Hats and Woven Bonnets in the Shop.

I am adding two hats, one later this evening, and two woven bonnets to the shop today. The woven bonnets are a new adventure in straw millinery. Seeing that two milliners who were making beautiful woven bonnets have retired, I decided to try to fill the void by offering a few. I will Not be making many of these as they are not where I find my joy in straw.

This first set has a beautiful diamond pattern woven into the very light natural fibers. I think I will do 2 this month and 2 next month. I may also do some Regency capotes.

I blocked the first with my original late 1850-early 1860s block giving it the fashionable high crown. The second uses two blocks, the previous for the brim and my earlier wooden block for the deeper rounded crown. I wired them on the inside and covered the wire with straw plait. While the plait is more visually present, it should be stronger in the long run than sinmay bias tape and I have seen woven originals with plait binding.