The Perfect Touch: Making An 1870s Garden Hat

Sunday, April 10, 2022

Making An 1870s Garden Hat

Welcome Spring! Which means it's time for all the beauty to begin in my state of North Carolina. Even though there may be mild days and an occasional frosty night, the wild spring flowers are in all their splendor.

So it's the perfect time to share with you Making an 1870s Garden Hat!

The hat I'm going to show you is from a pattern by Ageless Patterns. It is #1525 and is for sale on the website for $1.00. The price and simplicity of the pattern made it my pattern of choice for a beginning millinery class I taught in 2019 at a weekend of costume events and classes I organized and taught. The pattern has a reprint of basic millinary instructions from Harper's Bazar, May 9, 1868. So for my class and here for you are the simple techniques I created for a simple gathered hat from this pattern.

https://www.agelesspatterns.com/1870_hats.htm

Supplies include a single-ply buckram, 19 or 21 gauge millinery wire, wire cutters, needle and thread, and fabric glue if you are in a hurry.

The pattern consists of two pieces. One for the crown/headpiece, and one for the brim/rim. Each pattern piece is traced onto buckram. One half of the crown is traced...

...and then the pattern repositioned to trace the other half.

The full crown/headpiece is traced including the line through the center to mark center front and center back.

A piece of millinery wire is measured and cut for center or tip of the crown. Cut enough to overlap the ends by an inch.

The wire is sewn around crown tip. The wire will begin beyond the center back, continue around the circle, and then finish on the other side of the center back. I use a locking stitch which is taking a stitch, repeating the stitch through the same hole, and then moving to the next stitch position. Inside:

Outside:

Completed crown tip wire sewn:

Pleats are made in crown sides as traced from the pattern and held with clips.

Pleats were stitched in place with a long running stitch. A length of wire is cut for the lower edge of the crown with enough extra to overlap by 1 inch at the center back.

The wire is sewn to the lower edge using a locking stitch.

The crown is complete.

For the hats for the class and my hat I used a Swiss dot net. I cut a large circle of fabric for the crown. The fabric is gathered at the edge with a running stitch and evenly spaced around the crown edge with a slight overlap inside the crown.. There was nothing special about the fabric but that it was the right color, had a lovely drape, and was opaque enough when gathered to hide the wire and stitching. Gathering also meant we could skip many other steps that would be required for other fabric techniques.

The gathered net edge is sewn to the buckram through the outside and inside layers of net.

With the crown complete we can start on the brim/rim. Again the pattern piece is just half the full brim so it can be traced, repositioned, and finished tracing making sure to mark the center front and center back. I added 1/2" around the center where tabs will be cut to insert into the crown.

Millinery wire is cut to the approximate length to encircle the outside edge of the brim with a 1 inch overlap at the center back. The wire is sewn to brim edge with a locking stitch. One hint I gave the students is to not try to clip or curve all of the wire to the brim before sewing. It is easiest to clip just a few inches ahead, sew, and then curve the wire as you continue to sew a few more inches at a time.

With a completely finished crown, and a brim ready for fabric, the parts can be aligned center front and center back and the basic shape of the brim created with the wire before the fabric is attached. Here I bend the front down at each side and turn the back up.

Now the center hole of the brim can be removed and 1 inch tabs cut in the 1/2" allowance that was previously added.

The tabs will be turned up and will fit inside the crown. The fit doesn't need to be perfect but the center front and center back marks should align for both crown and brim.

Time to cover the brim. As I mentioned before the Swiss dot net will easily blur the millenery wire on the edge of the brim eliminating a step of covering the wire with bias. The softness of the net also softens any imperfections in the buckram. It's a real timesaver! I cut the fabric twice the measurement around the outside edge of the brim plus one inch, and twice the measurement from the edge of the tabs to the edge of the brim. I mark the half and quarter distances on the net so I can gather evenly on the brim.

A running stitch is sewn at one edge of the net.

The net is gathered evenly and and clipped to the inside of the brim even with the edge of the tabs.

Gather almost to the end of the net, turn under the seam allowance, and clip.

With one side of the brim fabric in place turn the brim over and repeat the gathering and clipping.

Stitch through the net on both sides and the buckram at the solid line just near the tabs.

Brim complete.

Adjust gathers as pleasing to the tilt and form you desire.

Lay tabs inside crown and pin through tabs to crown.

Yes, all those pins can get in your way! You could glue the tabs and fabric layers inside crown if you desire. For my hats I will stitch through each tab to the outside of the crown, taking a small stitch on the outside and a longer stitch on the inside.

With the stitching complete we have a hat we can further adjust to the shape we desire. This hat can be held with a tie or hatpin.

But my favorite of hatmaking is the trims! For my class attendees I brought boxes of feathers, flowers, ribbons, and lace. I suggested they browse and pick up whatever they were attracted to and return to their unadorned hat and head form. From there I suggested just laying pieces on the hat and trusting their design taste. As I told each attendee, the beauty of millinery is There. Are. No. Mistakes.

My finished hat has a ribbon to cross beneath the chin and tie at the back of the neck and a ring of lace at the base of the crown which covers the stitches and will match the gown it will be worn with. That gown will be revealed in the next blog post and video.