‘There’s no end to what I can make’

University of Saskatchewan (USask) graduate Sherri Hrycay (BEd’94) has had a life-long passion for fashion.

“I always wanted to be a designer,” she said in a recent interview with the Green&White. “I have a book from when I was eight years old of all my little girl designs—like a portfolio.”

As a young child growing up in Saskatoon, Sask., Hrycay’s interest in fashion and attire began when she read Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series of books, which are primarily set in the Edwardian era. Hrycay was smitten by the “lovely illustrations” and “gorgeous hats” featured in the books, and they sparked her imagination and creativity.

“I live in my head a lot. I think you have to in order to design; I think you have to live in another place,” she said. “It was just romantic and beautiful, and the Edwardian times just really appealed to me, and that’s kind of where it started—and then it came easy to me.”

Hrycay learned to sew as a child by watching her mother sew at home. Her interest in fashion continued throughout her teenage years and into adulthood, and today she is living her dream as a successful milliner, clothing designer, and owner of Sova Design Millinery & Apparel in Saskatoon.

Even though she’s been primarily known for her hats, in recent years Hrycay’s linen clothing line has also taken off. Hrycay’s sales at Sova increased by 20 per cent this year, due in part to moving into the women’s wear space and creating the comfortable, size-inclusive clothing that she sells in her store, online, and as a wholesaler.

“I am absolutely infatuated with linen,” she said.

While design was always one of Hyrcay’s passions, as a teen she also worked as a dance teacher, a camp counsellor, and a music teacher. When she was in high school, she knew that she would go to university, and she applied for admission to USask’s College of Education.

“It was just sort of a natural thing for me to go into education,” she said.

Hrycay enjoyed her time at USask, especially the opportunity to study at the beautiful campus in her hometown alongside her friends. She earned her Bachelor of Education degree in 1994 and then began working as a substitute teacher in Saskatoon, where she focused on elementary school education and thrived while teaching art classes. Hrycay then took a full-time job at the Learning Disabilities Association of Saskatchewan before becoming engaged to her husband, fellow USask graduate Michael Hrycay (BSc(Hons)'99, CTESL'16, BEd'17), and relocating to Calgary, Alberta.

While in Calgary, Sherri Hrycay worked in a private school for students with learning disabilities and then found employment as a home economics teacher at a school for parenting teens in Calgary’s public school system. The home economics position was a great fit for Hrycay, who enjoyed sewing with the students. It reignited her own passion to create.

“I started taking design classes at night in Calgary and started making hats when my first child was born,” she said.

Today, Hrycay is a mother of three, with one daughter currently studying at USask. Hrycay’s husband is currently pursuing a Master of Education degree at USask, and Hrycay herself would one day like to return to the teaching profession, perhaps by showing others how to sew clothes and make hats. Although she left the classroom to become an entrepreneur, she sees many positive ways that her USask education continues to aid her in her business today.

“I think what university did for me was (instill) confidence—the ability to talk in front of a crowd,” she said.

“Even though I’m not teaching in a regular classroom, I think the education degree helped me to be where I am,” Hrycay added. “I think any little bit of learning is going to help form the person you are. Being a teacher and being organized and setting dates and goals and all that absolutely transferred to what I do today.”

It seems hat-making is literally in Hyrcay’s blood. In recent years, she learned that her biological grandfather, whom she never met, was a hat maker in France. She has reunited with her French relatives and continues to build those special relationships.

Hrycay made her first hat about 25 years ago and was instantly hooked, drawing inspiration from famed milliner Stephen Jones, as well as from her hometown on the Canadian prairies, and from fashions from bygone eras. She named her business Sova—which means owl in Ukrainian—as a way to pay tribute to her heritage and to her parents.

Making hats seems to come naturally to Hrycay, a primarily self-taught artist who has had the support of her family throughout her creative adventures.

“It was a lot of trial and error and my husband, he was just so encouraging,” she said. “He paid for me to go to London to do a master class and stuff like that. It was easy. I just knew how to make hats.”

Last year, Hrycay travelled to France and learned how to create hats on a straw-braid machine. She now works on a machine that’s more than 100 years old, feeding straw braids into it and then sewing them in circular patterns to create hats. She has also trained in the art of French flower-making, creating flowers to adorn her hats or to wear alone as headpieces.

“There’s no end to what I can make,” she said.

The popularity of various kinds of hats changes with the seasons at Sova. In the summer, for example, Hrycay imports Panama straw from Ecuador. In the winter, cloche hats tend to be the most popular style. Hyrcay uses fur felt—a rabbit fur imported from the Czech Republic— which covers the cartilage of the ears for warmth.

“It’s sort of like a toque, but classy,” she said.

Hrycay’s hats have attracted international attention; for example, on several occasions she’s been invited to make a hat for London Hat Week, and she has created and sold hats in Australia, England, and France. More than a decade ago, she was commissioned by Government House in Saskatchewan to replicate a variety of Queen Elizabeth II’s hats to represent the queen’s decades-long reign—an exhibit that was opened by Prince Charles (now King Charles III) in 2012.

“I like to create things that will outlast me, and people will wear,” said Hrycay. “I’ve seen it with my clothing, and I’ve seen it with my hats—people will ask each other, ‘So how many Sovas do you have?’ Sova’s actually become a noun.  . . . It’s a little piece of art.”