As I work my way through salvaging a dog damaged duvet cover, subsequently building a small 18th century wardrobe with it, I️ had enough scrappy pieces to make hat trim. In fact, the slim scraps I used for the hat trim was part of the discarded side trim where closure buttons were sewn in to close the duvet cover. Why not use as much of this duvet as possible? I just LOVE this Indienne pattern.
I bought a ready-to-trim hat from FashionableFrolick on Etsy. It needed some flattening when it arrived, abused by the mailman, so I used liquor bottles as weights for several days. For the hat trim I used duvet scraps, as opposed to ribbon, and cut the edges with pinking shears. I measured out the circumference of the crown of the hat and multiplied this measurement by 3 for the length of ribbon/trim needed (plus a few inches to be safe).
Tegan (one of the duvet chewing offenders) supervised the pleating process, which were box pleats evenly spaced with a standard dinner fork. I included grey bias tape used in other 18th century garments for a complimentary contrast, and I rather liked the look of it. I finished up the trim with a double row of stitches and turned under the ends.
I permanently attached the trim to the hat with *gasp* hot glue, and added ribbon to the underside as ties. If hot glue is wrong, I don’t want to be right!
I also made a bonnet/cap for…I don’t know…because it’s proper, I guess. I used JP Ryan’s 18th century ladies cap pattern and the lining of an old curtain. This was super easy to make…but to be honest, like Claire Fraser, I can’t stand caps or even having my hair covered. We like our curls as wild as we are, am I right?
So I took that stupid thing off (as Claire would) and put the hat back on, reluctantly. I suppose it IS useful for keeping the sun out of my face. And at least it’s pretty. I may add flowers later (should I?) but for now I’m very pleased with how it turned out.
Also on the blog: 18th century pockets, stays, petticoats, jacket, a stomacher, and a drawstring bag.
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