Millinery

One of the first things I learned how to do was to make hats. Primarily Regency Bonnets. I mainly use straw as a base because, its cheap, its natural and it's moldable. I've done historical Reenactments since I was about 15 so I have a lot of hats that I've made and I will basically load you all down with pictures of hats today.

First hat is Anna. She's made with a straw base, black satin, green satin ribbon and green plume.





The next hat is Elinor, she has gold crown and a blue satin ribbon.





Emma is a white cotton bonnet.





Fanny was the most difficult hat for me to make because I was given this really big black bonnet that I literally tore apart and then re-sewed by hand the straw in the form I wanted it. So it took a lot of time and was in pieces for about a year.





I also wanted to show you that the brim is folded in the back and is not attached to the crown.



Kitty appears to be a simple hat. She used to be one of those large brimmed hats but I cut the back out of her hat to make her into a bonnet.




Lady Hamilton is one of my favorite hats. She has a black velvet crown, a black lace tie and black ostrich plume. And again the brim in the back is molded up so there is nothing holding it up.





Next is Lizzy which was probably the first bonnet I ever made. She's taken a lot of wear, expecially recently when I let my 8 year old sister wear her out. She is in sad need of repair but I will probably wait until the next time I am reenacting to do that.





Lucy is a more recent bonnet and I also did a simple how-to make her. I didn't do any molding with her because she had the perfect shape already.




Marianne is my all time favorite hat! I love her so much and you can probably see why.







And last but not least is Marie. She's an earlier styled hat but I love her all the same. She's so bright and vibrant! I love wearing her in the fall.






Ok so there aren't any hats in this scene but it is my favorite scene from Sense and Sensibility. If you haven't seen the movie then check it out. (I made a reproduction of the dress Kate Winslet is wearing in this scene also)