Monday, January 18, 2010

Making an 1860's Fashion Bonnet, Pt. 1

I have been feeling driven by unseen forces to make our necessary clothing items for this years reenactment season now. For the first time since I have had children, I am taking somewhat of an interest in developing my own personal wardrobe. I have been very apathetic towards reenacting for a while, if not openly hostile. However, this year I am really excited about the season starting and since the boys are older and are behaving so well now, I think this year will go splendidly. For a long time I have wanted a fashion bonnet. Being me, of course, I didn't want to spend money on a purchased one. Even before I was married, when I really could afford a nice fashion bonnet, just spending $200+ on a bonnet went against my common sense. I tried to make my own. That failed. The one that actually seemed to suceed was sat upon at the first reenactment I wore it to by a gentleman of large and heavy countenance. It, to put it flatly, was squashed. It was a rather pretty bonnet too. Purply-silver silk with cream silk ties, and trimmed with white net and yellow roses. Alas. It had a very short life.

I have been developing my love for the Practical Sunbonnet these past years. I have made lots of sunbonnets. I've made several woolen hoods for winter time and knitted a sortie cap that, with fringe and pretty ribbons, gave a "fancier" appearance than a plain sunbonnet.

But now. The time has come to make a fashion bonnet. I really do need one to wear to different events where one would be the obvious choice of headware for a woman of the period. I dug some buckram out of my stash and raided David's toolboxes for wire and wire cutters. Using one of the first patterns I ever bought, a Millers Millinery pattern (slightly modified) I cut out the shape with buckram and covered the edges with tape enclosed wire. For lack of a Fake Head, these flowers model the buckram form for you to see:
And the front view:Once the form was finished, I breathed a sigh of relief. The form was always a terribly hard thing for me to finish in my prior attempts. I turned my thoughts to the covering. I asked my friend Amy for advice and, not really knowing what I was doing, I first covered the tip with a piece of cotton batting and then sewed on the tip covering in brown taffeta. (I've always always always wanted a brown bonnet). Then I had to decide what kind of covering I wanted on the outside - smooth, or drawn? I've always always always wanted a brown drawn bonnet. The drawing part looked so incredibly complicated, but thanks to some great informational posts about creating this style on the Sewing Academy, I cut two rectangles from the taffeta, sewed some narrow tucks into each one and started drawing the tucks over flexible, narrow reed. (A lovely gift from my friend Amy!) Forgive my hideous ironing board cover. We have hard water. I need to make a new cover. I was stunned and pleased when I had good results with it. It was exactly the look I was going for. I sewed the first drawn row around the tip. Then I started drawing up the second row. I think that was a mistake. I think I ought to have drawn up all the rows while the rectangle was still flat - not sewn to the form - because it was incredibly difficult to thread the reed through the channel while the rectangle was sewn to the form. Several times, the reed broke when I was almost done threading it and I had to take it all out and do it over again. I sweated and trembled, but at last the first rectangle was done. Here is a picture of the first rectangle-in-progress:Then I had to cut another rectangle to cover the brim area. This overlaps the other rectangle at the sides, and just meets the other rectangle at the center front, to account for the curved shape of the brim. The first row of reed I sewed along the brim line, then the rest were drawn up and tacked at the edges. Once that was done, I tacked the covering to the form in a few places. Then, gasp, the most horrid thing happened and a reed broke while I was tacking the last place down. I didn't feel like taking the reed out to replace it, so I sewed through the reed before and after the breaking point to hold it in place. I plan to cover that spot with trim, so hopefully it will not be noticeable on the finished item.

I then bound all the edges of the bonnet with bias cut from the fashion fabric. For fun, I experimented with some different trim ideas for the outside. I feel I don't want very much trim on the outside, since the drawn fabric is pretty decorative in and of itself. However, I like this trim pretty well, although in the final version it will be tacked into place a bit more thoughtfully than this appears, just being stabbed in with a pin:
Next part: Sewing in the facing and lining. Which has yet to be finished! Then the curtain, ties, and trimmings. . .

And dear readers, your opinion and taste is desired - what colors for trimming (inside the brim, flowers and such) would look well with this color brown? I desperately want yellow roses, but David doesn't think yellow and brown would look very nicely together.

Love,

Sarah

31 comments:

  1. Wow, your bonnet is looking fabulous! Can't wait to see the end result! (I'm afraid I'm not much help with color suggestions as I'm a bit of a dunce at that myself.)

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  2. Pretty, pretty, pretty! I want one! Brown is a lovely colour, it's so warm and elegant, I think. A very pale yellow trim would work, I believe. No idea if it's a period combination, or a combination you like, but brown and a light to medium blue looks nice together.

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  3. Oooh, brown and yellow sounds fantastic! Or brown and red, brown and pink, brown and blue (like earth and sky), even brown and cream. I can picture ay of those quite nicely.

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  4. Very nice! I love the colors and I'm excited to see it completed.

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  5. I'm not the one to ask for decorating, but I LOVE your bonnet, Sarah! You definately have that talent of seeing or invisioning something, and then producing it. =)

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  6. Oooh, it's gorgeous! You're more ambitious than I am ;-) What colour(s) are the gowns you're planning to wear this with? I'd let that influence your choice of trims at least somewhat.

