February | 2016 | If I Had My Own Blue Box:

Spring Millinery Reading

As spring arrives, a great many of us are thinking…. Spring Millinery! Here are a few past articles of interest….

A Springy New Series – Another Look at Millinery – Includes an article from “Aesthetics of Dress.”
A Bonnet Cover – One way to help protect your bonnet from the weather.
The Millinery Market – How names or locations sell.
The Rival Bonnets – What happens when two women (and a milliner) want to lead town’s millinery fashions.
Millinery Opening Day – A look at millinery fashion’s opening day in Philadelphia.
On the Suitability of Colours for Lining Bonnets – Color theory for trimming bonnets.
Color and Ornament – A “Home Circle” article looking at color combinations.
Milliner’s Wink – A story of a milliner selling bonnets to a mother & daughter pair.
A Thrifty Bonnet – How a young lady wore the same bonnet for 8 years.
The “Great Students of Bonnets” – A farce, well we hope it is a farce, of what a bonnet says of a woman.
A Change of Mind
A Lesson in Economy
To Clean a Bonnet
The Faux Customer
Among the Milliners
A little something extra for remaking bonnets:

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Favorite Topics - Millinery/Bonnets/Ribbons

on February 29, 2016 at 6:00 am Leave a Comment

Today’s Millinery – Black Hat

Available in my Etsy Shop.

This black straw hat is a fashionable 1860’s style appropriate for the Civil War era. The brim dips front and back in an elegant shape. The crown is squared with a slightly rounded edge.

This hat will fit an average to large size head. It is made to sit high on your head. I suggest lining this hat as the straw is rough inside and the dye may rub in humid conditions.

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I Forgot to Categorize This.

on February 28, 2016 at 10:14 am Leave a Comment

Finishing/Decorating A Straw Bonnet

You have your straw form from myself, Danielle, Pam, Kim or Vivian… Now you want to finish and decorate it.

Recommended Shopping List:

Danielle’s book from Timely Tresses: Finishing a Straw Bonnet Form
Cotton net to line your bavolet
Fine cotton or silk net (bobbinette), or silk organza or lace for your frill/cap
Fine cotton voile or silk taffeta to line your brim
3 yards minimum of wide (silk or quality rayon) ribbon (2 yards for ties, 1 yard for bavolet, additional for decoration/bows) (silk taffeta is also an option for the bavolet.)
1 yard of 3/4″-1″ wide silk or cotton sateen ribbon for ties.
Ribbon and laces of choice for decoration
Flowers and feathers of choice for decoration
1/2″-3/4″ wide velvet for optional stay

Recommended Reading List:

“Understanding the Ribbon Bavolet“
“Bonnet Stays“
“Life of a Straw Bonnet – Cleaning & Care“
“On the Suitability of Colors for Lining Bonnets“
“Bonnet Trimming Resources” (a bit dated, 2011, but should be good.)
“Millinery Vocabulary“

And just in case = Millinery Care and First Aid

(I already had an original article on Finishing a bonnet scheduled. It will be up in a couple weeks.)

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I Forgot to Categorize This.

on February 25, 2016 at 6:00 am Comments (1)

Bleaching and Coloring Bonnet

Moore’s Rural New-Yorker from Rochester, N.Y., May 17, 1862

http://www.libraryweb.org/rochimag/roads/moores.htm

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on February 24, 2016 at 6:00 am Leave a Comment

Sew Along – Work Bag – Finishing the Silk Bag

I hang my head. I am much, much delayed in posting the finishing directions for the silk bag.

Remember this channel that was made when we attached the lining and silk? We are simply going to run a silk ribbon or cord through it.

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For each side, cut between 12″ and 18″ depending on how long you want your handles to be. (or cut one 24″ to 36″ long piece.)

Run the ribbon or cord from the inside where the bag meets the pasteboard, to the top of the bag’s channel and back to the base on the other side.

I prefer to work a small hole in the base of the lining to access the channel.

Also use a bodkin or stiletto to work a hole in the top of the silk. You may want to do a fine button hole stitch around this hole.

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I also use my bodkin to bring the ribbon/cord through the channel.

I anchor the ribbon/cord at the base of the channel. This could be done with a knot at each end or folding the end over and stitching down. Since I used a single ribbon, I tied one side and have a flat ribbon on the other side.

My finished version:

———————————————–

Where that channel is:

Line the fold of the lining up so it is just below the edge of the outer fabric and pasteboard. (1-2mm) Pin as needed to keep everything lined up.

With a blind stitch or whip stitch, attach the lining to the outer fabric and pasteboard.

***As you attach the lining, you are also creating a channel you will use later for the ribbon/cord to go through.

Finished with the lining.

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on February 23, 2016 at 7:26 pm Comments (3)

Re-Reading

There are times I scroll back through my blog remembering all the things I forgot I posted about. It seems sort of silly, but, I do forget what I have written and shared over the years.

Today, I am noticing a few thematic postings I forgot about. Each of these are sets of posts I actually remembered to tag as groups. (I am awfully bad about that.):