Late 18th century hat

I have actually finished something! I had planned to finish it on Monday so it could fit in into Historically Sew Forthly, but I didn’t quite made it and then it took a few days before I had time to take pictures. It is a hat, as you can see. The base is a cheap masquerade felt top hat. I removed the plastic bands and steamed the brim to get it a bit flatter. It is covered with green dupion with a pleated brim. The sides of the crown are cut on the bias for the stretch factor. The crown is wider at the base and the band is stretched there and eased on the top. For visual effect I made the seam on the crown diagonal and put it on one side instead of mid-back. The decoration is an irregularly gathered strip of pink taffeta.

The hat is made to match a pink jacket and petticoat with green trim. It has been on the “almost” finished stage for way too many years, but I have decided to get it ready for the big party in May. It only needs a stomacher… The piemontaise will be put on hold, though. I realize that I won’t have time to make it as I want it, so it will be the pink ensemble for the day and the stays with sleeves for the evening.

 

 

 

The original hat

The inspiration for the hat comes, in general, for the kind of top hats that can be seen from the late 1780’s onward:

 

Source

Detail from The Squire's Door after an engaving by Benjamin Duterreau after George Morland, 1790.

Journal de la Mode et du Gout, September 1790.

Journal des Luxus, 1791

 

1950's velvet hat

I have mentioned before that I inherited a lot of sewing stuff from my grandmother Greta and among that were two hatboxes for travelling, crammed with hat supplies, as well as a few hats and almost finished hats, like this blue one. There were also two 50's velvet caps in purple and brown, in various state of completion. The purple one was all but done.

I have made a hat

It’s a bit quiet here. Not that I don’t sew, I just haven’t finished anything lately. I’m on the last leg of a hand sewn 17th century shift and I need to get the gown for the 18th century masquerade in October going. Well, I’ve finished one thing, this 1940’s green felt hat. If you follow Fashionable Forties, then you have already seen it, but if not, well, it is sewing, after all.

I had great troubles with the pattern, the infamous Vintage Vogue V7464, hat B. If you feel inclined, then there is a dress diary here and here. One thing I noticed when wearing it that the elastic did nothing to keep the hat on. It just slid on my hair- I guess it would work better if I had had my hair down. Luckily I inherited a few hat pins from my grandmother, so I used one of those to keep the hat in place. Much more becoming than elastic anyway. Despite the frustration when trying to work with the pattern, I’m really very pleased with the result.

My Sara-hat

A few weeks ago my friend Sara died very unexpectedly. She was a very special person and she will be terribly missed. As her best friend said in a speech on her funeral, something Sara once said about herself: "Every person is unique, but perhaps I'm a bit more unique than everyone else." She was.

Sara was also one of the founders of the Society of Gustafs Skål and she dressed in 18th century, she dressed in any century with a flair and elegance that few can manage. She could dress as the extremest of fashion plates and look just natural. The last time I saw her I bought some straw hats from her that she imported them herself from Romania. Today would have been her 42nd birthday and Gustafs Skål has gathered in the park of Haga castle to remember her. I'm unable to attend, so instead I have finished one of the hats. I don't have the flamboyant style Sara had, but I have tried to make a hats that is flamboyant for me. She would have told me if she had loved it. She would have told me if she had hated it too.

18th century hats

18th century hats are so much fun and I love to make hats. And I only have three, go figure. I'm working on getting more of them, though. The first one is a straw hat I bought in a store for oriental food for very little money. I cut off the crown and shortened it before I re-attached it. The pink ribbons are the same as on my blue jacket.

Feel the hat love

Hats are great and 18th century hats the greatest. I have way too few of the, only three, but I plan to do something about it. How can you not want to, after looking at this:
1780’s



Those ribbons are just crazy.
1790’s



I Want This One So Much!

Late 18th century hat

I really felt the need for a hat for the 18th century market I attended yesterday and have, since a year or so, planned to do something about a straw-hat I have. It has a rather unbecoming round top, so I wanted to disguise that somehow. In my stash I found a piece of silver silk dupion and as I wore a grey petticoat I thought that would look all right.

This is what I started out with. Planned decoration and inspiration:


And this is what I ended up with:




I cut out a circle as big as my scrap allowed, around 45cm across. Then I cut a strip around 65 cm long and clued that to a strip of thick paper- in ended up being 5 cm wide. I gathered the circle to the strip, and then the (sewn together) strip to the straw brim. I purposely made the brim wider in the front and on the undecorated side. I made a halfcockard out of green silk and attached five white feathers behind. I’m very pleased with the result! It took about 3 hours from start to finish and then I watched Buffy while I did the sewing, so it probably took a little longer than if I had concentrated only on the sewing. I think it becomes me very well, if I’m allowed to say so and I was really pleased on how my hair turned out. Though I think I will buy some loose curls to attach to the back. Then I can curl all my hair tightly and let the fake hair hang down my back.