Childs Regency Bonnet pt2

This is not the best bonnet example for a tutorial and yet to my mind that also makes it an excellent bonnet for a tutorial. I have made many beautiful bonnets and it's amazing what I learn from trying new designs and techniques.

Please note the following- There is no single correct way to make a bonnet. Of the originals I have been privileged to examine or view, there were multiple ways in which they were constructed and covered.

I am making some compromises on this bonnet. I would normally use cane to shape a Regency bonnet and I wouldn't normally use anything on a quilted bonnet. As this is for my 10 month old daughter I am using a soft/flexible millinery wire so that it is more durable. I am using a thin and softer buckram to give form to the quilting. I also usually fully construct the bonnet form and then cover and trim it. As I am quilting this bonnet I will cover it and then construct it. I also rarely fully line a bonnet in silk as it is a waste of fabric that is not seen. Very few of the originals I have examined have been lined.

I am constructing this bonnet and writing this guide while traveling to and from an event. So please excuse my shoddily taken photos.

To start with I cut out the silk with seam allowance.

I also cut buckram and quilters cotton batting without seam allowance.

I then basted the batting to the buckram and whip stitched millinery wire to the outside edge of the brim piece.

Normally I would cover the bonnet in silk after constructing the bonnet form. For this bonnet however, I am experimenting with covering the bonnet first with the silk.

I pinned then hand stitched the silk over the brim.

I was constructing this bonnet in the car and I had forgotten both my ruler and calliper. In the end I used a birthday card to draw my quilting lines.

I did have to unpick a few times due to very crooked stitching. Probably from a combination of dodgy lines and moving vehicle. I do NOT recommend this technique at all.

The crown was then only quilted on one side.

Next I constructed the bonnet. I started by joining the back of the brim.

To match the quilting running stitch I used a visible running stitch to attach the crown inside of the brim.

The completed form.

Next I had to decorate the completed form.

I tacked a thin cotton ribbon inside the brim that ties under the child's chin to hold the bonnet on and stabilize it. The outer ribbon is primary decoration

 

 

  Around the neck section I fan/pleated a decorative ribbon

 

  Using a matching blue silk thread I chain stitched around the outside of the quilting to tidy it up and complete the design.

Bonnet Patterning (Regency 2 Piece)

Making a bonnet pattern can seem daunting, but it's actually fairly simple. There are many ways it can be done. For this guide I used sticky tape, scissors and A3 cartridge paper.

My daughter needed a Regency bonnet. I found this simple design on google. I will link to the original source when I have a little more time.

I started by making a tube the same measurement as my daughter's head. Then twisted it to make it slightly conical and sticky tapes it into place.

Next I cut into the paper to create an opening the size of the back of my daughter's neck. Paper can also be added to make it rounder and remove the "V" from twisting the paper. To make the shape stable enough to start forming the brim I made the crown pattern. There are two types of crowns.

1. Flat with a sharp edge

2. Circular and rounded.

This bonnet has the second type. They are both formed similarly. Trace around the inside of the back of the cone shape onto another piece of paper. For the flat you cut out the shape traced and sticky tape it on as is. 

For this one though I added an inch evenly around and them slightly pleated the paper.

This can then be attached to the cone on the inside or outside. I chose the inside as I still needed to shape the back of the bonnet.

Depending on the type of bonnet the depth at the crown can be deeper or shallower.

As my daughter is only 10 months old she will not sit still, so I used a foam head to shape for the most part. Then double checked alterations on her head. This was my beginning basic form.

For this bonnet I needed to reshape it around the crown, so I cut the paper in thin slivers until I was happy with the shape.

I also slowly shaped the brim/front until the paper matched the image. I only work on one side. This means if I make a mistake I can start again on the other side with starting from scratch.

As I managed to get my pattern correct on the first side I removed the crown and flattened it. I could then cut the other side to match. If you had a problem with one side you can cut the pattern in half and then cut your fabric on a fold.

The completed pattern

I will add further construction notes in future posts as I complete this bonnet.

Remaking A Well Loved Hat

My first hats was a straw hat made for my by my husband. He began my interest in costuming many years ago. He lovingly went out and purchased a straw hat and then shortened the crown as a gift for me. I have always loved and cherished this hat. In that process it has been worn a lot and in many different weathers and has for a while now been looking very sad.

In its first life it just had a simple black velvet ribbon to decorate it. Please excuse my dodgy outfit, it was my first.

Its second life 2009, decorated for a christmas parade... which funny enough we ended up not attending.

Then its third life 2010, no more silly flowers... but its very damaged from wear and rain.... the poor thing.

I did not think much of it till recently at the Barossa Goldfields when I saw how shocking it had begun to look. That was when I decided it was time for a fourth and far better life. 

 I began by whip stitching millinery wire to the brim. Leo was kind enough to test its strength and durability.

The crown also has lining which I removed to place buckram in and then refitted the lining to strengthen the crown. It really was very damaged from the rain. 

A friend of mine, Mandi, was wonderful enough to let me have some of her goreous black lace to decorate the hat. It is amazing how lucky I am in my friendship circles. They are always a source of help, advice and resources. Mandi was also amazingly helpful in helping me to decide on my trim and decoration. It is wonderful to have people that you can bounce ideas and photos off for honest opinions. If left on my own I was also going to put a curtain on it using the lace... but as pointed out it was bit too lampshade looking.

 As I had the gathers on the crown, I then covered this with some thinner lace.

I decided that I did not want to go floral and I had chosen my lining as a green shot with yellow taffeta (which was also given to me by a lady that I met at a tea dance) so I wanted to avoid flowers. Instead I found some dark red cherry clusters in my stash of trimmings. These are amazing little cherries as they are wax dipped. I also found to my amazement that I had some synthetic moire ribbon that matched the lining taffeta almost perfectly. I was very lucky in retrimming this hat.

To line the hat I bias taped the edges using tape I had made with the fabric. I then cut out a rectangle of fabric and pleated it and pinned it into place. It was then tacked on using cotton thread.

To finish the crown I put a bias tape over the edges of the pleats.

I am very happy with how the hat looks now and I hope that I will be able to enjoy it in its new life for many more years to come. 

 Me proudly wearing the hat at Urbrae House. 

... and just in case anyone was wondering my manequines have a wonderful feature where I can place removable hat stands into their necks. I dont often use the one on my female form, but they do come in handy when setting out an outfit the night before or putting full outfits on display.

1830s Dress and Bonnet

About two years ago I started work on my late 1830's dress. I am not overly fond of this time period (being 6 foot tall I do not like to emphasis my height with big puffy shoulders) so I decided to make a dress that is late 1830's by modifying it from the larger earlier sleeve by pleating the top into tacked bands. Anyways, as my heart was not fully into making this dress it took a long time to get around to finally making it. I was mainly prompted to finish it for two events: the anniversary of the birthday of Charles Sturt and for the START children's event for the Turner Exhibition at the Adelaide Art Gallery.

Surprisingly, I had lost about 1" since I made my toile so it fitted with only slight alterations. So I was very happy :-).

These dresses are very easy to construct and fit for people that have prior experience in mid Victorian sewing. The sleeves, however, are a challenge.

 A close up of the bodice. Normally I have Nic to take photos, but he was interstate at the time on a survey.

The bodice is a one piece front with a single dart on each side. The back has hooks and eyes for closure down the CB. It also has SB seems. All of the seems are piped in silk. I chose this for a contrast colour as the fabric is a little too pale for my liking and I was worried about being washed out. I also thought it would help to highlight the features.

 The sleeves that create a lot of drama. These took more time than the rest of the dress put together. I had to pull them apart 3 times to get them to fit. They were made it two pieces. the bottom section and cuff are piped in the silk and lined in plain cotton. The top half of the sleeve is a giant gigot that would normally be a large puffy sleeve. To make the pleats with the fabric required to keep the puff I sectioned the sleeve off and tacked the pleats in place. I then had to make the pleats double in order to ensure it did not pull too much to the front or back (this happened the first time I constructed it, the puff sat to the front and was flat in the back). I then pressed it and hand sewed it in to the armhole. The pressing was important to ensure that the pleats stayed flat as while working on the cross in some sections it was pulling while working down the pleat.  Once it was sewn into the armhole I then hand tacked the sleeve pleats down into the arm bands. The arm bands were just 1 cm wide strips of fabric with silk piping on the sides. Once the gigot sections were in, I then attached the bottom cuffs and whipped the edges to finish them off.

As you can see from this photo of the inside, as long as it looks good on the outside the inside doesn't really matter when you are trying to fit that much fabric into such a small circumference.

 Before I began work on this dress Jessie had given me a matching purple cameo style belt buckle that was the inspiration for my silk colour choice. As I was running late for completing this, the belt was mostly made by Jessie. She is a wonderful help when overwhelmed. 

 The completed dress outside of the Adelaide Art Gallery. I hate how flat the skirt is. I really need more petticoats.

This bonnet I purchased 3 years ago, second hand. It was made for the original 1980's anniversary celebration of our state. The poor bonnet had seen better days. It had a huge tear in the front and was decorated in fluro pink ribbons. The ribbons were the easy part to fix, but I was able to repair the tear as well. I wired the brim and tacked down some shape-well to reinforce the tear. To cover these repairs I had to wire the brim and line the inside to hide the damage. The outside was barely noticeable but I still put a decorative ribbon up over the tear.

 The only visible section of the tear. 

 I am not overly into floral decorations, so I tried to keep it simple with ribbons only. As Jessie offered to tack most of the ribbons down I did give in and let her put a single flower on it.

Anyways these make up two of the challenges for the historical sewing fortnightly.

The Challenge 9# Flora and Fauna - 1836-38 Cotton Dress

Fabric: 100% Printed Cotton

Notions: Cotton string for piping, silk for piping, metal hooks, Vintage Buckle, silk thread
Pattern: None - toiled to my body and the sleeves drafted from Brian Reader's ' Making Costumes of the Eighteen-Thirties'
Year:  1836-38
How historically accurate is it? About 80%, the fabric is natural and printed, there is some machine sewing, construction is similar to dresses in Kay Invererity's original dress collections. (before beginning sewing in 2011, she held a workshop to explore her original garments to gain an understanding of the construction)
Hours to complete: minus the two years sitting on the roll in my wardrobe.... 8 days x 8 hours.... plus extra.... sooo way too many when I should have been working on my ethics proposal.
First worn: 28th April
Total cost: I think the cotton was about $72 and the silk was about $28 and the thread about $5... This is just guess work as I did purchase all of this 2 years ago.

The Challenge 10# Literature - 1830s Straw Bonnet (Inspired by Mrs.Octavia Pole from Cranford)

Fabric: Straw Bonnet form

Notions: Brown Polyester Ribbon, Millinery Wire, Shape-well, Ivory Polyester Satin, Yellow Thread
Pattern: None - I did get inspiration from fashion plates
Year:  1830s
How historically accurate is it? About 50%, the shape of the bonnet is accurate, but I was unable to get around to purchasing non synthetic fabric or ribbon due to time constraints  as as this is not one of my favourite time periods I will probably not change it later.
Hours to complete: about 6 hours
First worn: 28th April by Jessie for Sturt's Birthday and a week later by me at the Art Gallery
Total cost: about $20 for ribbon and fabric