By Tom Batters
Times Newspapers
The hatrack in the corner of
Jane Peplow’s dining room
contains several black wool
hats – the classy kind, like
the ones Audrey Hepburn
wore in “Breakfast at
Tiffany’s.”
In the room just down the
hall, Peplow is feverishly
knitting the finishing touches
on another hat, because she
knows they will not sit on the
rack for long.
Peplow, owner of “Classic Woolens,” makes hats and
scarves from her Dunlap
home and sells them on the
Internet and at trade shows
across the Midwest.
The business that started out
small five years ago has grown,
and her hats and scarves are in high demand from loyal
customers all over the world.
“The business has
doubled
every year,” she said. “People
come looking for me at shows
now, and they are
disappointed if I’m not there.”
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The
peak period for trade
shows is from October to
December, so Peplow spends
all year making sure she has
enough hats to travel.
She will attend shows in
Wheaton, Glen Ellyn,
Champaign and Galva this
fall.
“I certainly don’t want to
run out of hats,” she said.
Peplow, 55, said she acquired
a knack for knitting as a child
when she used to watch her
mother make all kinds of
things.
It continued as a hobby
throughout her adult life.
One day, a friend mentioned
the art of felting hats, and
Peplow immediately wanted
to try it herself.
“It was something I really
enjoyed,” she said. “But
at that
point, I didn’t think I would
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make
it into a business. It was
just a fun hobby.”
In 1997, she started to take
her hobby more seriously. She
attended some trade shows
and set up her Web site,
www.classicwoolens.com.
“I grossed $500 that
first
year,” she said, smiling. “It’s
come a long way since then.”
Peplow designs and crafts the
hats herself.
She starts with an idea in
her
head and then goes through “a
lot of trial and error” before
she makes the design into an
actual hat.
“I write down everything I
do, including the mistakes,”
she said. “It’s like
coming up
with a good recipe. Sometimes
it works and sometimes it
doesn’t.”
Once the design is finished,
she spends about four hours
knitting and felting each hat.
She shrinks each one in
boiling water and shapes them
all individually by hand.
For some of the
hats, she
sews on ribbons or buckles.
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All
of the hats have her own
label sewn into them.
Even
though the business
has
grown tremendously,
Peplow said she is open for
the possibility of it growing
even more.
“I would love for
somebody
to see my designs and ask me
to do a line for their
boutique,” she said. “Then,
I
might have to hire some
assistants. But, for now, I do
everything myself.”
Peplow also works
part-time
at D.A. Hoerr Nurseries.
She
lives with her husband,
Wayne, who is retired from
Caterpillar. He is now the
part-time fire chief for the
village of Dunlap. They
have
three children and four
grandchildren.
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Photography by R. K. Robinson