    Personally, I LOVE pink with brown - either a pale, light pink, or deep shades of rose. Quite a lot of blues look nice with it as well. What about yellow roses and blue ribbons?

    I'm so glad you're excited about reenacting this season. I pray it'll go as well as it's starting! :)

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  7. Oooh, I like the ideas of brown and blue. Maybe very palest creamy yellow roses, with smaller blue flowers? (I really want the yellow roses!) :P

    Pink sounds so tempting too though. . .I love pink! Oooh. . .pink roses and little blue flowers? With white lace and net? So many options!

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  8. What about light Blue? That would look pretty with yellow roses and stunning with the brown. :)

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  9. Well, we all must remember that ladies in this time period made bonnets more to suit themselves and not necessarily match the dreses they would be wearing. In other words, bonnet trimmings were picked to compliment your skin colors. I think yellow would look lovely.

    I took a bonnet workshop last February and one thing we learned is that Victorian ladies loved contrasting color combination - green & red, brown & blue, purple & orange - think opposite sides of the color wheel so I believe the yellow roses would be striking and very period.

    Let's not forget, ladies, that Victorian ladies LOVED vibrant colors!

    So, I say go for it - I can't wait to see the end result!!!

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  10. This is turning our quite nice looking!

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  11. WOW! That is turning out to be absolutely STUNNING! I have to confess that I have wanted a brown bonnet that exact shade for the longest time :D

    I can't wait to see the finished product! All the other color suggestions are great. I do love the combination of the brown and the orangish ribbon that is already displayed on it too though! Are you not a Summer? I am an autumn so I wear those colors all the time. Maybe you should go with a cooler tone like blue if you are indeed a summer?

    Blessings,
    Bethany

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  12. I love it! It is very nice and I am sure what ever color you coose will be wonderful! I like pink with brown but blue and brown is nice too! I can't wait to see the end product!
    Faith G.

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  13. It's lovely and I'm very impressed that you made it from the bottom up. I can't wait to see it when it's all finished!

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  14. Hi! I just wanted to tell you how much you have inspired me!! I have 3 little girls-almost 7,4, and 2 and I just don't see how you do it! I want to be like you, to have time to sew and clean and cook, Most of all I want to have more faith like you! Also I would love to know how you came to like cleaning or have you always? I am a homemaker also but it seems I have so much to learn yet. Thank you for your blog and beautiful seamtress skills! God has truly blessed you!

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  15. I just stumbled upon your blog while looking for images of mid-19th century fashion on the internet! So glad I did! Your work is amazing, and your posts are very inspiring. I'm a mom of 4 girls (ages 11-4) and I'm also an artist. I have great appreciation for your dedication to being at home with your children, teaching them correct Christian principles, and still finding time to use the talents God has blessed you with! I would love to talk with you about where I may find more information on mid-19th century fashion for reference in my artwork. Again, thanks for providing such a beautiful blog!
    Best,
    Anita

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  16. Dear Sarah,
    Just checking in to see if everything is okay...it's been a little while here and on the S&S board.

    Hugs,
    Natalie in Kentucky

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  17. Blessings to you and your young family. It is refreshing to see a young woman love her home, children and husband. I homeschooled all of my children and spent hours cooking and sewing. Lovely memories!

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  18. Sarah, I love your site! You have amazing talent. I'm waiting patiently for your next post. Did you decide on colors for this??? :) Take care! ~Evie

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  19. I'm with Natalie on this, is everything all right? We haven't heard anything from you in quite a while....

    Thinking about you and yours!/Sarah

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  20. Sarah!

    We're worried!

    Post something soon!

    ~gentle_annie on the S&S forums

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  21. yes Sarah! we hope you are doing well. Hope its just a break from the blog world for you! I know you are busy! but we are praying for you and hope you and your family are all well.

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  22. hope all is well, getting more worried

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  23. Praying for you right now, dear momma.
    Hugs,
    Kathy

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  24. Thank you all for your sweet words and kind concern - we all are well - but due to a bad video card in our computer, due to, most likely, mice (!) making a comfortable and private home for themselves within the confines of our computer, we have been without one for the past few weeks. We now have a new card installed, and all is as before. I have enjoyed quite my little blog break though - but hope to have a post in a day or so. And the bonnet is nearly done, just lacking the yellow roses (which I am quite determined on!) and blue silk ties. :)

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  25. Hi Sarah Jane,
    I am so glad to hear y'all are okay! I've missed your posts. :-) Glad the computer problem is resolved. :-)
    God bless,
    Melanie

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  26. Oops, I just realized that I posted with my "Melanie" account instead of my "Elinor Dashwood" account. Oops! Anyway, that was "Elinor Dashwood" from "Hooks and Needles". ;-)

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  27. Dear Sarah,
    Oh, that is too funny. Mice...

    Glad it was a nice computer break, and hope it wasn't expensive.

    Very best,
    Natalie in Kentucky
    still giggling over the mice

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  28. What a beautiful bonnet!! I am in awe of anyone who can put one of these together! I tried once (notice I said ONCE!LOL)-the frame went together ok, but not much else...your gorgeous bonnet makes me think about trying again!! Thanks for the inspiration!

    Christine

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  29. So glad to have found this blog entry. I so love the look of the drawn work and now I am determined to finish one of the forms I recently made up to have drawn work over it.

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Thank you for your lovely thoughts!