Make your own hats E-Book

Martin

• Herausgeber: Science & Technology Publishing
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 118

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Make Your Own Hats is a comprehensive and practical guide for anyone interested in the art of millinery, offering step-by-step instructions and expert advice on creating stylish, custom hats at home. Originally published in the early 20th century, this book covers a wide range of techniques, from basic hat construction to advanced decorative methods, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced crafters. Readers will find detailed explanations on selecting materials, shaping and blocking hats, sewing and finishing edges, and adding trimmings such as ribbons, feathers, and flowers. The book also includes tips on revamping old hats, adapting styles to suit different face shapes, and caring for finished creations. With clear illustrations and practical tips throughout, Make Your Own Hats empowers readers to express their creativity and develop valuable skills, resulting in unique, fashionable headwear for any occasion. Whether you are looking to start a new hobby, save money, or design one-of-a-kind accessories, this timeless manual provides all the inspiration and instruction needed to master the craft of hat-making.

Leseprobe

Transcriber’s note

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A list of the changes is found at the end of the text.

MAKE YOUR OWN HATS

BY GENE ALLEN MARTIN

DIRECTOR OF DOMESTIC ARTS DEPARTMENT OF THE MINNEAPOLIS Y.W.C.A.; DESIGNER, DEMONSTRATOR AND INSTRUCTOR IN MILLINERY

ILLUSTRATED BY E. E. MARTIN

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANYThe Riverside Press Cambridge

COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY GENE ALLEN MARTIN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

FOREWORD

Hat-making is an art which may be acquired by any one possessing patience and ordinary ability. To make a hat for the trade is not as difficult as to make one for an individual; neither is it so high a phase of art.

Many rules are given for crown-height, brim-width, and color, as being suited to different types of faces, but they are so often misleading that it seems best to consider only a few, since the becomingness of a hat almost invariably depends upon minor characteristics of the individual for which there are no rules.

A girl or woman with auburn hair may wear grays—gray-green, cream color, salmon pink; a touch of henna with gold or orange; mulberry if the eyes are dark.

The woman with dark hair and blue or dark eyes may wear any color if the skin is clear.

One having dark hair and eyes and a sallow skin may find golden brown, a pale yellow or cream color becoming—possibly a mulberry if just the right depth. A hat with slightly drooping brim faced with some shade of rose will add color to the cheeks. No reds should be worn unless the skin is clear. No shade of purple or heliotrope should be worn by any one having blue eyes—it seems to make the blue paler.

Any one having auburn hair, blue eyes, and a clear skin may wear browns, grays, greens, tan, blue, and black. Black should not be worn next the face unless the skin is brilliant. It is, however, very becoming to blondes, and to women whose hair has become quite white.

A black hat is almost a necessity in every woman's wardrobe, and it may always be made becoming by using a facing of some color which is especially becoming to the wearer—black and white is always a smart combination, but very difficult to handle.

In regard to lines—it is known that a hat with a drooping brim takes from the height of the wearer and should never be worn by any one having round shoulders or a short neck. A hat turned up at the back would be much better. A narrow brim and high crown add height to the wearer. A woman with a short, turned-up nose should avoid a hat turned up too sharply from the face. Short people should avoid very wide brims. For the possessor of a very full, round face the high crown and narrow brim, or a brim which turns up sharply against the crown on one side, or all around, should prove becoming. A tall, slender woman would do well to wear a drooping brim, wide enough to be in keeping with her height. There is one style of hat which seems to be, with various modifications, universally becoming, and that is the bicorne, a form of the Napoleon style of hat.

After all, experience is the best teacher. Whenever a hat is found to be especially becoming, one would do well to find out just why it is so and make a note of the color, size, and general outline. These notes are of value if kept for future reference, whether hats are to be made for the shop or for home millinery.

A hat is seldom becoming all the way around, but the aim should be to make it so. Over-ornamentation should be guarded against, also too close harmony in color until much experience has been gained. A rule by which to judge of the becomingness of a hat and to which there is no exception is this—the hat must enhance your looks. If you do not look more pleasing with it on than with it off, it is not as good a model for you as it might be.

