Regency Sheer Straw Bonnets

So, I wanted to focus on something in our shop that’s not being widely made right now and we, at the Virgil’s Hats & Fine Goods, are proud to say we debuted these lovelies at the Jane Austen Festival at Locust Grove this year!

Here we are modeling the (L-R) Trimmed, Chocolate colored, and wheat colored bonnets.

When choosing a hat for warmer weather, it’s hard to decide between something “pretty” versus “functional” with the choices that most living historians have.  With what’s generally available at most sutlers- Warm weather presents us with the only options of  a “chip straw” hat/bonnet or a silk covered hat/bonnet. Silk doesn’t breath, and chip straw is more fit for a lower-class impression- which isn’t always what we’re going for.

ENTER THE SHEER STRAW/HORSEHAIR BONNET:

You’ve seen a few movies with these types of bonnets present in them and you might have thought “That’s too pretty to be historically accurate” or “surely they wouldn’t have had something that decorative” but you would be wrong! There are numerous textual examples of woven horsehair or straw bonnets being used and taxed in the early United States from the 1780’s-on.

Excerpt from “A Collection of all the Statutes Now in Force, Relating to the Revenues and Officers of Great Britain and the Plantations” Vol 2, Pg 4, 1780.

AND there are quite a few extant pieces in various museums along with a few references to them made in fashion plates. (see images below)  This is a style that has many terms and can often be confusing-  “capote” “leghorn” “coal scuttle” “poke bonnet” are all terms I’ve seen associated with this shape:  generally narrow all the way through and slightly elongated to the back. This was a very popular shape in headwear (caps, hats, bonnets) as well as hairstyles from 1797-1808. These styles are said to have emerged because of the early 19th century “discovery” of new ancient Greek and Roman artifacts- and fashion emulates whatever is exciting!

Our Bonnets in comparison to the Litchfield bonnet

Detail of Woven Horsehair and Straw Bonnet, Ca 1805-1820, Litchfield Historical Society

Comparison of our sheer bonnets to the extant piece,
Woven Horsehair and Straw Bonnet, Ca 1805-1820, Litchfield Historical Society

“…balloon bonnet of wicker…” July 1796, Heidelhoff, The Gallery of Fashion. Image from Bunka Fashion College

A sheer bonnet offers a delicate and light option for those who want a more refined look while still having some sun protection with your headwear.What’s also great about a sheer bonnet is you can line it with interesting colors- or leave it unlined- depending on your taste!

Joanna, my business partner, is a wizard at millinery and made these beautiful pieces now for sale in our shop suitable for 1790s thru 1820s! We modeled them at JAF2016 and are now available for purchase. These are made with antique/vintage straws that are extremely hard to find. We hope you like them as much as we do!

(We will have more bonnet shapes, like the tall poke bonnets and maybe even 1860s spoon bonnets made out of these gorgeous straw & horsehairs available in our shop in the near future!… keep checking the shop for new listings)

The Hairdressers at the Sign of the Mortar and Pestle take on JAF 2016

Happy Fall (well almost winter now), everyone! We’ve managed to have beautiful weather for the last few weeks and I’m finally in a groove where I can start posting more regularly. Hooray!

R-L: Ms. Williams getting her hair curled by me and Ms. Stephanie having her hair curled by Joanna!

Of my many adventures this past summer, I especially wanted to highlight our time at the Jane Austen Festival this past July. We were stationed with LBCC Cosmetics and set up a historical hair styling experience for those who would like to pamper themselves for the day and/or get ready for the ball and learn about historical hairstyling.

Here’s a sweet little view of our wee workshop complete with our turbans there in the back!

The LBCC tent was wonderfully situated so we could have our guests actually listen to the presentations given at the big tent while getting their hair done. We were also near Dames A La Mode, La Bohemian Belle, and 96 District Fabrics, which is a great place to be!

