If I Had My Own Blue Box:

I have decided to share select pieces from my winter hood/bonnet collection. Every few days, I will post a new piece. My collection currently spans most of the 19th century, though lightly at the very beginning and end. The pieces I share will be from the early and mid-Victorian eras, roughly 1830s through the 1870s. All but one of my pieces originate from the United States.

Today’s winter hood is of the same style as my second winter millinery pattern. It has a deep brim and elongated cheektabs/lapets. This hood is constructed with a basic three piece construction – brim, crown, and bavolet. This hood has a black silk taffeta exterior. Black silk lines the interior of the brim while brown polished cotton lines the crown. The bavolet is unlined.

The brim is pieced together to get the large piece. The piecing is finely done making it difficult to spot. The easiest one to see is a horizontal piecing on the left hand side about half way up. This piecing can be seen nicely in this photo that also shows how the bavolet is attached:

Notice how the bavolet is completely unlined. This is rather uncommon for winter hoods. I have seen some where there is an exterior and interior fabric with no batting or wadding. Completely unlined is unpractical in terms of warmth and moisture protection. This bavolet is simply gathered into the neck edge. There is a hem at the bottom which is tacked on each side to the cheektabs/lapets. You can see how the binding for the neck edge continues down along the inner edge of the cheektab to the point where the bavolet is attached.

This interior photo shows the same area. The neck binding adds strength, neatness, and comfort to this seam area. One thing of interest is the remains of a ribbon (just left and above center) along the neck edge. There are corresponding threads in the same spot on the other side. This shows functional ties were at one point place rather far back on the head. I find this placement can be helpful if in a windy climate.

There is evidence of what may have been ribbons on the inside of the cheektabs/lapets. These holes are either pin holes or thread holes.

Alright, I kinda fizzled with this writing…

I do want you to see the inside of the crown. This shows both the layers as seen in the seam area and how it is set with denser gathers towards the top.

Two damage spots let us see inside to the lining:

Similar style hoods:

(Left to right: Pink silk with longer lapets in the Greene Collection at GCVM. Green silk exterior with pink silk interior in Anna’s collection. Green wool exterior with pink silk interior in Anna’s collection.)

Note 1 – Additional Winter Millinery can be found in posts from September though November, 2019 using the search term: Winter Millinery Series or clicking here.

Winter Millinery Survey Please

To wrap up this stretch of Millinery Monday looking at winter hoods, I thought it would be fun to look back at the pieces I unboxed this past year or so. Starting next week, Millinery Monday will be looking forward to spring.

I opened several additions to my winter bonnet and hood collection over the past year. While it is nice to have pristine or exceptional examples, I prefer pieces that allow me to explore how they were made, the details of construction. Some pieces show piecing or little make-dos. Others show wear patterns. Fractured silk can allow a look inside. While some are fairly clear puzzle pieces falling into place, others are little oddities, offering more questions than answers…..

Plaid silk wadded

Lots tbd..

Black silk

Plaid wool hood

Doll size wadded silk hood

Quilted silk hood/bonnet

From the Winter Millinery series I started but got distracted from:

Black silk quilked hood

While New Years Day officially declares the changing of the year, I find the time from Solstice through the New Year, and even through to Twelfth Night, to be this foggy, veiled transition from one year into the next. These three-ish weeks are filled with Yuletide, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, my Father’s and Uncle’s birthdays…. Festivities, family time, friend time…. Self reflection on accomplishments, achievements, and personal survivals. For me, this time swirls together fireside warmth, lights, velvety jewel colors, smells of the evergreen forest, and depth of heart. Being the darkest days and nights of the year, this is a time for reconnecting with the unseen, what can be felt and smelled on the sensory level, the interpersonal “hearth and home” of those we share our lives with. Being that I’ve felt disconnected from some of these things, I am taking the time this Yule to close my eyes feel in hopes of making a more truly connected transition into the new year.

And now for the traditional looks back and ahead…

2019 accomplishments:

~~ When I counted out the millinery pieces of the year, I was happily surprised to find how the numbers worked out. I made 92 straw millinery pieces for people, 6 straw millinery pieces for dolls, and 1 lappet style winter hood. This means my 100th millinery piece was (nearly) completed during GCVM’S Holiday Open House. This was not a goal, nor intentional. But, it did feel right as I counted up the numbers.

This turns out to be about 1,500 hours of hand sewing, working through over 2,100 yards of straw plait and three coils of wire. I added several original hoods and bonnets to my collection, many of which you can see the Winter Millinery Series.

Etsy wanted to point out this is a record year for my millinery shop. I am very grateful to each of you who purchased a piece, shared my listings, and supported my work. Thank you.

