Natural Form Bonnet

So while I didn't get all the sewing done over the Christmas break that I had envisioned, I did make a hat. I've long admired Lynn McMasters' natural form era bonnet patterns for the period 1877-1882 and wanted to make one to go with my mink natural form outfit. I used view B for my hat.

It all took a bit longer than I had allowed for and is a bit bigger than I thought it would be but I'm pretty pleased with the result all the same. It's made of a double layer of buckram, which was then wired and padded before being covered with ivory silk taffeta. It's all pretty solid and substantial!

 

I learned a neat way of keeping it on your head too, essential for this design as it doesn't actually "fit" on your head as such but more or less perches. I took a short piece of crinoline tape, folded it, gathered the ends and sewed it into the brim of the hat before I trimmed it. Now I can use hair grips to pin through the crinoline and my hair to keep it on my head! While I have several hat pins I'm terrified of using them, more out of fear of putting gigantic holes in my hat than my head, so I'm hoping this will be enough to make it secure!

Crinoline sewn to the inside to pin hair grips through