headwear – Fashion Through Herstory

Regency Headwear – Riding bonnet/helmet/?

Published on March 29, 2017March 28, 2017 by fashionthrougherstory5 Comments

While working on my recently finished Regency spencer, I also decided I (of course) needed the headdress the lady in my inspirational picture is wearing.

Looking pretty awesome, right?

Starting with a modern wool hat I got on sale from one of the leading fashion stores, I begun my hat making adventure.

Before

I stated by removing the inner stay band and completely soaking the hat in hot water.

Then I used force and even more hot water to shape it in a somewhat oblong shape. In short supply of proper hat making equipment you got to use what you got…

When dry the hat had a rough but much better shape then before. The brown ribbon is pinned on, to hold the brim in while the hat dried.

The shape after the first round.

Once dry, it was time to cut the shape of the bonnet. Roughly drawn markings on where to cut the brim down.

Looks pretty decent, but the brim was still to wavy to work.

So I got to work steaming the brim and shaping it using my hands and a plastic bowl

Much better.

Then I re-stitched the inside stay-ribbon

using orange thread – ops…

Lastly I added some bias cut scraps of the spencers red wool to make the bonnet look even more like the inspiration.

I also remembered (even though it really was in the nick of time) to add some millinery wire to the brim to help it keep its shape. I finished the hole thing of by adding a woolen chokade and a cotton neck tie.

The finished bonnet:

Complete outfit

The facts:

What: a 1805s riding bonnet

Pattern: None,just a re-shaped and cut hat.

Fabric & notions: 1 black wool hat, thread, scraps of red wool and black cotton, 20 cm millinery wire, 1 hook & eye and one gold button.

Time & cost: Not including the time it took to dry, I’d say about 3-4 hours. The only thing I bought anew was ten hat and it cost 35 Sek (3 Usd), the rest is scraps.

Final thoughts: I’m really happy of how it came out, and I think I looks smashing. But I must admit it looks a bit like a combination of a riding helmet and a truckers hat 🙂

1450s Borgia Headwear

Published on September 25, 2016 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

I also needed something on my head to go with my new “Borgia” dress.
So I decided to make a simple headband (kind of a stripped down french hood) with a hair net to hide my hair, or lack thereof.

For the construction I used ” A Damsel in this Dress” great tutorial on hoods.
(www.adamselindisdress.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/how-to-make-french-hoods)

The materialsI used the same striped brocade as n the dress, on top of buckram and lined with cotton scraps.

Cutting the outer fabric

Using the machine to attach the milliner wire to the Buckram

Pinning and stitching the fabric to the frame

Adding lace to the edge

And a velvet strip to be decorated with pearls.

Then I attached the lining

I used a bought, blue hairnet to pick up the colors from the dress.

I really wanted to add beads to the hairnet as seen in paintings of the time (and in “The Borgias” series) but it didn’t work at all. So after a few tries I decided to go on without them.

I finished the headband by stitching the hairnet to the cresent and adding wig snaps to the inside to keep it on my head.

Finished headdress (and a sneak a peak of the dress being worn)

Just the facts:

Challenge: Nr 5/2016 Holes

What: a 1490s Italian headwear – Cresent with hairnet.

Pattern: I made my own.

Fabric/notions: Thread, Scraps of striped brocade, cotton, buckram, lace ribbon, velvet ribbon, some pearls and about 60 cm of millinery wire. And of course a hairnet.

How historical accurate: Not sure., Since I didn’t really did any research for this one, but just wanted a pretty headress to go with my dress (Sorry). maybe 3/10.

Time: Most of it are hand made, so I guestimate about 2-3 hours.

Cost: Slim to none since it all was scraps, but lets say 50 Sek (8 Usd) for everything (including the hairnet*).

First worn: Late august for photos, and a few days later on he yearly Medieval fair.

Final thoughts: I think it looks pretty and works well with the dress. It does also do the job of (togheter with some lose hair ringlets) hiding my own short hair.

*Gott’a love Ebay 🙂

(24 hours) Burgundian Medieval Gown

Published on August 30, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory9 Comments

Last Saturday evening I came to chat with my sister about the upcoming Medieval fair, where I was to have a dance performance this weekend.
I asked if she wanted to come along, and since she doesn’t have any medieval clothes, if I should try to make her some…

Of course she wanted – So said and done.