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~~ I feel as though I made both strides and baby steps in wrapping my head around how I want to present straw millinery. This is two fold for me: the tactile art of the straw becoming millinery and the employment opportunities for women from cottage industry to business ownership.

I found myself giddy twice this year as I developed display pieces for the straw art aspect. First was in finally getting a pleasing presentation format for showing the stages from field to plait as well as the variety of plaits (lower right of photo.) Second was being able to purchase antique decorative straw millinery motifs and finding a perfect display box by a local craftsman.

~~ I gave myself a personal challenge for Ag Fair this year: each entry had to begin with the letter “P“. This became pockets, pen wipers, pin cushions, work pockets, and petticoats in miniature. (This coming year doesn’t have a letter theme, but, I do already have something big in mind. Fingers crossed.)

~~ Discovery of pen wipers! How much fun have these little pretties been?

I’ve really been captivated by how these practical little items can be just so precious. I love how they can be made from the littlest bits and pieces. They truly are a form of Fanciful Utility.

~~ Little projects included…. Revitalizing two wooden fans… making several pairs of earrings that then wandered away, possibly with feline assistance… giving a handful of dolls a new life (DPtC post coming on them)… accidentally dyed my stockings and underpinnings pink… and probably a few other things I am forgetting.

2020 Projects ahead:

• Pink plaid parasol
• Rose stripe sheer 1860s gown
• Pink plaid gown
• 1830s dress (still from 2018)
• Red wool petticoat
• Blue wool skirt with tbd work bodice
• Winter hood book (still from 2017)
• The super secret project
• Embroidery on ticking relaxation project (kit from Colleen)
• Birdcage Windsor chair currently in kit form

Blink…. November has gone.

This was a tough month personally. Lots of emotion, tears, and leaning on much needed shoulders. Thank you all for baring with me.

I started November off with the 2019 FanU Holiday Project.

The Winter Millinery Series continued to look at original winter hoods and bonnets in my collection.

The second weekend of the month was the Domestic Skills Symposium at the Genesee Country Village and Museum, where I taught a unique workshop called Straw Surgery.

I can’t share the millinery pieces I made this month because most of them are gifts. I did write a millinery gifting post I hope people find fun.

I wrapped the month up with Preparing for Winter at the museum. It was Packed. It was Cold. It was Good.

I will be spending most of December making gifts of my own. I may also make a few winter hoods.

I am a full week late on writing my October Reflections. (I’ll probably back-date this later in November.) The last week and a half has completely gotten away from me.

October was certainly filled with lots and lots of projects – The Winter Millinery Series, sewing for the Holiday Shop, preparing for the Domestic Skills Symposium, and some straw millinery.

October started off with the Agricultural Society Fair at GCVM. This is a long time favorite part of the year for me.

I hope you have enjoyed the Winter Millinery Series. I have enjoyed sharing some of my pieces with you. I will admit it has caused me to want to add even more pieces to the collection. It has also started me reevaluating what I should do with the collection itself. I had been planning to do an e-book, but I haven’t found time to do proper photos and writing. If you could take a moment and give me some quick feed-back, I would appreciate it:

Winter Millinery Survey

I finished a handful of straw pieces this month, earlier this month.

I spent most of the month making giftable goodies for the Holiday Shop in my Etsy Shop. I am very excited about the pretty items I am offering this year.

That kinda blurs me into November. So, let’s look ahead:

• Domestic Skill Symposium at GCVM – November 8th, 9th, and 10th
• Holiday Sew-in – Week of November 24th
• Preparing for the Winter at GCVM – November 30th
• Holiday Open House at GCVM – December 21st

Winter Millinery Survey Please

I have decided to share select pieces from my winter hood/bonnet collection. Every few days, I will post a new piece. My collection currently spans most of the 19th century, though lightly at the very beginning and end. The pieces I share will be from the early and mid-Victorian eras, roughly 1830s through the 1870s. All but one of my pieces originate from the United States. (I do have to retake some of tonight’s photos. My phone camera just doesn’t play well with lights.)

Tonight’s winter millinery pieces is the classic pumpkin hood.

Okay, a little play on words tonight…. A Pumpkin hood on Halloween… Haha?

First, let’s talk about the name: pumpkin. When I first started hearing people call these fluffy hoods “pumpkin hoods” I was skeptical about this being a period name. But, if you hop over to HathiTrust or Google Books, you will find a speckling of search results for “pumpkin hood” including entry and donation lists, as well as references to “old fashioned pumpkin hoods.”

This pumpkin hood is made with a light weight, soft matte black silk taffeta exterior. Inside is a brown cotton lining that may have once been polished and a silk faille facing with soft ribs. Beneath the silk exterior is a light color lining. This style hood is constructed with a single brim/crown piece and bavolet. (in some pumpkin styles a small piece is used it the very back.) There are 5+ softly filled channels that feel as though there may be down inside. Between each loft is a corded channel sewn with a running stitch. A ruffle is formed at the edge of the brim in front of the cord.

