author
Gene Allen Martin
A practical early 20th-century millinery teacher, she wrote with the confidence of someone who knew both the classroom and the worktable. Her best-known book turns hat making into an approachable craft, mixing clear instruction with an eye for style and individuality.
1 Audiobook
Make your own hats
by Gene Allen Martin
About the author
Gene Allen Martin is known for Make Your Own Hats, first published in 1921. The book presents hat making as a skill that ordinary readers can learn, and it has remained findable through later reprints and public-domain editions.
The original front matter identifies her as director of the Domestic Arts Department of the Minneapolis Y.W.C.A., as well as a designer, demonstrator, and instructor in millinery. Those details suggest she wrote from direct teaching experience, aiming to help readers make attractive, wearable hats at home rather than treating millinery as something mysterious or unreachable.
Her writing is practical and encouraging, with advice on materials, proportion, color, and how a hat should suit the individual wearer. Beyond that professional snapshot, I couldn't confirm many biographical details from reliable sources, so this overview stays close to what her book itself clearly establishes.