Adventures in Millinery
(cross posted to my personal LJ)
SO, for the 18th century picnic, I decided to make a hat. I've never made a hat before, although I made parts of one at an early DFWCG event three-ish (has it really been that long?!) years ago. Although I never finished that hat, it gave me some ideas about how to go about constructing one.
When I decided to make my own regency bonnet, it was the week before the event, so I decided to use what I had on hand. First I did a tiny bit of research on the internet and ran across Timely Tresses, who has some really cool looking hats AND hat patterns (which I will be visiting again soon to pick up a pattern or two), and decided to try to do the center cream hat:
My husband and I had discussed hardware store costuming before, so we had purchased a roll of fiberglass screen to use instead of buckram:
I also had some memory wire that people who make jewelry use. So, I decided to use that to give the edges of the hat some strength:
Then for the brim, I taped two pieces of paper together to make it long enough, cut out a general shape of the brim, and posed it on my head. I trimmed off bits until I got the general shape I wanted. Here's the pattern I ended up with:
Then I put it on my fabric, traced the "pattern" with my fabric chalk, and cut it out, adding a small seam allowance:
For the back portion of the bonnet, I recruited my husband, who taught me how to use geometry to cut a circle (it's been a LONG time since I had any math :P ). My circle I think was 18 inches in diameter:
Here I am basting the wire to the brim:
Ta-dah!
And now the wire has been fixed to both sides of the brim:
Next I pinned the fabric to the brim:
Then I stitched it down.
Here I've tucked the raw edges underneath and pinned the second piece to the inside of the brim (both pieces were the exact same size, cut from my paper pattern):
And then, of course, I stitched it down, thus hiding all the raw edges:
You can see that the weight of the fabric has made the brim buckle a little. I haven't decided if I am going to use two pieces of screen for the next hat, or maybe a stiff fabric as a lining. However, velveteen is quite heavy so that could be the problem. I'm not sure. Luckily, I think that it looked quite right on, so perhaps it's not too much of an actual problem at all?
For the back portion of the hat (not sure what that part is called, but it's the circle), I sewed a hem:
Then I did a running stitch along most of one edge and gathered it to fit on the brim of the hat:
I left a bit at the bottom for my neck, etc. I eyeballed the fit, tried it on a few times, and stitched it on:
I had some gold organdy ribbon that I tacked on. I also learned a bit about cartridge pleating. As you can see, I did it wrong, but for a first try (both the hat and the cartridge pleating), it looks acceptable since it was the day before the event.
I am going to fix it, though, or it will drive me crazy.
When I tried the bonnet on, I wasn't pleased with the fullness of the back. Plus, as it's velveteen, it's heavy, so the fullness sagged. Ick. I had a bright idea and "pinch gathered" two spots and used up some of that surplus. I'm not sure what the technique is actually called, but I simply pinched part of the hat until the fullness was where I wanted it, and then put a gather there:
I think it looks cute!
The trim was simple - just the organdy ribbon, which I used to make a rossette that I stitched to one side. Unfortunately, all the pictures I have are of the other side! Heh.
Anyway, here is a picture of the finished bonnet:
SO, for the 18th century picnic, I decided to make a hat. I've never made a hat before, although I made parts of one at an early DFWCG event three-ish (has it really been that long?!) years ago. Although I never finished that hat, it gave me some ideas about how to go about constructing one.
When I decided to make my own regency bonnet, it was the week before the event, so I decided to use what I had on hand. First I did a tiny bit of research on the internet and ran across Timely Tresses, who has some really cool looking hats AND hat patterns (which I will be visiting again soon to pick up a pattern or two), and decided to try to do the center cream hat:
My husband and I had discussed hardware store costuming before, so we had purchased a roll of fiberglass screen to use instead of buckram:
I also had some memory wire that people who make jewelry use. So, I decided to use that to give the edges of the hat some strength:
Then for the brim, I taped two pieces of paper together to make it long enough, cut out a general shape of the brim, and posed it on my head. I trimmed off bits until I got the general shape I wanted. Here's the pattern I ended up with:
Then I put it on my fabric, traced the "pattern" with my fabric chalk, and cut it out, adding a small seam allowance:
For the back portion of the bonnet, I recruited my husband, who taught me how to use geometry to cut a circle (it's been a LONG time since I had any math :P ). My circle I think was 18 inches in diameter:
Here I am basting the wire to the brim:
Ta-dah!
And now the wire has been fixed to both sides of the brim:
Next I pinned the fabric to the brim:
Then I stitched it down.
Here I've tucked the raw edges underneath and pinned the second piece to the inside of the brim (both pieces were the exact same size, cut from my paper pattern):
And then, of course, I stitched it down, thus hiding all the raw edges:
You can see that the weight of the fabric has made the brim buckle a little. I haven't decided if I am going to use two pieces of screen for the next hat, or maybe a stiff fabric as a lining. However, velveteen is quite heavy so that could be the problem. I'm not sure. Luckily, I think that it looked quite right on, so perhaps it's not too much of an actual problem at all?
For the back portion of the hat (not sure what that part is called, but it's the circle), I sewed a hem:
Then I did a running stitch along most of one edge and gathered it to fit on the brim of the hat:
I left a bit at the bottom for my neck, etc. I eyeballed the fit, tried it on a few times, and stitched it on:
I had some gold organdy ribbon that I tacked on. I also learned a bit about cartridge pleating. As you can see, I did it wrong, but for a first try (both the hat and the cartridge pleating), it looks acceptable since it was the day before the event.
I am going to fix it, though, or it will drive me crazy.
When I tried the bonnet on, I wasn't pleased with the fullness of the back. Plus, as it's velveteen, it's heavy, so the fullness sagged. Ick. I had a bright idea and "pinch gathered" two spots and used up some of that surplus. I'm not sure what the technique is actually called, but I simply pinched part of the hat until the fullness was where I wanted it, and then put a gather there:
I think it looks cute!
The trim was simple - just the organdy ribbon, which I used to make a rossette that I stitched to one side. Unfortunately, all the pictures I have are of the other side! Heh.
Anyway, here is a picture of the finished bonnet: