This week’s question comes from a visitor who wants to begin reenacting as a hobby. They are either just starting out or have been reenacting for a short time. In developing their wardrobe, they know they need a bonnet. They ask “What should be my first bonnet?” or “What bonnet should I buy.”
My answer often surprises.
A sunbonnet.
So many women post about just starting and needing a bonnet. They often waste money on a bad fashion bonnet. I would rather see them buy a sensible sunbonnet and save for the right fashion bonnet. But, no. The bad fashion purchase gets worn far too long out of the feeling of remorse for the expense.
A correctly made sunbonnet is a purchase that will last many years. It will protect the wearer’s face, hair, and neck from the sun. It can also protect the fashion bonnet by allowing it to stay “home” in inclement weather.
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Wearing nineteenth century clothes, we find they fit differently than our modern clothes. The waist is in a different spot. The bust sits differently. Seams are used to accent or de-accent parts of the body. The fit feels different and moving in the clothes is different. The same is true for hats and bonnets. In previous posts I’ve talked about bonnets and perch. Here, we are going to look at how a hat was worn and how it “fits”.
In the 1850s and 1860s, hats were worn much higher on the head than we are accustom to in the twenty-first century. Think about when you wear your modern beach or garden hat. You know that line across your forehead where it sits after a long hot day? You do Not want that. A mid-nineteenth century hat sat higher, at the top of your forehead, at your hair line, or even higher. Take a look at these fashion illustrations from 1860-1862. Notice where each hat sit. In a few illustrations, the front hairline is obviously below the crown line. In others, the crown sits just at this line. The hat sits atop the head, not encompassing it. The curve of the brim is what dips to the eye line, not the hat itself.
What does this mean for you when picking a size?
There are two factors for finding a comfortable fit: Size and shape.
The difference in wear or placement means we measure for a mid-nineteenth century had differently than we do for a twentieth or twenty-first century hat. The modern hat is measured just above the eyebrow. (This is also where many of us measure for bonnets. We want to keep you on your toes.) For mid-nineteenth century, we measure higher, at the hair line. In this illustration, we can see the difference between where the two measurements would be.
These higher, hairline measurements are often smaller than those taken at the eyebrow. A hat worn at this point can be slightly smaller to slightly larger for comfort. So, add and subtract an inch to your hairline measure.
For example: I am 22.5″ around at my eyebrows and 21.5″ at my hairline. The vast land of the internet tells me that the average woman’s head measures 22.5″ to 22 5/8″ around at the modern measuring point. So, I am about average. I comfortably wear a mid-nineteenth century hat that is 19.5″ to 21.5″
General guidelines I use:
Small = Less than 21″ at the hairline (crown less than 20″)
Average = 21″-22.5″ at the hairline (crown 20-21.5″)
Large = Greater than 22.5″ at the hairline (crown greater than 22″)
Just like every head measures a bit differently, they are each shaped a bit differently.
When looking from above, some people have rounder heads while other have more oval heads. Both of these shapes to the right can have a circumference of 22.5″. Yet, the same hat would fit each head differently.
I will try to indicate which hats have rounder crowns or more oval crowns. I am in the process of naming the crowns. Hopefully, that will help.
Back in 2009, I wrote what would become one of the favorite posts on my blog. “Fringe Frustration,” later “Fringing Shawls,” walked through my process for turning a length of wool fabric into a mid-nineteenth century appropriate shawl. Since then, I published Paisley, Plaid, & Purled, going far deeper into shawls. Still, making a shawl from a length of wool is one of the easiest and simplest ways of boosting a waredrobe. Here, I offer an updated look at …
Fringing Your Wool Shawl
The red wool shawl from my original post was a favorite for many years. It traveled to event after event with me. Eventually, it traveled across the country on my first plane trip, which found me stuck in a wild storm being bounced from flight to flight to flight. By the time I reached my destination, I had scarring blisters on my feet, and my red shawl accidentally found its way into the washer and dryer, where it fulled up on itself. The wool became soft and cuddly, but the shawl was no longer usable as a 19th-century shawl.
The core of my shawl research focuses on the 1840s through 1860s. During this time, most shawls were fringed on two or four sides. This applies to wool, silk, and cotton shawls. As a shawl’s fringe was often made from its warp and weft threads, a squared shawl was fringed on the grain. The shawls I have observed have had fringe ranging from 3 inches to 10 inches in length.
