When Little House on the Prairie premiered, I intended to write a post introducing the hats and bonnets I made. Instead, I found myself swept into the conversations surrounding the bonnets. Questions about their shapes, styles, and historical accuracy filled my inbox and social media, and before I knew it, I had written several posts explaining nineteenth-century bonnets. In all of that excitement, I realized I had never actually shared the two hats that also made it to the screen.
2 of my hat styles appeared in season 1 of Little House on the Prairie. One is worn by Caroline Ingalls and the other is worn by Emily Henderson.
Emily first appears wearing her hat during the day of the church yard social. Her hat is a style very popular in the 1860s. This style is possibly the most commonly illustrated in the decade. The crown is shallow and tapered, while the flat brim dips in the front and the back. A band of vining straw circles the brim in the middle. This hat is a nice balance of determination and sweetness.
Caroline wears her hat to the ladies’ social at Jemma James home. Her hat is an 1860’s fashionable hat with a shallow, tapered crown and shaped brim curving down all around while dipping in the front and back. This style hat is seen in fashion illustrations of the 1860s and in carte de vistas of the era.
Caroline’s hat is made special with bands of vining straw wrapping around the crown top and brim. This vining straw is hand shaped by curving two lengths of plait as it is sewn in place while building the crown and brim. This vining moves the eye around her hat while adding texture for the camera to capture.
Although Emily’s and Caroline’s hats are different styles, they were made using the same traditional hand-sewn techniques I use for all of my nineteenth-century straw millinery. Each hat begins as a hank of straw plait, which I hand-sew coaxing the straw into shape. Every step, from sewing to shaping to the final finishing, is done by hand, much as it would have been in a nineteenth-century millinery workroom. I just have the luxury of modern lighting, a softer couch, and Netflix.
One of the things I appreciate most about nineteenth-century millinery is that a well-designed hat complements the wearer rather than competing for attention. It frames the face, balances the figure, and supports the overall impression.
At the same time. ensuring a person feels pretty, beautiful, powerful, and/or their best-selves while wearing of my hats of bonnets is important to me. Admittedly, sending my millinery out into the world to be trimmed by someone else can be a little nerve-wracking, whether it is a single piece to an individual or a half dozen to a costume department. As my coworkers can tell you, I am working on letting go.
In watching season 1, I found I didn’t need to worry. I was delighted to see how my hats contributed to the vision for each character as well as how the costume department trimmed the hats. Each hat was trimmed in a way that suited both the historical style and the character wearing it, allowing the hats to become part of the storytelling rather than the center of attention.
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 
Leave a comment