Saturday 8 November 2014

A Witches Bonnet

I finally got some pictures of my witches bonnet for the Historical Sew Fortnightly. Tobias comes home from school so late every weekday that it’s already dusk, so I haven’t had the opportunity until today. The whole family went for a little walk, and then we stopped for pictures in a nice place. I got the odd look from passers by, wearing a bonnet like this in a perfectly normal neighbourhood :)



The bonnet was originally an ordinary woman’s felt hat from the charity shop, nothing special at all. I got it years ago, and had already cut away a piece at the back, stitched the brim back up, with millinery wire inside the fold, and steamed and slightly reshaped the crown to give it a slightly quirky look. 


Now, the only thing I had to do was line the brim and trim the thing. Simple enough. I didn’t want the lining to differ too much in colour from the bonnet, and I was lucky enough to have an old, worn out blouse in my stash. It was brown, with a woven in pattern. I just cut a straight piece from it and stitched it to the inside of the brim, with the width taken up in pleats where brim and crown met. 


For the trim, I cut a curved piece of organza, left over from a previous project, twisted it slightly, wound it round the crown, and tied a bow. I twisted and interlaced an old necklace made from organza ribbon and glass beads round the fabric and pinned some feathers under it. Done! Simple but effective. Now I only need some proper witches robes…


What the item is: A witches bonnet.

The Challenge: #20 Alternative Universe.

The Alternative Universe: The wizarding world that creates the backdrop for the Harry Potter books.

Fabric: Wool felt hat, cotton, synthetic fibre organza. 

Pattern: None.

Year: Somewhere between 1830-2014: the wizarding world doesn’t really follow Muggle fashions. 

Notions: Organza ribbon, glass beads, feathers, cotton thread, pins.

How historically accurate is it? Not a jot. It’s loosely inspired by 1830’s bonnets though.  

Hours to complete: Remaking the hat and lining the brim took a few, but adding the trim only took minutes.

First worn: For our Halloween party last week.

Total cost:  Nothing at this time, everything was in my stash.

3 comments:

  1. It is perfect, almost to nice to relegate to a "witches hat" only, maybe with a couple of side ribbons you could pull it into a Regency era as well!

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  2. Hej Sarah, jeg så din blogadresse hos Aurora, og skulle lige se hvad du driver med, det er en fin hat du har lavet der, jeg blev glad for at se at du skriver at du er LDS, det er jeg også. hav en god dag mange hilsener fra Dorte i Danmark

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  3. Thanks, but it's not constructed in a way to be used for Regency. I don't mind having it for just a costume though :)

    Tack Dorte, kul att höra ifrån andra :)

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