A while back, someone on the Jane Austen forum I’m a (not very active) member of asked if people wanted to join in an order for straw bonnets. A friend of mine already had one which was lovely, so I decided to join in. And then someone else suggested to have a bonnet-decorating meetup when they came in. Which was a great idea, and I had a really lovely afternoon looking for trims, sewing on ribbons and placing flowers. It was also great to get to know everyone, and join up with people with the same weird hobby.
So after that day, I had a half-finished bonnet! I managed to do most of the outside trimming that day, and finished off the lining at home. That’s also why I only have pictures of the second part. The straw base for the bonnet is the Eliza from Austentation. The pleated trim I bought as is. I was actually planning to pleat ribbon for the trim, so when I saw this one I figured I’d save myself some time.
To line the bonnet I first needed a pattern. I pinned some paper in the hat to get the shape of the brim. By drawing a pencil line I got the outline for the brim pattern.
Because I wanted the lining to be gathered I divided half of the pattern into strips and cut them out. Re-spacing them to make it about 2x as wide gave me the final pattern. I didn’t quite get the curve right in the end, but I’d cut enough fabric for it not to matter. After gathering both the inner and outer edge I re-cut it to shape.
The brim lining was made with 4 pieces to line the edges and a circle for the crown. The whole lining was stitched in place around the brim and at a couple of points where the brim meets the crown. The crown was left loose.
Finally, the edge was finished with bias tape. It’s all stitched by hand, which was a bit of a pain as it meant sewing through 2 layers of straw plus 5 layers of cotton. It is pretty though.
The finished bonnet! It has pleated trim around the base of the brim and over the crown. The flowers are plastic and bought as is. The bow hides the base of the flowers and was made with ribbon. The decorative bias tape around the brim finishes the lining and was bought as is.
The decoration is all on one side, leaving the other side simple.
These show the lining, gathered around the brim.
Some different perspectives of the flowers and bow.
And I couldn’t resist putting it on my bear. Doesn’t she look fabulous in it?
