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Beyond hats: making a bonnet

A looooooong time ago, when I first made Aline’s By the Seashore ensemble, I really fretted about the hat.

Aline and her bonnet

I tried to figure out what kind of hat it was, and how I was going to make it.  And then I put it in the too-hard basket.

And then I saw this adorable little bonnet thingee at the Met:

Straw bonnet, ca 1880, Metropolitan Museum of Art

And I said to myself “Hey, that’s really cute!”

And then I checked out the other views of the bonnet, and I said “Hey, that looks a lot like Aline’s hat”

 

Straw bonnet, 1880, Metropolitan Museum of Art

And since it’s three years later, and I’ve acquired a lot more experience, or at least a lot more hubris, I thought, “Hey, I’ll give it a try.”

I had this brilliant idea (which, for once, did turn out to be brilliant) to make a mock-up in brown paper.  Simpler than sewing one, and paper is already stiff.

Brown paper crown mock-up

It worked surprisingly well, and while my first mock-up wasn’t great, it really showed what I needed to tweak:

Tee hee! It's so funny looking!

I cut down the crown a lot, and spread out the brim into a wider, deeper curve.

The curved and spread out brim of my alterations to my first mock-up

My next version was a little less Tyrolean peasant:

Wider, curved, deeper brim. Smaller crown

It didn’t look too bad on me either:

Much better! Still not great though...

It looked good, or a least it looked good as far as I could tell with imperfect sideways glances late at night, so I cut it apart for pattern pieces.

The pattern pieces laid out on the buckram

After the buckram was cut out, I used it as the pattern to cut out pieces from the leftover scraps of linen-cotton that I used to make Aline’s jacket out of.  I know, kinda matchy-matchy, but matchy-matchy is better than totally-looks-wrong-with-this.  And besides, it finally got the last of that linen out of my massive scrap pile!

The buckram pieces on my two biggest scraps of linen

For the lining, I found a bit of darkest indigo-purple china silk ripped from some kimono lining.  Mmmm…delicious!

The lining silk, and the outer linen-cotton

The silk was so light and slippery that I actually pinned the buckram and linen to it, cut it out, and then sewed it, all without ever taking out the pins:

Cutting out the brim

I used zig-zag stitches around all the edges instead of basting.  They were easier and more forgiving than straight stitches.

With all my pieces cut and based, I sewed the top of the crown to the crown, finished the inside of the crown seam, and pinned the brim on:

Hehe. I don't know why, but the way the brim looks when it is pinned cracks me up

More sculptural brim shots:

Mmmm...I'm so in love with that raisin colour

Once the brim was sewn on, I realised it was way too big and ‘Little House on the Prairie’ bonnet-y.  So I cut off a huge piece of it:

Marks to cut down the brim

And that’s that for now.

Tomorrow’s ‘Rate the Dress’, but I’ll be back to hatmaking on Wed with a post on finishing the hat, and trimming it.

Dear Felicity

There is a warm spot in front of the heater just a few metres to the right of you.  Mr Dreamy’s lap is just a few metres to the left.

So why, oh why, do you insist on sitting firmly in the middle of the fabric I am trying to work with!?!

Naughty kitty!

A rainy day photoshoot – the 1871 pink extravaganza

Madame Ornata, Sarah of Diana Villiers and I have been having such fun with photoshoots that we planned another one for last weekend.

Unfortunately for us, the weather did not cooperate: the day dawned all grey and drizzly.  Sarah thought we should postpone, but both Madame O and I had Mother’s Day commitments, so we voted to press on.

I really wanted a proper photoshoot with my 1871 Pink Extravaganza ensemble (it’s pretty much the oldest thing still in my closet, and it’s never been properly photographed!), and the rain meant I got a chance to use my pretty umbrella. Madame O wore my 1882 ‘By the Seashore’ ensemble and Mrs C got dolled up as a female Dr Who and joined us.

We had a fantastic time, and Sarah got some amazing shots, but it really wasn’t the best circumstances for a shoot: my photos are all rather mediocre because of the glaring light, and the hem of my dress got soaked from the damp.  Next time maybe we should listen to the proper photographer!

These are the photos that Madame O got on my camera of me.  I’ll post images of Madame O in my 1882 ‘By the Seashore’ ensemble in a few days (and, of course, you already got a sneak peek of her yesterday!), and a sampling of Sarah’s much better images as she processes them.  Or you could cheat and follow her livejournal ;-).

Umbrella's are good for rain - and hiding modern scenery!

Umbrella's are good for rain - and hiding modern scenery!

 

Trying to get my train out of the damp
Trains are so fun!
Standing on the front porch, surveying my domain
Bustles and buildings
You really need that bulk of skirts to compete with the architecture!

The  building in the background is the Old Government Building, constructed in 1876.  It is the 2nd largest wooden building in the world (largest in the Southern Hemisphere), and currently houses the Victoria University Law School.  It’s one of the oldest extent buildings in Wellington, and made a fabulous place for a photoshoot.

This photoshoot reminded me that I’m not entirely happy with the Pink Extravaganza (bustling is wrong, I forgot to tie some of the tie-backs, the underskirt is too small in the waist and the overskirt is too big, and the sleeves don’t sit right), so I need to tweak it a little, and then do another photoshoot.  And this time I’ll iron the skirt first!