I made a quick calculation of how much time I would have for this project – with deadline in 6 days wear of 5 was workdays and the only whole day was Sunday – where all the fabric stores are closed. And no I didn’t had anything suitable in my stash.
This was going to be a though one, but I knew that with some planing (and boyfriend away at work most of the nights) I could do this.

And this is how it went:

Saturday evening/night:
I sent her some picks of various medieval gowns that would be easy to make even without to much time and fittings.
She selected a model – The 15th century Burgundian dress, and sent me her measurements.
Picture from “The Medieval Tailor Assistant”

My quick sketch including calculations on time, fabric and money.

(Consultation = 1 hour)

Sunday morning:
I drafted the pattern for the dress based on “The Medieval Tailor Assistant” and her measurements.
Then I cut and made a mock-up.
I also drafted and made a pattern test for the typical Burgundian “flower pot” headwear. I tried the mock-up on myself to see if there was any obvious problems.

(Pattern (1) & Mock-up (1,5) = 2,5 hours)

Monday:
I meet with my sister after work to try the mock-up – which fitted her really good.
Just some minor alterations like shortening the sleeves, raising the under arm seam and ad more width to the skirt and it would be perfect.

Then we went to the store to pick out her fabric.
Due to lack of both time and funds we decided on some cheaper cotton twill in a lovely teal blue color, combined with purple for the stomacher and white fake fur collar – from my stash.
The dress should probably be made in lovely thin wool or heavy silk brocade to look it’s very best, but I’m convinced no one will notice our small budget, and if it men the dress is done in time and looks nice I think it’s the best choice to make.
the selected fabric

Once home again I immediately started to pin the pattern to the fabric for the cutting.
measuring the biggest possible size of the gores

Then I begun the daunting task of pinning all the (huge) pieces together.The back pieces pinned together.

And finished the night by hand sewing the base of the Burgundian Hening in front of the TV.

(Fitting (0,5) + Fabric shopping (1) + Cutting (1) + pinning/sewing (2) = 5 hours)

Tuesday:
When I got home from work on Thursday I immediately started to sew the dress together, pinning and pressing as I went.
The time flied and by the end of the night I had a pretty decent looking dress (thank good for sewing machines and sergers)
The basic dress stitched together

Once the night fell I once more seated myself in my favorite couch to put some more work into the hat.
Adding bias-tape round the edges and covering it with glued on batting.

(Sewing dress together (2) + Hat (2) = 4 hours)

Wednesday:
On Wednesday I focused on getting the collar done to get the dress as finished as possible for the final fitting on Thursday.
I sewed the collar to the neckline and carefully pinned the fur pieces on top, attaching the by hand.

Then I finished the cuffs and attached the sleeves.

I also started covering the hat with black fake silk.

(collar (2) + hat (1) = 3 hours)

Thursday:
I meet with my sister once more to try the almost finished dress, and to determent the length of the skirt.
I love the look of this whole outfit

Once my sister left, I got to work on cutting the hem.
I really wanted to make it by hand, but time was running out and I still had the head-dress to finish so I took the easy (fast) way out and machine stitched it.

(Fitting (0,5) + hemming (0,5) + hat (2) = 4 hours)

Friday:
With the dress finished I got to work on the hat, adding the front “loop” and the lining. I finished by attaching a sheer veil (my 18th century fichu) at the top.

The I steamed the whole outfit, and put it on my dress-form for some nice pictures “finished”.

(Finishing = 3 Hours)

Saturday:
I re-pressed and packed all her garments, dressed in my cotiehardie and traveled to the fair – leaving home 08.00 pm.

More Pics from the Event and photoshoot is in the works.

(pressing, packing and dressing = 0,5 hours)

(Summary: 1 + 2,5 + 5 + 4 + 4 + 3 + 0.5 = 24 hours)

The Finished Hat:

The Finished Dress:

The facts:

What: a 15th century Burgundian gown and hat.

Pattern: I drafted my own using “The Medieval Tailor Assistant” as a guide and my modern bodice templates as a base.
For the hat I refereed to lots of picture sources online this being the main one.

Fabric & Notions: 4 m of teal cotton twill, 0,3m purple cotton twill for the stomacher, 0,3m white fake fur, and thread.
For the hat I used 0,3m black fake silk, 0,3m buckram, pieces of batting, cotton scraps for lining, 0,5m polyester chiffon for the veil (I used my 18th century fichu), 1m of millinery wire and thread.

