Hello darlings!
The Jane Austen Festival 2024 is slowly creeping up again, and as this year is gothic themed I knew that I wanted to make a new outfit to match the brief. While I'm still working on the gothic open gown, I thought I'd take you through how I went about making my new bonnet!
Warning: While I have been trained in some traditional millinery techniques, this is very much a DIY experiment. I didn't want to buy any new materials in and wanted to see what I could do with what was at hand. If you are easily annoyed by incorrect techniques do not read!
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I knew that I wanted to make a stovepipe bonnet as I'd only ever made (and subsequently worn!) soft bonnets. It's always fun to try out a new style. Plus, as a bonus, it might slightly disguise the fact that I am vertically challenged.
I used pinterest to find inspiration, basing most of my design around the images on the left. I liked the idea of a slightly sheer bonnet wherein you could see the wire construction, but I thought I could take it a step further by using a contrast black binding against the white for more impact.
All images can be found on my Regency millinery pinterest board.
I started by crafting the shape out of card. I had a brim pattern from another bonnet that I then used as a base to craft this bonnet.
It turned out it didn't need as much height as I thought it would as it gives quite a dramatic shape simply by standing upright.
Next, I started construction. I cut the pieces from linen and stiffened them with starch. I stitched the back closed by hand to make the stitches as invisible as possible then started adding wire to build the structure.
Initially, the plan was to have one single piece of wire curling around the crown, keeping the 'stovepipe' in place through a spring-like effect. However, this did not provide enough structure so I had to add additional vertical wires in every quarter.
(Don't ask me why I did the spiral on the inside and the supports on the outside, it would have made just as much sense, and been easier, to put them both on the outside.)
My wire is not as stiff as millinery wire and could be manipulated quite easily, which was both a blessing and a curse during construction. It meant there was a lot of wiggle room to correct mistakes, but any slight pressure would push the wire out of shape and I'd have to fix it again.
Playing with different widths of bias for different effects.
I applied the black bias onto the spiral wire and white bias over the vertical wires, so they wouldn't be as obvious. Everything is hand-stitched as it was easier than putting it under a machine.
Next, I added the brim by clipping the seam allowance and stitching it to the bottom of the crown. I was planning to add trimming to the hat band so this didn't have to be terribly neat.
Again, I added some vertical wires for structure. Some of these I had to superglue in place to keep them from slipping.
I covered these in black bias too.
*Note that I haven't added the crown tip yet so I am able to reach into the hat to stitch things from both the top and bottom.
It may seem like a strange order to do things in, but at this point I attached the lining. To create the pattern I cut my brim pattern and extended it to add more fabric so I would be able to ruffle the lining.
I attached this roughly along the edge of the brim with a whipstitch (this is going to be covered in bias later) and attached it on the interior as neatly as I could with the awkward position.
The bias along the edge of the crown came next, along with a ruffle along the hat band which I made from satin ribbon gathered in the centre. This both added decoration and covered a lot of raw edges!
Interior.
Finally, I added the crown tip.
I whip-stitched it to the wire and covered these stitches with more contrast bias.
And voila!
I'm going to put a button in the middle of the bow that matches the buttons I'm going to use on my open gown. I would also like to add a veil to it, so expect some 'proper' photos of it once I've completed my open gown!
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So that's how I made my most recent Regency bonnet, do you like how it turned out? What Regency-themed Frankenstein abominations have you made in order to achieve the right look?
Until next time,
AIsha x
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