and freshness to the collection – just not thermoplastic hats, as it's not my bag. New, different fabrics come in as the old ones stop production and that does force your hand to think laterally about how you're going to use them. Never say never, though – you don't know what's around the corner.

RACHEL TREVOR-MORGAN was granted the Royal Warrant as the Queen's milliner in 2014. Her atelier is on Crown Passage in London's St James's; racheltrevormorgan.com