Time: 24 hours including fittings and millinery-work.

Cost: About 300Sek (48usd) although some of teh material came from my stash so we didn’t pay that much up front.

Final thoughts: I’m so happy with how it came out, And I think my sister also loves it – at least she looked quite happy and confident at the event yesterday…
The only thing that may need some fixing is to lengthen the sleeves about 1 cm, which I in my hurry to finish cut to short – ops.
But the worst thing is – Now I have to buy some nice wool (or brocade silk, oh my) to make myself one of these gowns….

“Sew 17th century Challenge” – Coif (much needed head-wear)

Published on August 3, 2015August 4, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory4 Comments

The one thing I felt would be the hardest to replicate in my chosen painting was not one of the clothing pieces, but the girls beautiful hairdo.

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My short red modern hairstyle do not lend itself well to even the easiest of historical hairdos.
I’ve tried hairpieces and wigs but never been totally happy with it – try to blend or attach hairpieces to a non existing do, or wear a wig when the small red hair at your sideburns take every opportunity to escape.

No, the only time I feel I actually can get away (barley) with my modern hairdo is while wearing a fully covered head-cloth, hat, bonnet, turban etc.

So what to do?

I needed to find an appropriate head coverage to make.
So on to the ever knowing Pinterest I went.

And found two alternatives that I really liked:

The simple head-cloth with its adorable turned up brim.

And the smaller Coif, which may not cover all of the hair, but probably would work better together with my bodice and fur collar and still giving me some neck. I almost wish I’ve found this painting earlier, so to make this as my 17th century project instead…

This example is worn with a forhead cloth – perfect for taming my short and flying bangs.

Patterns for this kind of coif can be found in almost every book covering this period in time.
But I choose to use the great pattern/tutorial from “The pragmatic costumer”

So this weekend I drafted the pattern – following the awesomely easy instructions.

While drafting I decide to not make a mock-up but a kind of working toile instead.
So I dug through my fabrics and found this lovely patterned golden polyester fabric, I’ve bought with 17th century doublet, dress or waistcoat in mind.
Yep, it’s really that narrow.

So I cut the pieces in golden polyester and white left over linen fabric.
I also added some pieces for the forehead-cloth.

As a “mock-up” I didn’t wanted to wast any time making it up, so I stitched the whole coif on the sewing machine.First seams ready, time to turn and press.

Then I folded the channel for the gathering cord.

I sigzaged the back seam and basted around the opening to get a nice closed top.

The technique was almost the same as in the hood on my 18th century red riding hood.

And lastly I put in the gathering cord.

They look so small and cute – and actually quite good in this fabric.

Finished forehead cloth:

Finished gold patterned Coif:

***

Then it was on to the real deal.

Nice linen /cotton blend ready for the linen thread and needle.

This time I only cut one of each piece (omitting the lining) to reduce the stiffness and bulky feeling I got from the patterned one.

I just whinged it on the size of the forehead cloth, and it seemed to work nicely on the test run, so I use the same size on the linen one.

One thing I changed on this one was hemming the center back opening before gathering it – this way makes for a much nicer finish.

I also added some scrap lace to the outer edge.

Getting the gathering cord ready.

like a baby’s cap…

Finished linen coif:

The Facts:

Challenge: nr 7-2015 Accessorize

What: Two 1550-1650s Coif

Pattern: Based on “The pragmatic Costumer”s pattern tutorial (which was awesome)

Fabric & Notions: (for both coifs) 30 cm linen fabric, 30 cm patterned gold polyester fabric, thread, 50 cm (x 2) thin cord and 60 cm small lace.

How historical Accurate: The linen coif are pretty straight on – accurate pattern, material and stitches. About 8/10
The patterned one are completely modern – polyester fabric and machine construction. More like 5/10

Time: 3 hours total for both (linen 2,5 hours, patterned 0,5 hours).

Cost: About 80 Sek (10 Usd) total.

First Worn: hopefully someday soon for photos.

Final Thoughts: I really like the way they both came out. So simple and fast – I even consider the possibility to make and sell these in a near future.

