gallery

notes

fabric & notions:
milian low crown straw hat, ribbons, feathers & hair piece

general notes:
For an event at Belmont, I pulled out all our hats and found one suitable for one of those cute "cocky" little hats that look so charming on big 1780s hair. I'm basing my hat on one in Jefferson in Paris, the peach trimmed one on the right side of the screen capture. In a former life my straw hat was Bridget"s 18th century hat so it was all ready pinned up in the back and everything.

After looking at pics and screen captures for a while, I tried the hat on (with my hair looped and fluffed in an approximation of the correct style) to get an idea of any re-shaping I wanted to do. I thought drooping the brim a bit in front would be nice so I damped that section with a spray bottle and propped it up in the correct position with cans.

I must admit I've never actually re-shaped a hat. I read this was the way to do it on the h-cost list though. I was a little skeptical that it was really that easy (millinery work has always intimidated me) but it was! A few hours later and my brim is nicely shaped and on it"s way to being a jaunty little hat. As you can tell from the pic, this hat definitely needs the big hair to look right! :>

For the trimming I used ostrich feathers from our hat stash, denuding most of our old dress up hats in the process. I'm nothing if not resourceful. *hee hee* I also used some peacock feathers I'd been hoarding . I further raided the stash for ribbons and/or fabric for the rest of the trimmings.

Now I am seriously millinery challenged when it come to trimming but luckily my sister is not. I pulled together the elements but could not figure out how to arrange them on the hat in a pleasing way. All the credit for that must go to my long suffering sis. She pinned in place and I sewed it all on. Thanks Bridget!!

construction pics :