What was so wonderful about this project is that we were able to use historical hair products from LBCC Historical (namely the pomatums, oils, & powders) as well as historical tools to achieve a perfect look- and our guests didn’t have to worry about a thing; they just enjoyed not doing their own hair.

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Later on, I’ll do a post more in depth about achieving an historically accurate Regency hairstyle, including the tools we use to get the perfect look!

Joanna and I luckily had just enough time to get ready for the ball…and were about 45 min late. We still had a lovely time and so enjoyed seeing all of our guests enjoying themselves and looking utterly perfect! We managed to get a group photo with some of them- namely from the Regency Society of Virginia!

It’s a little dark, but the ladies looked so beautiful!

We were so glad to get a pic together!

Joanna and her lovely tissue silk & lace gown.

My hair was done up with hair pieces encrusted in pearls.

My gown was a silk/cotton blend sheer check fabric. More info on that later.

Dancing!

 

We had so much fun and plan on doing it again next year! I’ll keep you posted on when appointments open up!

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Regency Dress progress

So far this quarter, I’ve been trying to juggle taking a mere 12 credit hours (I normally take about 17), piano lessons and life. But here’s the progress on the Regency dress!

Certainly not the most beautiful pic of me, but there’s the dress.

The pics have the dress pinned together (sans sleeves) in what I hope it will look like. I decided to gather them Corded style, so wonderfully explained by The Dreamstress…though, I did mine by hand instead of machine.

pretttttyyyyyy!

 I really like the cording method rather than a running stitch. It’s way more secure and delivers the most gorgeous gathers! I do believe I will use this method of gathering from now on.

Notice the cream yarn? I’m using it for my cord instead of real cord. Why? It doesn’t have a tendency to bulge, requires a very thin channel and I have a ton of it. Yay thriftiness!!!

Le View de Side

You can kinda see the cording on the skirt portion in the side view ANNNND you can also see the Apron-front line. I decided to do something a little different than the typical apron front bodices I’ve seen. I got the idea from the dress Marianne twists her ankle in.

I understand this is not Marianne, but it is the same dress, just from Persuasion (2007)

Now, I realize that these pics are not of Marianne, but for viewing purposes, the stills from Persuasion (2007) are a lot more illustrative. The bodice piece is a gathered trapezoid creating a more seamless effect, so in theory, you won’t be able to tell if it’s an apron front or not… but we’ll see how sneaky I actually am later on, when it’s closer to finished.*crosses fingers*

See how the lines are angled?

I’m still not positive on the style of the sleeves yet. I’m torn between elbow length or cap. Sometimes I wish I could do both, but it would look rather silly.

Early Regency Dress, start-up

For my first Regency Dress, I have chosen to do a really simple style to be as a “basic” dress for my wardrobe.

It’s a simple cotton print and I believe it might be mattress ticking, but it’s awful thin. The fabric is pretty sheer and wrinkles easy, as you can tell. I’ve got 14 yards of it, so if I mess up, there’s more to use! My only fear with the fabric is how stiff it gets when you iron it. I washed it twice to get the sizing out and break it down a bit. It turned to a lovely drape, but the ironing is kind of worrisome. Darn stuff.

For the style, I turned to one of my favorite movies. I really love the dresses in the 1995 Sense and Sensibility. Most have the slightly lower waistline and very drapey fabrics that make my heart go a flutter.

I love the drawsting neckline and sheer fabric

It will be more full like this gown, and will also have 3/4th sleeves

The entire dress will be handstitched; like the short stays and petticoat I made to go under it.

Bodiced Petticoat: Finished.

Finally, I’m getting around to posting this! I finished my hand-stitched petticoat right before Christmas and took pictures on Christmas day. I’m set with the undergarments and am ready for the real dressmaking now!

side view

me being goofy

ick, I look very ticked off. but here is the front.

Back view

The entire garment is stitched by hand and made of a white cotton bedsheet from a hospital which was bought from a thrift shop.