1860s blue/white hat

Published on June 1, 2015 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

Wise from my previous try at millinery, I ordered a pattern without even trying to draft my own for my sister 1860s hat. Lynn McMasters “1860s summer hat”

I drafted and cut the pattern for a medium sized hat and got to work on the buckram.

Stitching the millinery wire to the buckram.

Then I taped and sewed the top and side piece together by hand.

I covered the edges with bias tape.

Then it was time to cut the fabric.
Knowing my sisters fondness for blue, and having just recently finished my 18th century Redingote in a lovely blue wool, I decided to use the scraps for her hat.
Cutting the wool.

I also cut the pieces in cotton thin bathing for interlining, and white linen for lining.left to right: Buckram, bathing, blue wool, pattern piece and linen lining.

I carefully covered the buckram base with first bathing and then wool.

Then it was time for the lining. The piece underneath the brim was pleated, pinned and stitched on.

And the crown part was covered in two steps – first the top, and then the sides.

Then I stitched the brim and the crown part together.

And flipped it over to sew the lining together.

The finished (un-trimmed) hat:

But no hat is complete without some decoration…

I cut stripes of white chiffon to put on the hat. Looking pretty good.

I also wanted to ad a lace veil… ..But decided not to since it looked so stupid, and I doubt my sister would want to wear it like that.

I pinned and sewed the chiffon to the hat in a shape of a bow with long tails.
To get some more interest to the look, I also added a bit of lace to the bow.

And that was that.

The finished hat

The facts:

What: a 1860s hat

Pattern: Lynn McMasters 1860s summer hat

Fabric & Notions: scraps of blue wool, white linnen and cotton bathing, 30cm buckram, 2m millenery wire, thread, 30cm polyester chiffong and 10cm polyester lace for decoration.

Time: About 20 hours.

Cost: ca 200 Sek (32 Usd) – all fabric from stash.

Final thoughts: I think it look really good and I hope my sister likes it – because I do.

1860s (ish) women hats – Inspiration

Published on May 30, 2015 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

For my sisters 1860s headwear, I wanted to try something new, and found the chick little hat used outdoors in summer.

Perfect.
Just to decide on which style to make…

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1860s silk bonnet (part 2) – decoration

Published on May 28, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory6 Comments

Continuing on the 1860s green silk bonnet:

To get my bonnet to look like my inspiration it needed a bit more work (part 1 – making the bonnet)

To make it go from this to this…

For the trimmings I cut stripes of “whatever left of the silk” and gathered them by hand to get a nice and “poufy” trim.

I also made a few flowers using scraps of the fabric. These are so easy to make and takes really no time at all.
I only wish I had more fabric to make more.

I then pinned the trimmings to the bonnet and stitched them on by hand, one by one until I was satisfied
(or ratter until I run out of scraps to turn into trim…).The first trims pinned on.

The Finished Bonnet:

The Facts:

What: A 1860s bonnet

Pattern: Lynn McMasters “1860s civil war bonnet”

Fabric: 60 cm of green silk taffeta, 30 cm of green cotton for lining.

Cost: 350 Sek

Time: A lot – about 30 hours.

Final Thoughts: I think it came out really pretty, with enough decoration to look right for the period yet being pleasing in my modern styizied eyes.
I can’t wait o wear it.

1860s – silk bonnet (part 1) – making the bonnet

Published on May 25, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory6 Comments

After the mandatory inspiration searching, were I decided on a style of bonnet to make, I got to work,

Inspiration

I decided to drape my own pattern using thin cardboard, pictures and millinery books.

After some fiddling and pinning I got a pattern for a bonnet…Which looked like a total disaster…

No, this would not do, time for plan B.

I ordered Lynn McMasters “1860s bonnet pattern” and started all over again.

After copying the pattern I cut it out in buckram.

To get a better view of how the bonnets shape, I pinned the pieces together for a better look.

After trying it on, I decided to cut a few cm of of the brim.

Marking the pieces

Sewing the millinery wire to the buckram pieces.

Then the pieces was ready to be stitched together.

To get them to line up perfectly I taped the together before I sewed.

Back piece stitched to side piece.

A pretty nice buckram frame

Then I stitched bias-tape round every edge to keep the corners smooth underneath the fabric.

Finished frames:

Then It was time to buy some fabric – deciding on green since that was one of the few colors in the store that would work with my dress (plaid white/blue) without being to obviously matching.

