mala_14 | Entries tagged with 1801 hat

I recently joined the local Jane Austen Society of North America on the recommendation of a friend. Here are some pictures of me at the annual celebration of Austen's birthday. My friend is the photographer. It was rather dark because it's winter, so you can't really see the little ringlets I made out of my way too long bangs, but Look! whole outfit! I'm in the basement in front of a really cool fireplace.
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The event took place at Ralph Connor House which he had built in the early 1900s. He nearly lost it when he went off to WWI and left his investments in the hands of a friend who proceeded to accidentally bankrupt him. To save the house he became a pretty famous author. Here's a picture of the drawing room with members of the society.
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For

jenthompson, a Regency wedgie shot in the library!
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And, lastly, a picture of my not-a-pompom. :)
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Ok, so awkward moment: I was the only one there in costume. (My friend said that the main organizer has a dress that she usually wears for this event, but she didn't.) However, I got tons of nice compliments on my outfit and my friend is now quite determined to have one for next year. One of my professors from school was giving the presentation and we had a great talk about having 1890s stuff to wear at Dalnavert House, another local museum/house that was shut down last year and will hopefully be reopening this spring.

I tried to make a pompom to trim my hat, but I was using cotton embroidery floss that I separated and it just wasn't fluffy enough. Not a total loss though. I turned the sad pompom into a flat pom-rosette-hybrid thingie/dohicky and sewed it to my hat. Now it has a decoration. :)

Too late for tassels though. That's ok. Next time.

And speaking of next time, I've been looking at fashion plates and think that a ridiculous, over-the-top, froofy, silly, what-were-they-thinking 18-teens hat is in my future. ;)

A lot of the early Regency hats I was looking at are labelled Chapeau de Velours (Velvet Hat), and I conveniently had some leftover red velveteen, so that's what I'm making my hat out of. I drafted a pattern based on measurements from a baseball cap and some trial-and-error for the brim. This is the pattern I came up with:

The long strip/band is 23 inches long and 2 inches wide. The crown (circle) is 14 inches in diameter. You can tell from my try-on that this is too small. All pieces have a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

( Hat Construction )Next I'm going to hand sew a cotton twill tape to the inside of the band to cover up all the raw edges and finish the band. Then trim it if I have time. I'd like some tassels and pompoms, because they are classic silly Regency trims.

Aside from the too small crown, which should be poufier, I'm really pleased with how it's turning out. I think it's pretty cute. :)

So, I'm taking steps to be more involved in costume-y things. I joined the Jane Austen Society of North America and will be going to the dinner celebrating Austen's birthday on the 11th. I have plans for this! More below. I've also joined my local Living History Society. I'm still in thesis-writing mode, but that should be over in January so then I will have more time to be involved. They are starting to look at 1860s fashion because Canada's 150th is coming up in 2017. Generally they're more Regency because a lot of our important provincial history happened around then. Although we joined Confederation in 1870, so that 150th will also be coming up in 5 years. So these are the main costume eras going on with that and I guess that means I need to make more Regency things. But after my Costume College sewing is done, which is predominantly Victorian/bustle. Costume College being my other costume-y thing this year.

I'm a little scared about joining all this stuff, but I think it will be fun to connect with some like-minded people. And I need to become more socially independent because I will most likely be moving away in the fall to pursue my Ph.D. and will have to learn how to make friends all on my own. Totally scary stuff! :p

So with the Austen dinner on Dec. 11th, I'm planning on wearing my 1790s white striped gown, but making it look a bit later by wearing my sash up high. I'll have a school thing going on earlier that day so no chance of doing anything with my hair. I thus made the decision to make some sort of headgear to cover up my hair so I wouldn't have to worry about it. My initial leaning was toward a fixed turban, but after looking at a ton of headwear from c.1800, I decided on a capote/bonnet/hat-thingie. I'm thinking a soft crown, a band, and a small brim. I have some random leftover red velveteen that I am eyeing for this one. Inspired by the black hats from this Costumes Parisiens fashion plate: