A Hood is Good

It is nice when both babies take naps at the same exact time in the afternoons! A few hours of uninterrupted time to do just what I like. This afternoon I sized up the hood pattern from the marquise.de site.

You see, last evening my mother in law brought over a huge bag full of scraps she had bought for cheap at a thrift store. Inside was a lovely assortment of velvets and wools. After a somewhat dangerous experimentation with cuttings and the gas stove this morning it was determined that all but three pieces of the wool were good for 1860's things. The synthetic things were promptly tossed, and the rest sorted out. (I'm going to use the brown velveteen I found amongst the things for my buckram bonnet. Pics to come as I progress on that).

After drawing out the pattern on paper I decided to make a practice hood just to see how the pieces went together and if the size was right for me. I chose the least-attractive wool scrap to use and I cut out both pieces, and then the lining of white cotton. I figured if it was a flop there was no great sacrifice materially and if it WASN'T a flop, hey, that's good too. I used the half-circular pattern shape for the curtain, with the short curve the neck edge and the long curve the hem edge. The crown piece I placed on the fold along the short, straight edge and the slight curved edge was the face edge. I sewed the crown to the lining along the turn back, piping between them. Then I pleated the rest in to match the measure of the curtain neck edge. The curtain was sewn right sides together along the long curved edge and the short edges and turned right sides out. I pleated the curtain up a little at the neck, to fit my own. Then, it was just a matter of stitching the two pieces together.

It has been a matter of some controversy, how this pattern is supposed to go together. The minimal markings on the pattern leaves a lot up to the imagination of the seamstress, so I chose the way that seemed to make the most sense to me and that would give me a finished look similar to the pattern illustration. I think this is the correct way to put this particular hood together. The picture of my hood is rather deceptive, since it is not on a head. The seam between the crown and curtain really goes ABOVE my own bun on my head, giving a silhouette very much like that of the pattern illustration. I'm really happy with how it looks!

All that's left to do is to finish off the inside seam and add some trim and ties. I can't decide if I will trim with black velvet (which I have) or cranberry ribbon (which I don't have). And I have no idea whatsoever what to use for ties. . .

Since this is just made of the wool and cotton it is not very warm but I think will work well for cool mornings and evenings. I may just keep this prototype after all!

Love,

Sarah