The large, long, scarf shawls of the earlier Regency era tend to be fringed on the short sides. Again, the length of fringe varies.
Helpful hints before starting
Make sure you purchase plenty of extra length to work with. I often find merchants do not cut along the grain. If your fabric is not cut on the grain, you will lose length on one or both ends.
Have a lint basket nearby. This works much easier than a bag.
You might also want a lint brush to clean up with.
Pick up your favorite movie or audio book from the library. You will need several hours of video or audio.
Purchasing Your Fabric
~ For a long, scarf shawl (1800-1820s), you will need a length of fabric approximately 3 yards long by half width of the wool. This means you may be able to get two shawls from 3 yards of wool.
~ For a square shawl (1830s – 1870s), you will need the width of the fabric, plus twice the length of fringe, plus waste. For example: The fabric width is 60″. You want 5″ fringe on each end. There is approx. 1.5″ waste on each end. You will need 60″+10″+3″= 73 inches.
~ For a long shawl or double square shawl (1850s – 1880s), you will need twice the width of the fabric, plus twice the length of the fringe, plus waste. For example: The fabric is 60″. You want 6″ fringe. There is approx. 1.5″ waste on each end. You will need 120″+12″+3″=135″. If you are working with a plaid, stripe, or check fabric, you may need additional length in order to have a balanced design. Be sure to lay your fabric out on the cutting counter to double check you measurements.
Squaring your fabric
Sometimes, fabric becomes wabbly or off grain when rolled or stored. If the warp and weft threads of your fabric are not nearly perpendicular (at 90-degree angles), you will want to square your fabric up. This is a good time to get familiar with the warp and weft of your fabric.
You will need a large, flat, traffic free space for this. Double check prior to doing this that your fabric is color fast. Otherwise, you may stain the drying surface.
At each end of your fabric, snip at the selvage and tear the fabric along the weft threads. Do this at each end. This will create a straight edge along the weft. Wet your wool fabric. Do not agitate it as this can cause your wool to shrink. Press out excess water. Lay the fabric out flat using a quilter’s rule to square the edges. Place weight (jars of food work well) on each corner and side. Allow your fabric to dry.
Step 1 – Setting the depth of the fringe
You can create fringe on two opposing or all four sides of your shawl. To fringe the selvage sides, you will need to remove the selvage edge either by ripping/cutting it away or unpicking it.
At one cut end of the fabric, measure in from the end the desired length of your fringe. Mark your measurements along the width of the fabric. Repeat this at the opposite end of the fabric or all four sides.
Using a seam ripper or embroidery scissors, carefully snip the weft thread that passes through these markings.
With a thick needle or small crochet hook, carefully remove this weft thread. The space created by removing this thread becomes your measurement guide in the next step. If this line is not easy to see, remove a second weft thread in the same way. Repeat this process at the other cut end of fabric.
Step 2 – Sectioning
It is easier to fringe in sections, removing short pieces of weft rather than long lengths. Make cuts, dividing the width of the fabric into 2 inch sections. To do this – Cut along the warp threads from the cut end of fabric to the removed weft line you created above. Repeat this on the opposite end.
Step 3 – Fringing
Here is the fun part! Put a movie or audio book in the player. Using your fingers, large needle, crochet hook, or anything you think might help, remove the weft threads from each section. I find it easier to alternate from working vertically to working horizontally, removing threads.
Step 4 – Finishing
You can finish your fringe in a few ways; knotting, hand stitching, or working a weft thread back through the fabric.
One of the simplest ways to finish as shawl is to stitch along the fringed edge. Using a matching thread, make a sort-of back-stitch and whip-stich combination along where the fringe meets the fabric. Go forward 5-7 warp threads at the fabric edge, then back three threads and up tree warp threads, catch the stitch, and go forward. This sounds much more complicated than it is. Picture to come.
A method used before taking a shawl off the loom is to work the weft thread back through the edge. This process could be attempted if you can save enough of your weft thread. I have not yet tried this.
For knotting your fringe, I suggest an over-hand knot (as you would knot the end of thread) instead of a square knot (as you would start your shoe laces), because a square knot tends to pull threads together creating a puckered look. If you are going to do multiple layers of knots, creating a nice diamond pattern, I suggest starting with an overhand knot rather than continuing with a square knot for a flat diamond pattern.
Original double square shawl with a symmetrical plaid.Small scale symmetrical plaid shawl made from wool fabric.Medium scale symmetrical plaid shawl made from wool fabric.
