1861 Sea-Salt Silk Bonnet
I needed a bonnet to go with 1860s "Lotus". I used a pattern I have used before the lovely Timely Tresses “Eliza Coretta” (1) and I chose the 1861 high brim option. I wanted to make the bonnet out of a fabric that would bring out the light blue details on the skirt and traditionally bonnets during this era would be made out of silk, therefore I went with this light blue silk taffeta (2) from silk baron.
The first step was to cut out the pattern pieces, the crown, headpiece, and brim, from the buckram (3). Then I had to wire/tape the edges of each piece before assembly into a finish form. I first placed wire (4) around the crown using wonder clips (5) then sewed in by hand using whip stiches and a strong upholstery thread. I then covered the wire with bias tape to smooth out the rough edges and sewed it on by hand. I then covered the edge of the headpiece that attached to the crown with bias tape. I didn’t sew any wire on this edge because it was going to be attached to a piece that already had wire. The other edge, the one that was going to be attached to the brim did get wire sewn in as well as a bias tape finishing. Then I moved onto the brim, the edge that would be attached to the headpiece was finished simply with bias tape while the other had wire sewn it and was you guessed it finished with bias tape.
The crown was then attached to the headpiece by matching center points to center points then moving outward till reaching then end of the crown. The center point pf the headpiece was the then matched to the center point of the brim and attached in a similar manner, still using a strong upholstery thread. Now it finally looked like a bonnet!
I now had a finished buckram form, ready for covering. But, before I could cover in with fabric, I had to mull it, a process of covering the form with a batting type of material (6) to smooth out all the joints and prevent the fabric from catching on the form. To do this I cut two layers of batting for each pattern piece, one for the inside of the bonnet and one for the outside. I then placed the brim pieces together and sewed then to the bonnet, then came the crown pieces, and on top of them the headpiece pieces. Now I could finally cover it with fabric.
I attached the lining first, a white silk taffeta (7). The brim piece was sewn on, but before it was sewn to the tips, I placed my ties, two 26 inch long pieces of ribbon from this lovely couple (8) and sandwiched them in between the lining and the mulling. After the brim lining was sewn, I sewed the crown lining which was followed by the headpiece lining. The headpiece lining was slip stitched to the crown and brim pieces using an “invisible” thread, basically a thin fishing line. I then attached a piece of pleated lace (9), a common feature in 1860s bonnets, to the inside of the brim. Now all that the inside was all properly finished I could cover the outside.
I covered the crown first, and I made a couple pleats in the fabric before sewing it down, another common 1860s feature. After sewing the crown piece down, I bound the brim using an antique ribbon purchased from (10) which was sewn down using the “invisible” thread. Then I cut the bavolet, which covers the back of the head and upper neck, out of the blue silk and matched the center point to the center point of the headpiece and the edges to the edges of the brim tips and pleated the rest to fit and whip stitched it down. The final step in the covering process was to cover the headpiece, which was slip-stitched to both the brim and the crown pieces. Now came the fun part, decoration! I cut a 28 inch long strip of the same antique ribbon I used to bind the brim and attached in the the center back of the bonnet, where the headpiece met the bavolet. I then attached a bow of the same ribbon to the back of the bonnet as well as flowers to the sides of the bonnet.
(1) https://www.timelytresses.com/store/p38/Eliza_Coretta_1860%27s_Bonnet_%281860-1862%29.html
(2) https://www.silkbaron.com/product_p/467.htm
(3) https://www.timelytresses.com/store/p317/Heavy_Weight_Buckram.html
(5) https://www.joann.com/clover-wonder-clips-10-pc/14059109.html#q=wonder%2Bclips&start=1
(7) https://www.silkbaron.com/product_p/452.htm
(9) https://www.joann.com/2in-flat-lace/3877701.html#q=lace&start=1