The cut pattern pieces.

As directed in the pattern I also cut cotton bating and some scraps of light green cotton for lining.

Before the fabric was to go on I needed to glue/stitch the batting on te frame to get an even smoother under layer for the silk.

Sadly I forgot to take pictures of this step, but basically I just glued around the edges of the frame pieces and carefully attached the batting to it.

Then it was time for the outer fabric.

(bad at photographing here too – I was working late at night, and didn’t had the camera on hand)

But I started with the crown, working downwards, basting all the edges and the carefully stitching the fabric pieces together.

Silk all stitched on.

Then it was time for the lining.Using a curved needle to baste the crown to the inner corners.

Stitching the fabrics together using small invisible stitches.

Before finishing the last piece (the gathered front) of the lining, It was time for the “curtain”/neckpiece.I basically just gathered a straight piece of silk and pinned it to the curved neck of the bonnet.Then I stitched it on.

Then I gathered, pinned and stitched the last piece of lining to the inner brim of the bonnet, and added some silk ties.

The base for the bonnet was now finished, and all that’s needed was the decoration.

I think it looks stunning and was a bit hesitant of even adding trimmings and decorations.

To be continued…

A Renessaince bonnet

Published on September 22, 2014 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

One evening (quite a while ago), I decided to make myself a 16th century hat. I’ve been craving a renessainse gown for a long time, and now I decided to make some head wear to go with it (when ever I make one).

After some internet inspiration searching I found just the one, or a couple.

Love this one!

So I brought out some velvet scraps and my copie of “The Tudor Tailor” and got to work.

It was quite easy, and after just two evenings of sewing in front of the television I had made a cute little hat.

Maybe it is time to start on that dress soon…

Bonnets and a Bergeré

Published on July 23, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory4 Comments

This spring/summer have been quite intense regarding sewing for me. And as every costume requires it’s own special headwear I haven’t just been making clothes this spring – there have been quite a lot millenery going on as well.

And since The Huge Picture Hatt alredy got its own post, I thought it was time to show a bit more about some of the other pieces of headwear I’ve been doing/re-doing this summer.

Lets start with the 18th century Bergere.

You might remember it from last year (when I made it from an regular sunhat).

This is how it looked when I found it in my big hat box, and decided to make some changes to it.

So I un-picked those green pieces of fabric inside the hat (I put them in last year to get something to attach the hair pins in, but it does work better to just push them through the hat).

Then I stitched on some metalic wire at the edge of the brim, and covered it with white bias-tape.

Then I re-trimmed it with a plain green twill-tape.

And this is how it looked when I wore it with the brim tured up, at the big historic picknic.

***

Next up is a regular straw hat that I’ve turned into a regency bonnet.

I folded the hat in two, made a mark where to cut,

and grabbed the scissors. Make sure to stich the rows down before you cut, so the hat dont un-ravel.

Then I stiched on metal wire along the cut line, and covered it with bias tape.I used white bias tape at first , but decided to change it to a nude tone twill tape instead, to make it more inviseble.

Close up of brown/nude twilltape.

The un-trimmed hat.

Then I pinned on some white lace and a big flower brosh I had in my stash.

Altough it does look pretty, it looks a bit too costumey for my taste.

So I re-trimmed it using another piece of lace and some leftover ribbon from my yellow regency gown paired with a black brosch. Much better.

And here is how it looked worn togeter with my yellow regency dress.

***

And finaly a 1840s bonnet made from skratch.

I used the same pattern (and tecniques) as my brown velvet bonnet, only cut it a bit smaler to get a slimer model for this bonnet.

I used thick canvas and super stiff interfacing as the inner layers. And a white striped cotton voile for fashion fabric.

Before sewing anything togeter I stiched wire to all the pieces.

It was a bit tricky to sew inside the hat piece.

At least I only broke one needle…

Then it was time to start the hand sewing. I attached the “lid” and covered it with fashion fabric.Then I stiched on the brim and more fashion fabric (no pictures sorry). And finaly I attached the lining on the inside.

At this stage I was ready to throw it out, it looked so terrible. The fabric was puckering and nothing I did would make it lay flat. I did a final try and decided to trim it to see if that would make it look any better.

It is fantastic what some pieces of lace can do to a domed project. It does actually look presentable.