Mistakes to Avoid
Wrong weave – Most woven wool shawls were a plain or simple twill weave. For making a shawl this way, a weave that pulls apart fairly easily will be preferable to one that sticks to itself.
Wrong weight – One of the most common mistakes I see is choosing a weight of wool fabric that is too heavy for a shawl. Most original shawls were lighter weight, folded to get warmth though layers. Look for a tropical, light, or medium weight wool. Avoid heavy and coat weight wool.
Wrong design – Choose a solid or symmetrical plaid for your shawl as these will beset reflect common shawls of the century. Avoid prints, asymmetrical plaids, and jacquard designs for the vast majority of the century.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, each day I will add a new book to this list. The growing list contains favorite books from my book shelf as well as many books from my own wish list. (I annotated these BS and WL in the list.)
You will notice my list focuses on the everyday lives of women, mostly in 19th Century America with a dabbling of further connection.
I hope you find some new additions to your reading list. Each book is available through your local library, book seller, or Amazon.
Employments of Women by Virginia Penny (Primary) (BS)
Novel Craft: Victorian Domestic Handicraft and Nineteenth-Century Fiction, by Tilia Schaffer (WL)
The Dress Diary: Secrets from a Victorian Woman’s Wardrobe by Dr. Kate Strasdin (WL)
Female Economy: The Millinery and Dressmaking Trades, 1860-1930, by Wendy Gamber (BS)
American Milliners and Their World: Women’s Work from Revolution to Rock and Roll, by Nadine Stewart (WL)
An American Girl’s Book, by Eliza Leslie (Primary) (BS)
Women in Business, 1700-1850, Nicola Phillips (WL)
Eliza’s Story, by Eileen Hook (BS)
Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl, by Tonya Bolden (WL)
Untidy Origins: A Story of Women’s Rights in Antebellum New York, by Lori D Ginzberg (BS)
Only the Clothes on Her Back: Clothing and the Hidden History of Power in the Nineteenth-Century United States, by Laura F. Edwards. (WL)
The Chinese Lady: Afong Moy in Early America, by Nancy E. Davis (WL)
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, by Tiya Miles (BS)
Women and the Law of Property in Early America, by Marylynn Salmon (WL)
Face Value: The Consumer Revolution and the Colonizing of America, by Cary Carson (WL)
Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle, by Clare Hunter (BS)
Buying into the World of Goods: Early Consumers in Backcountry Virginia, by Ann Smart Martin (WL)
Village Life in America, 1852-1872, by Caroline Cowles Richards (Primary) (BS)
Material Lives: Women Makers and Consumers in the 18th Century, by Serena Dyer (WL)
The Business of Charity: The Woman’s Exchange Movement, 1832-1900, by Kathleen Sander (WL)
Bound in Wedlock: Slave and Free Black Marriage in Nineteenth Century, Tera W. Hunter (WL)
The Wrongs of Woman: Milliners and Dressmakers, by Charlotte Elizabeth (Primary) (BS)
An Intimate Economy: Enslaved Women, Work, and America’s Domestic Slave Trade, by Alexandra J. Finley (WL)
Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology, by Autumn Stanley (BS)
Sisters in Spirit: Haudenenosunee Influence on Early American Feminists, by Sally Roesch Wagner (WL)
Vanished Arizona, by Martha Summerhayes. (A recommendation from Marna Davis.)
Shirts Powdered Red: Haudenosunee Gender, Trade, and Exchange across Three Centuries, by Maeuve Kane (WL)
The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America, by Mae M. Ngai (A recommendation from Anneliese Meck)
Polly Bemis: The Life and Times of a Chinese American Pioneer, by Prascilla Wegars. (A recommendation from Anneliese Meck)
Letters of a Homesteader, by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. (S recommendation from Marna Davis.)
This morning, after a silly unfolding of Monday-morning-pre-caffeine happenings, I stumbled upon a delightful video featuring my Lappet style Quilted Winter Hood.
I don’t know if I am more thrilled by how Marie introduced my digital pattern or that she chose it for the role as Beth’s hood.
Nearly two decades ago now, I created a Straw Bonnet Workbook for local weekend long workshops making straw bonnets. I made the workbook available in print, then digitally. The workbook showed how to make a handsewn straw bonnet using straw plait. A handful of years ago, I took the directions down as I felt they were out of date with my current research & techniques, and needed to be updated. With all the things that are life, that project has fallen through the cracks.
