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An 1860s maybe mourning bonnet

Another Historical Sew Fortnighly Challenge down.

This time I made an 1860s bonnet to wear with my Greek key afternoon dress.

I was roughly inspired by this bonnet from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Bonnet, 1862, American, straw, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 17.15.9

I started out with a simple hat that I’d unsuccessfully reshaped a 1920s cloche. It was just too big for my head to work.

So I cut off the back and trimmed down the sides.

The original idea was that I would use pale pink ribbons, but they simply didn’t look right. And it turns out I didn’t have any black lace in my stash that worked (how is that possible?). So I ended up going with palest grey rayon ribbon and a silver and black lace.

Obviously the silver didn’t look right, so I had some fun on the sewing machine:

I pinned all the ribbons on the hat until it looked good:

And then there was lots, and lots and lots of handsewing.

I’m really pleased about the lace – I picked it up over the weekend at Fabric-a-Brac, and the pointed edges ech the edges of the black lace beautifully (I’m having a brain blank and can’t remember the technical name – one of those days).

And here is the end result:

All the muted black and grey makes it look quite subdued. It could possibly be a half mourning bonnet, but I haven’t researched whether un-dyed straw was acceptable for half-mourning in the 1860s. I’ll look into that, and if it doesn’t work for half-mourning, I’ll add some cerise flowers. That’s how I’ll wear it with the Greek Key dress in any case.

The Challenge: #7 — Tops & Toes

Pattern: None, just fiddling with shapes until they matched period silhouettes.

Year: 1860-4

Notions: One straw hat, 10 metres of pearl gray rayon ribbon ($1pm), 3 metres of silver and black lace ($1pm), 4 metres of vintage lace (50 cents the lot), lots and lots of thread.

How historically accurate is it? My construction techniques are half period perfect and half completely mad. The materials are pretty iffy, but I do think the overall look would pass pretty well in 1862. 60%?

Hours to complete: 6. It was supposed to be a simple, quick project, but grew. A lot.

First worn: To wash dishes. I was trying to take pictures, and got distracted. It’s not a good bonnet for washing dishes as it happens. The ribbons rather get in the way. I’m sure it will be much better outside on a fine day!

Total cost: $13.50

An 1860s inspired bonnet thedreamstress.com

Rate the Dress: Bottle Green Riding Habit

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I showed Ã‰lisabeth Alexandrine in a mad hat and a bizarre fabric dress and a robe. Many of you found the hat just wee bit weird, but the suggestion of the outfit as a masquerade costume for Nanny Ogg tilted the balance in its favour (and besides, it was rich and elegant and fashion forward), and the rating came in at exactly 8.5 out of 10.

This week’s Rate the Dress was chosen primarily because the mannequin and presentation are strong contenders for the creepiest costume photos ever. I’m not sure it quite beats the staging of the plunging Regency frock for dreadfulness, but I could equally see it as a Dr Who villain!

Riding habit of green wool, circa 1825. From the Rijks Museum.

So yeah, no points for the mannequin. But what do you think of the riding habit with its gold trim and high standing collar? The gigot sleeves and back pleated skirt? Perfect sartorial elegance for a day with equines, or too stiff and formal?

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10.

An instant gratification ironing board cover

Published by The Dreamstress

Do you ever have days where you have a plan for the day, and you totally throw it out the window because you need to make something and have it done NOW?

Saturday was exactly that kind of day for me. In the morning I volunteered at Fabric-a-Brac and bought lots of gorgeous goodies (I shared some of them on Facebook, and will be showing you a project made with something else I got on Wednesday).

I was supposed to spend the afternoon working on a dress that I’m planning to wear to a wedding I’m going to next weekend. When I began to work on the dress and tried to iron the fabric I was just so disgusted with my ironing board cover that I couldn’t deal with it anymore.

I whipped out some heavy white cotton fabric I’d bought less than two hours before, pulled out some wool batting from Made on Marion, and some purple lingerie elastic I’d got in a Wellington Sewing Bloggers swap (purple isn’t a colour I like for underwear, and it was the only elastic I had around the house that was the right width, length and elasticity) and got to work.

I used my old ironing board cover as a pattern:

I just drew a chalk line around it. In retrospect I wish I’d added more ease all around the edges, because my old cover (you can see how revolting looking it is in this photo) was ‘shaped’ on the corners, and more ease would have pulled the cover tighter on the ironing board.

Then I zig-zagged the elastic all around the edges, pulling the elastic tight as I sewed.

And there it was – the cover pretty much done! I know it’s boring, but I really like plain white ironing board covers, so that I can see if they get any marks or stains that might transfer to my fabric.

My ironing board pad was just as disgusting as the cover, so I used it as a pattern to cut a new one out of the wool batting. I’m using two layers, but want to buy a bit more so I can have three.

I like this photo – the wool batting looks like scissors and you can see my awesome red patent leather shoes.

I had to piece the batting a bit on one piece:

Then I sewed pieces of elastic on either end to slip under the bottom of the ironing board to hold the cover on snug. And, less than an hour later, I was done:

Very gratifying! And something that has been on my to-do list for ages but was never quite the top priority is finally done.

Miss Fiss approves by the way:

As far as she is concerned I just re-covered her throne.

She loves the ironing board because 1) I’m always using it so it must be important and thus should be hogged, 2) I’m always using it so it’s often warm, 3) it’s padded, and 4) it puts her at the perfect height for all sorts of passing pets and cuddles.