Making a bonnet- experiencing millinery

So if you didn't know, I'm currently studying a costume production degree at university as I've wanted to do costume making since I was about 12. I've learnt so many things already and have now reached a module where I get to learn new skills, exciting!

I get to learn about dancewear, wig dressing, dyeing and breaking down and millinery! Millinery is something I was extremely excited to learn about as hats for some reason fascinate me and lately I've started to really enjoy making hats.

Kinda sucks but millinery was my first module so it's over now which was sad :(. We only had 5 days to learn and make a replica of a chosen image of a hat but adapt it with the materials we had available.  We had to research the 19th century and specifically look at bonnets.
So we had a visiting tutor come in and she was lovely and I learnt so much from her. Anyways I'll post some images now of the process.


So we started off with creating a pattern out of paper. Then I had to do a technique called blocking shown in the pic on the right. I moulded the shape of the back of the head model.





 
 
 
 
The straw like material was called buckram and creates the stiffness in the hat. The front edge of the brim of the hat (shown) was edged with wire machine stitched on. This creates and helps the hat hold its shape.

The buckram was covered in fabric to make it look more pretty! and then I added decoration and trimming to finish off the hat

These images show the completed bonnet. I'm really proud of what I achieved in the last week. I loved millinery and hope to one day maybe take another course or delve into the world of it in the future.

Hope you like it!!

Katie
x