Seeing this video, more specifically, the work put into the bonnet, re-writing my straw bonnet workbook has moved up my project list.
I am reposting favorite helpful posts each Monday throughout March, April, and May.
My recommendations for a basic hair kit: ● Straight hair pins ● Faux tortoise hair pins ● Plain black elastics ● Hair Pomade ● A Plain net or two ● Faux horn hair comb or two
I am lucky enough to be able to purchase these items in person, including the straight hairpins during a day trip through the Finger Lakes. Not everyone has similar local resources. With this in mind, I am including two shopping lists: one that can be done online from home and one that can be done mostly in person. The online list supports small businesses, with the exception of one item through Amazon.
***Note – I originally did this video and pricing a couple years ago. Some prices have changed.***
Shopping from home: Order from Timely Tresses: ~~1 set of faux tortoise hair pins $4.00 or 4 chignon faux tortoise hair pins $5.00 ~~1 plain hair net $4.00 ~~1 back comb $4.00 or 2 side combs $4.00 Amazon: ~~2 sets of 12 straight hair pins in 2” or 3″ and 2.5” $12.00 Talbott and Co on Etsy: ~~1 tin of pomade $14.00
Shopping mostly in person: Local pharmacy: ~~Plain hairnet $2 for a set of 3 ~~Faux tortoise hair pins $3 ~~Hair elastics $2 Amish dry goods shop: ~~Straight hair pins 2 sets for $4 Talbott and Co on Etsy: ~~1 tin of pomade $21 (new 2023 prices)
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Ihavetwo videos for you focusing on cheektabs and bonnet stays, both important features in keeping your 1850s & 1860s Bonnet on your head.
This video looks at how a straw bonnet stays on the head. I talk a little bit about how the cheektabs, ribbon, and inner brim decorations work together in tonight’s video. I plan to do a video that looks further at this. In the meantime, here is information on how a bonnet stay works and helps a bonnet stay on:
This video looks further at cheektabs – what they look like on original bonnets, how they should look on reproduction bonnets, and how they should frame the face.
Some anniversaries are easier, some are harder. This one feels harder.
If it wasn’t for my Dad, there likely wouldn’t be a From Field to Fashion. If there wasn’t a FFtF, likely there would be any of the subsequent publications. Dad gave me the money for the first printing of FFtF many years ago.
This was going to be a quick reminder that I have several e-publications available in my Etsy shop. But, then I realized that isn’t really what I want to say. I want to remind people to read and do research before diving into a project or spending money.
This past weekend, I saw a post going around with a YouTube video link. The video was nicely made with a lovely exploration of a particular project. The problem is the video had the incorrect date attached to the video and item; incorrect by over a decade. The person who created the video shared the information they were given, including the incorrect date. There was no citation in the video information. Tracking back the image shared, I found the illustration and directions on Etsy with a more likely date but still no citation. When I watched the video, it had over 21,000 views with a long thread of comments from people eager to make their own. I envisioned oodles of people with this item, over a decade out of place, made with materials and techniques inconsistent with the era prompted in the video.
Sadness.
That brings us back to please read before you spend time or money.
I would love for you to read on of my publications (available in my Etsy shop.)
From Field to Fashion: The Straw Bonnet looks at the types of straw and plait used to make mid-nineteeth century straw bonnets and hats. FFtF is available in my Etsy Shop as an eBook.
Paisley, Plaid, and Purled discusses shawls of the mid-Victorian era, including the styles, sizes, and how they were worn. It also has directions for making your own accurate shawls. PP&P is available in my Etsy Shop as an eBook.
The Wadded Hood Workbook takes a close up look at these winter hoods sometimes called Pumpkin Hoods. This E-publication includes directions for making your own.
To Net, or Not to Net: Revisited is my newest book, diving deep into the hair nets of the Civil War era. This book looks at the types of hair nets, how they were made, and how they were worn. TNNtN is available in my Etsy Shop as an eBook.
This week is a casual Hat Q&A talking about the questions I am asked most often. The focus is on American Civil War hats. I will talk about bonnets in a future video. How do I wear my hat? Which is the front? How do I measure my head? Where do I put the flowers and ribbon? How do I keep my hat on my head?
If you have more questions about straw hats or bonnets in the nineteenth century, put them in the comments below. I will do more millinery Q&As in the future.
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 