In planning or choosing a hat we unconsciously decide upon those colors and outlines which are an outward expression of ourselves. A hat, as well as any article of clothing, may express many things—dejection, happiness, decision, indecision, gayety, dignity, graciousness, a trained or an untrained mind, forethought, refinement, generosity, cruelty, or recklessness. How often we hear some one say, “That hat looks just like Mrs. Blank!” Clothing of any kind is an index to the personality of the wearer. A friend once said in my presence to a saleswoman who was trying to sell her a hat, “But I do not feel like that hat!” The saleswoman replied, “That's just it—you refuse to buy it because you do not feel like it, while I tell you that it is most becoming.” All of which showed that this saleswoman had not the most remote idea of what was meant, and had a total lack of understanding.

Clothes should be a matter of “feeling,” and this same feeling is something vital and should be catered to if our garments are to help set our spirits free. Why should we wear anything which is misleading in regard to ourselves? Let us look in the mirror each day and ask ourselves whether we look to be what we wish others to think we are.

It is important in planning a hat to see it in broad daylight as well as under artificial light. It should also be tried on in a good light while standing before a mirror, as a hat which may seem becoming while sitting may not be so while standing, with the whole figure taken into consideration.

To make one's own hats, using up old materials, stimulates originality and gives opportunity for expression. It is amazing to see how many new ideas are born when we start out to do something which we have thought quite impossible. It all helps to give added zest to life. Making one's own hats appeals to the constructive instinct of every woman aside from the matter of thrift, which should always be taken into consideration. Some one will say, “I would not wear any hat I might make.” How often have we worn unbecoming hats, poor in workmanship, besides paying some one handsomely for the privilege. Let us try to form some standard by which to judge of the worth of a hat instead of the maker's name.

Before making a hat, the entire wardrobe should be carefully looked over to see with what the hat must be worn, and the kind of service we are going to expect from it. Every article of a costume should be related and harmonious as to color, outline, and suitability. The result should be a perfect whole without a single discord. How often we see a green skirt, mustard-colored coat, and a bright blue hat—each article pleasing by itself, but atrocious when worn collectively. Bright, gay little hats are pleasing when seen seldom, but we soon tire of one if it must be worn daily.

Time and our best thought are well spent in planning our apparel. The proper clothing gives us confidence and self-respect, and the respect of others. To be well dressed is to be free from the thought of clothes. We judge and are judged by the clothes we wear—they are an outward expression of ourselves, and speak for us, while we must remain silent.

“Simplicity is the keynote of beauty”—no one article of clothing should stand out too conspicuously, unless it is the hat. Nature uses bright colors sparingly. If you look at a plant, you find it dark near the ground, growing lighter near the top with its green leaves, and then the blossom; the glory is at the top. Everything in nature teaches us to look up. So the hat should be the crowning glory of a costume, the center of interest, and should receive the most careful attention as to becomingness, suitability, and workmanship.

CONTENTS

I.

Equipment and Materials

1

II.

Covering Frame with Velvet

15

III.

Frames of Neteen and Crinoline

31

IV.

Wire Frames

35

V.

Round Crown of Wire

44

VI.

Hat Coverings

54

VII.

Trimmings

68

VIII.

Hand-Made Flowers

78

IX.

Remodeling and Renovating

100

ILLUSTRATIONS

Showing Shaped Brim of Neteen with Ribbon-Wire Braces basted in Place

4

Showing Method of fitting Fabric to Shaped Brim

16

Showing Under Facing of Brim pinned over Wire ready to sew in Place

16

Various Processes

36

Fancy Crown-Tip of Braid

44

Rolling Wire Brim

44

Round Crown of Wire

44

One Method of starting the Braid on Crown and sewing in Place

54

Showing Method of covering Crown with Two-Inch Wide Bias Satin

64

Ribbon Trimmings

72

Hand-Made Flowers

78

MAKE YOUR OWN HAT

***

CHAPTER I

EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS

Equipment

Thimble

Thread

Needles

Tape-measure

Pins

Tailor's chalk or pencil

Milliner's pliers or wire cutters

Scissors, large and small

Paper for patterns

Thimble—good quality

Thread—Geneva lustre, black and white, number 36. Colored thread as needed.

Needles—assorted paper of milliner's needles, 8 to 10.

Tape-measure—of good quality sateen.

Tailor's chalk—white and dark blue.