The back most loft channel is gathered together as many pumpkin hoods. This lower portion of the channel is turned inside creating the taper on the outside. This makes an elongated heart or teardrop on the back of the hood. This is topped with a ribbon arranged in a bow. This is the same design ribbon used for the ties.

The bavolet was constructed separately of elongated trapazoids, silk and lining. The finished top edge was gathered tightly and attached to the bottom edge of the crown/brim. This technique makes a look similar to gauging.

Inside, the neck edge is covered. Notice the hem of the bavolet with the very even stitches.

Here is the front interior edge showing the cotton lining, silk faille facing, and silk taffeta ruffle.

This is the interior looking at one of the corded channels. This cord is approx 3mm thick, based of feel. It is not overly stiff.

Note 1 – Additional Winter Millinery can be found in posts from September though November, 2019 using the search term: Winter Millinery Series or clicking here.

I have decided to share select pieces from my winter hood/bonnet collection. Every few days, I will post a new piece. My collection currently spans most of the 19th century, though lightly at the very beginning and end. The pieces I share will be from the early and mid-Victorian eras, roughly 1830s through the 1870s. All but one of my pieces originate from the United States.

For this edition of the winter millinery series, I have a video to share. This video is of my first observations of this winter moments after I opened it.

Here are some detail photos:

Brim quilting and turn back.

Bavolet quilting and bias piecing

Brim quilting and basting at brim edge

Interior with soiling on lining.

Crown quilting

Interior showing hand stitching of silk facing, how the ribbon ties are attached, quilting on lining.

The neck seam or bavolet seam is bound in silk while the crown to brim is raw.

Cotton or linen warp threads along the sides of the silk ribbon.

Note 1 – Additional Winter Millinery can be found in posts from September though November, 2019 using the search term: Winter Millinery Series or clicking here.

I have decided to share select pieces from my winter hood/bonnet collection. Every few days, I will post a new piece. My collection currently spans most of the 19th century, though lightly at the very beginning and end. The pieces I share will be from the early and mid-Victorian eras, roughly 1830s through the 1870s. All but one of my pieces originate from the United States.

Today’s winter bonnet is a plaid silk adult size bonnet. The structure of this piece classifies it as a bonnet rather than a hood. This piece loosely dates between  the 1840s and 1870s, though the small crown tip and shape of the wide cheektabs with the shorter bavolet makes me think it is an 1840s example. A single plaid silk fabric is used throughout for the exterior as well as the interior and for ties. The plaid is asymmetrical in one direction and symmetrical in the other. The entire bonnet is handsewn. Channels of puffs and cord alternate through the brim. While the majority of these are evenly spaced, a couple alter slightly to follow the shape of the bonnet. One in particular, the eighth from the front, widens at the bottom to accommodate the curve transition from the cheektab to the neck edge.

Wire, cane, cord, and buckram are used to support this bonnet. Wire is found around the front edge, around the cheektabs and even along the edge of the bonnet. Cane is found in the channels immediately behind the brim edge puff and through the front section of the brim. Further back, the narrow channels between the body puffs are a dense, exceptionally firm cord. At first, I thought these channels also had cane, as other bonnets have. But, I can feel a diagonal ridge indicating a twist in cord. Buckram lines the interior crown tip of this bonnet.

Do compare the left side of the bonnet above with the right side of the bonnet below. You can see where the brim wire has been bent. This brings attention to what can happen to wired and caned millinery during storage. The vast majority of winter bonnets I have seen have the wires and canes bent or broken from being stored flat. This bonnet was lucky. Or, actually, has such a firm “batting” that it made it difficult to store flat. This brings me to the interior. Normally, I use words like “batting” or “wadding” to discuss what is inside a bonnet or hood. Instead of using wool batting, this bonnet is filled with what appears to be bundles of cotton/wool* string. This area where the silk has worn away shows just how densely the string has been packed inside. This is Not something I see commonly. The bavolet is filled as fully as the brim of the bonnet creating a triple tier bavolet rippling around the neck. (Notice you can see the cane, wire, and buckram (which may be willow) in this photo. The back bow is made from the same silk as the bonnet.)

I have to spend some time with the ties and bow on this bonnet. I find they are remarkably unfrayed for what looks like faux ribbon cut from the silk.

This detail of the cheektab interior shows the wire along the edge and the cane.

Note 1 – Additional Winter Millinery can be found in posts from September though November, 2019 using the search term: Winter Millinery Series or clicking here.

Notes: * I have not yet looked at the filling under a microscope to determine it is cotton or wool.