mlsdesigns | bonnet

whew, i never would have thought i could make a bonnet totally from scratch in a day and a half!! i didn't have a pattern as i said before, so relied heavily on the fabulous photos

koshka_the_cat posted of the making of her bonnet. i also had a coulpe of books of hats and bonnets and kept browsing the interwebs for different angles. i used cream ribbed silk in the end, left over from a dress i made at college, trimed with the sik ribbon i bought from the states and some watered pink silk taffeta from an 80s dress i bought in a charity shop and some pink flowers and a pink feather.

i used loads of cerial packets to cut the pattern and when i had a shape i like i cut the pieces out of buckram, putting the brim and the side on the bias, the tip on the straight of grain. next step is to zig zag millinery wire around all of the edges:

then oyu have something that looks like this!!

next stage is to sew the three pieces together. i sewed the tip to the side first using a sort of over cast stitch, using strong thread, you'll find having the wire on the inside of the hat makes it much easier, the wire braces the joint.

the brim is atached by a similar stitch except there's no edge!

next step, (yes i know, lots of work isn't it!!) is mulling, i should have used bias strips of tarlatan, but i didn't have any so i used a strip of bias left over from a corset, i think it was drill, so not really suitable but i was in a rush!! the strips overlap the joins and the edges to soften them, if you have any rubber cement you can just glue it on and it takes seconds, neadless to say i had none so had to sew! it has to be a long loose stitch because you're trying to make the softest line possible, and dokes and dents left by thread would not be good.

the next step in mulling is to cover the form with domette (a kind of brushed wool flannel)if your covering fabric is thickish, or icewool (like woven wool wadding or batting, very fluffy!)if you're covering with satin or something very thin. i used domette, and again would have prefered to glue it, but had to sew, it worked out fine though.

the bonnet form is finally ready to cover! i wanted to be fancy and in even more of a rush so decided to make a pleated tip, i used two stips of silk pleated onto a narrow strip and smoothed it down and sewed with a running stitch around on the side (when i say stip i mean a triangula scrap left from cutting the skirt gores!)

next i made a pleated brim lining by cutting a long stip the width the widest bit of the bonnet, smoothing it up to the top of the brim then taking little pleats to turn the corner, then smoothing down again. i sewed this down to the side using a running stitch, this will be covered when i line the bonnet.

next the outside of the brim is covered, this time by cutting the brim pattern out in the silk and folding the seam allowance over the edge of the brim under the brim lining and slip stitching the silk of the outside to the silk of the inside along the outside edge. the seam allowance edge of the brim that meets the side is clipped and goes onto the side. the side is than cut out in the silk, the seam allowance at the brim and tip edges turned under and slip stitched down.

now i finally get to trim!! i bought a candle decoration for £0.99 wich i cut in half to trim the inside and outside, it was so cheap and yet the absolutely perfect colours!