Milliner's pliers—pliers which fit the hand, not too heavy, with blunt points, and sharp enough to cut a thread.

Materials used to make Hat Frames

Fabrics

—

Buckram

Crinoline

Cape net

Neteen or Fly net

Willow plate

Wires

—

Cable

Frame or brace wire

Lace

Tie

Ribbon

Sprung

Paper for patterns

—

Heavy manila

Buckram—

Comes in black and white, about twenty-seven inches wide—a heavy stiff material, smooth on one side and rather rough on the other. It is more commonly used for hat foundations than any other fabric. There is also a summer buckram, lighter in weight and smooth on both sides.

Crinoline—

Comes in black and white, twenty-seven inches wide—a stiff, thin, open-meshed material, used to make soft hat frames, to cover wire frames, and in bias strips to cover edge wire after it is sewed on the fabric frame.

Neteen or fly net—

A stiff open-meshed material—comes in black, white, and ecru, one yard wide—a very popular material on account of its great pliability and lightness. It is used for blocking frames and copying, the lines being much softer than when made with buckram. Very durable.

Cape net—

A light-weight, open-meshed material used for blocking and for soft frames. Not as pliable as neteen.

Willow plate—

A coarse straw-like material, light in weight, brittle, and very expensive, used in blocking; frames are also made from it without blocking.

Must be dampened before using. Not recommended for amateurs.

Wire comes in black, white, silver, and gilt, and is covered with cotton, mercerized cotton, and silk. It may be procured in single and double bolts.

Cable—

Largest wire used in millinery. In making wire frames, it is used as edge wire and sometimes for the entire frame. Being larger than frame wire, it makes a pleasing effect when used as part of the wire frame design, if it is to be covered with sheer material.

Frame or brace wire—

Used in making frames and is sewed on the edge of all buckram and fabric hat frames.

Lace—

Smaller than frame wire, used for wiring lace ribbon and flowers, and sometimes for making an entire frame when a very dainty design is desired.

SHOWING SHAPED BRIM OF NETEEN WITH RIBBON-WIRE BRACES BASTED IN PLACE

Tie—

Smallest wire used in millinery; comes wound on spools. Is used to tie other wires, and in making hand-made flowers. Comes in black, white, and green.

Ribbon—

A cotton ribbon about three eighths of an inch wide, with a fine wire woven through the center, also a wire on each edge. Used to wire ribbons.

Sprung—

An uncovered steel wire used to make halo brims; is sometimes sewed on edge of buckram or other fabric brims, if the hat is unusually wide, or if a brim is to be especially stiff. It is occasionally used as an edge wire on wire frames.

Hat Frames of Fabric

Much care, thought, and patience must be exercised in making the frame of any hat. It is the foundation upon which we build, and if poorly made no amount of work can cover it up later. A hat must be right every step of the way. The frame is the first step, and so the most important.

The simplest hat to make is the straight brim sailor with a square crown, covered with velvet. Such a model we will take up at first.

Sailor hat frame—

For convenience we will use the following dimensions: Width of brim, three inches; height of crown, three and one-half inches; length of crown tip, eight and one-half inches; width of crown tip, six and one-half inches, and headsize, twenty-four inches.

Pattern for brim—

Cut from a piece of manila paper fourteen and one-half by fourteen and one-half inches the largest possible circle; the paper may be folded into halves, then quarters, then into eighths and creased.

A round brim will not be of equal width all around from headsize wire, because the headsize wire must be oval to fit the head. The front and back will both be about an inch narrower than the sides.

Headsize wire—

To measure—This is especially important, for upon the accuracy of this measurement depends the comfort of the wearer; this is the foundation wire. Pass a tape measure around the head over the hair where the hat is to rest and add two inches to this measure. One is for lapping the ends and the other inch is to allow for lining and covering of hat which goes up into the headsize.7-1

As our headsize measure is twenty-four inches long, cut a piece of frame wire twenty-six inches long; this allows for the two inches just mentioned. Lap the ends one inch and fasten each end with tie wire.7-2 Wire always laps one inch—no more, no less.

To shape—With the hands inside, pull the circle until it is elongated to fit the head. This headsize wire must not press unduly upon any part of the head.

To locate headsize on pattern