If I Had My Own Blue Box:

When talking about drawn bonnets, we should start with a little vocabulary and “how it is done”.

Drawn – Drawn is when the fabric, most often but not exclusively silk, is sewn with channels into which cane or wire is inserted. The fabric is then bunched, or drawn, up along the length of the cane/wire to create a gathered effect. The drawn cane/wire is attached to the bonnet form.

Shirred – Shirred is when a fabric, often silk, is gathered without additional structure. This can be flat or with flounces.

A single bonnet can have either drawn or shirred techniques, or it may have both.

Construction can be done with individual strips of fabric or larger pieces with multiple sections of drawing or shirring. These were done on both wire only frames and frames with light foundation. Drawn and shirred sections are seen on the brim, on the brim and crown, evenly spaced, unevenly spaced, edged with a different material and even running front to back in some cases.

Now, let us look at some examples. (My apologies for the flash in the images.)

In this fashion illustration and description, the bonnet is directly referred to as “drawn”. This bonnet would have the crepe gathered on cane or wires passing over the bonnet. This bonnet could have been made with two drawn sections, one for the brim and one for the crown.

The bonnet of drawn cuir-colored crepe, trimmed on the front with a fanchon of white lace, loops of green ribbon, and Scotch feathers. The inside trimming is of bright flowers, of the
Scotch colors. The cape is covered with a fall of white blonde. (Godey’s, May 1864)

This bonnet, from the MET, has very easy to see canes which the silk is drawn on. 4 canes draw a single piece of silk onto the brim, while a separate piece is set smoothly over the crown and tip. These canes are on the thicker/larger size, being round. (the widest cane channels I’ve seen in an image are on this Henry Ford Museum corduroy bonnet.)

This bonnet also has the drawn sections on the brim while the crown is smooth. It appears to differ from the previous bonnet in that the canes are drawn on separately in strips. The very edge of the brim is covered with one strip. Three strips are drawn onto canes. These are applied from the back to front, with the front most strip being drawn onto 2 canes, creating a little flounce just behind the front edge.

The next several bonnets show drawn silk on the brim and crown. Notice the variety of spacing used. Some are set snuggly, while other are set with quite a bit of space. The green bonnet has fairly evenly spaced drawn canes/wires.  The blue and white pairs the drawn canes together.  Flounces drawn on cane or wire are tucked in as well. The black and white one has a flounce just where the crown meets the brim. The brown bonnet highlights the angles and overlapping that was done on some bonnets. This helps add to the curvy movement to some bonnets.

This example shows that gathered sections can be worked vertically, over the back of the tip. This may or may not be drawn. A better example, where the canes can be seen, showing it is truly a drawn bonnet can be seen HERE

This last illustration show that a drawn brim can be done with a soft crown. (A tempting idea for this summer. Maybe I’ll make one.)

This bonnet has a front of drawn green silk. The graceful soft crown is of white silk. The trimming consists of a tuft of meadow grass and field flowers, also loops of white silk placed directly over the crown. The inside trimmings is of white and black lace and field flowers. (Godey’s, May 1864)

This is my pin board of 1840s through 1860s drawn bonnets. (I’m splitting drawn and buckram. Bare with me.)

A few days ago we looked at how some original women wore their bonnets perched on the backs of their heads as well as how we can also do so. If you missed it, the post was called Got Perch?

This was only one of several ways women wore their bonnets. Today, I would like to look further at how mid-century women wore their bonnets. Let us start with more examples of the bonnet being worn behind the mid-point of the head.

You will notice some variation in how far back the bonnet is worn. The two women on the lower left appear to have their bonnet furthest back among the group. These two also happen to have their bonnets angled more than the others. From the views/positions we have, the third woman from the left on the bottom row appears to have a nearly vertical position to the brim and tip. We can not say for certain with the other women; though I suspect the top left may also be nearly vertical. We can also see that most of these women have their flowers reaching further forward than the brim edge of the bonnet. The position of these flowers may help hold the bonnet in place. In the lower right, the flowers can be seen cupping the top of her head. Take a particularly close look at the woman on the lower left. There is a piece photographing white sitting below the flowers/decoration. This may or may not be a stay.

This next group of women are wearing their bonnets at or just forward of their mid-point.

We see greater variety in the angle of which these bonnets are worn, seeing them worn nearly vertical, angled slightly forward and angled slightly backward. The bottom right and bottom left images show the further forward reach of the spoon bonnet while displaying noticeable difference in the depth, angle and shaping of the crown and tip. In the top left and top right images, we can see how the frill aids in holding the bonnet on.  Again, the flowers are aiding in securing the bonnet to the head. In the bottom row, third from the left, you can see the woman’s flowers reaching down over the hair line. (The lower right image could be considered as wearing her bonnet quite forward.)

In this next group, we see the bonnet worn quite forward of the mid-point.

Many will notice these women each look more mature. I do not know if this is a coincidence or if there is truly a connection between age and mode yet. I will look further into this. While these bonnets are worn further forward and a couple are rounder, the fashionable spoon shape is present. The bonnet with the daisies, second on the bottom row, demonstrates well how the flowers can hug the top of the head. In several cases, the flowers sit forward enough to reach to or even beyond the hair line. If there is a connection between age and this mode of wearing, there could be further speculation that this positioning of flowers could conceal a thinning part.

The following group was collected as I was looking at untied or partially tied bonnets. These are late 1840s through early 1850s examples. Each either has the ribbons simply looped over each other without a bow or completely untied. Many, if not most, of the women above would have worn their bonnets in this style ten to twenty years previous.