All posts filed under: Tutorial

Tutorial: How to turn a straw or paper fedora into a 1920s style cloche

A lot of you commented on the hat I wore to Art Deco Weekend, and I promised to do a tutorial on how to make your own ’20s style cloche from a modern straw fedora. In this tutorial we’ll go from this modern straw fedora (yes, that is me trying to do duckface.  It feels obligatory with a hat like that): To this plausibly ’20s or early 1930s summer cloche: You’ll need: – A modern woven (not shaped and sewn) soft straw or paper fedora just big enough for you to pull down to eyebrow level.  It must be paper or soft straw: synthetic hats and very hard/crisp straw won’t reshape properly. – Needle and thread or a sewing machine – Hot water – Hat elastic (any narrow elastic will do) or wire (not needed if your hat has a wired brim) – Ribbon, fabric, feathers etc. for trimming. – A hair dryer, dehumidifier or sunny day also help, but aren’t necessary! First, I’ve mentioned sizing in the list of what you’ll need.  It is …

Tutorial: How to turn a straw sunhat into an 18th century bergere

Here’s a quick and easy tutorial to turn a modern straw hat into a mid-late 18th century bergere style hat.  It’s not, of course, historically accurate, but it’s quick, easy, and looks effective. We’ll go from this: To this: You’ll need: – A broad brimmed,  woven straw hat.  It doesn’t matter if it fits you, but it has to be woven (not braided and sewn together), and it has to be straw. – Scissors – Hot water – A round metal pan or bowl with a flat base approximately 6 inches/ 15 centimeters across – A hot glue gun –  Needle and thread – Ribbon, fabric, feathers etc. for trimming. First, have a look at a few 18th century straw hat inspiration pictures, and decide what style you want.  Note that some have very shallow crowns, some (usually later in the 18th century) a bit deeper.  Some have teeny-tiny crowns, some much wider.  Brims can be broad or narrow, can turn up or down.  Plus there are all the variants in trim.  All of these …

Tips and tricks for hand-sewing (historical and otherwise)

A lot of people are astonished when the hear that I sew entire 18th century garments by hand, and mention that they find handsewing hard and intimidating.  Here are 5 quick tricks to make it a lot easier – whether you are hand-sewing your own elaborate historical garment, or just sewing on a button or mending a tiny seam. 1. Use good needles (and the right kind).   There are different qualities of needles, and different types of needles, and it’s important to have the best quality needles you can afford, and to use the right type the type of sewing and the type of thread you are using. Yes, a packet of good, high-quality needles can cost you up to $9, whereas the bargain store have  them for $1, but the last time a student brought in bargain needles to a class of mine we ended up tossing the whole packet because they were all blunt (really blunt.  The tip of each was FLAT).  You may spend more money initially to buy really good …