An 1840s Sunbonnet

Ah, the 1840s.  The only decade where I portray the regular common class folk.  Although I do have plans for an 1840s buckram bonnet for nicer wear, a sunbonnet is a practical and cheap choice for every day wear.

Now I am NOT a fan of slat bonnets-not having vision on the sides of my head rather freaks me out.  So I was going for a softer, corded bonnet.  This one from the MET caught my eye.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1840.  Notice how the brim is cut on the bias and it is self-lined.  If you blow the image up, you can see there is piping where the crown meets the brim.

I decided that with very few changes, I was going to make that one up.  I chose a brown cotton (although not a plaid) for my bonnet as well because I liked how neutral it looked.

Sunbonnets are easy things to make you own-there are so many examples out there from plain to fancy.  Let's take a look at some of the other options you can add!

Nantucket Country Antiques.  Notice the ruffles on the brim, curtain, and crown.  This is a slat bonnet, not a corded bonnet.  Also notice how it is all cut on the straight grain (even the ruffles).

Nantucket Country Antiques.  Ruffles on brim and bottom of curtain.  Notice the extra bow in back.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1845.  Notice both the vertical and horizontal cording lines.

Whitaker Auction, Tasha Tudor collection.  This bonnet appears to be cut entirely on the bias-brim, crown, curtain, and all.  It also looks like there is cording on the crown.

I'm going to stop there but there are so many more variations-long and short curtains (although I think that has something to do with time period and things going in and out of fashion and such).  Brim shape and poofiness, cording amounts and placement, etc.  Most sunbonnets it seems are made from cotton but I've also seen some silk ones (although the silk ones I have seen have all been solid dark colors (black, very dark blue, etc.).

If you can get a basic sunbonnet (or cap) pattern, it can be quite simple to modify what you have to an original you are copying.  For 1850s and 1860s, Godey's 1857 sunbonnet can be a good choice.  Fair warning-the image does not match up to the pattern!

But you can see the shapes and how one may be able to modify them to what you need.  The above pattern has rounded curtain corners but all the 1840s bonnets (okay, all four of them) have had straight corners, so if I were to use this pattern that is a definite change I would make right away.

If you aren't up to fully drafting your own based off images, Elizabeth Stewart Clark has two lovely sunbonnet patterns on her website, The Sewing Academy.  The simple sunbonnet pattern could be made up in an afternoon but the other is slightly more time and skill intensive.

But I'm up to drafting my own.  Partially.  As I don't have the actual bonnet in hand to take measurements, we're going to use some other information to cheat a bit.  Now the Workwoman's Guide doesn't have a lot on bonnets (as the author states-the styles change so quickly based on the ever-changing whims of fashion that it would be impossible to include them all in the book) but she has quite a few caps that have made up to fit me quite well, so as I already have the pattern made up, let's use that to make our sunbonnet pattern.  I think the easiest pattern to modify to a sunbonnet shape would be the dress morning cap on page 126 using figures 9, 10, and 11.

If you want fuller crown, figure 17 might be a good fit but I can't recommend the brim bit for that cap as it is shirred and cording it would prove to be most difficult (and historically inaccurate).

The first step into making this appropriate for a sunbonnet, was to widen the brim and also make the cheek tabs straight across instead of downward sloping.  Then I widened the top of the crown to make it more poofy for lack of a better term.  Then I had to make a large rectangular pattern piece for the curtain.

Per the original, the curtain and crown were cut on the straight, but the brim and brim facing on the bias.  Then I stitched the brim and brim facing together and added cording channels.  Along the edge of the brim there are 11 channels and in the center, 3.  Then I added the cording.  I used Sugar'nCream 100% cotton yarn in white.

It was then that I noticed that the original had piping along where the brim and crown meet so I cut a strip of piping, corded that as well, and attached it to the edge of the brim, leaving the brim facing free.

Knowing that I would need back ties to fit the bonnet to my head, I went ahead and cut those as well as the larger front ties.  The back ties were cut 1.5" by 15" and the front ones 3.5" by ??".  A narrow hem was done all around both sets of ties.

After running gathering stitches along the edge of the crown, I fit the piece to the brim and stitched the two together securely using a back stitch, adding the back ties 1/2" (a seam allowance's width) away from the bottom edge.  For all interior seams in the sunbonnet, a back stitch was used however, per the original, the cording channels were stitched with a running stitch.  The brim facing was then brought to hide all the raw edges inside and stitched securely down.

Then it was time to attach the curtain.  I first hemmed the curtain all around except for the top.  I used a 3/8" hem over twice for the sides then a 1/4" turn over then a 1" turn over for the hem.  Next, a gathering stitch was run along the top and the curtain attached to the brim and crown.  After those pieces were securely stitched together, I did a run and fell seam to hide the raw edges as it appeared the original did.  Next the front ties were laid on and stitched down securely.  The last step was to starch the brim so it stood out from the face and the bonnet was done!

And now the pattern.  I have included it here with some minor changes from mine to improve upon my 'mock up'.  I only uploaded pictures of the crown and brim but the rest of it is below.

Cut:
2 brim pieces (put in Word with 0x0 margins, it should print the right size)
1 crown piece (put in Word with 0x0 margins, it should print the right size)
1 40" x 11" rectangle
2 3.5" x 30" rectangles for ties
2 1.5" x 15" rectangles for back ties

And because I've already gone over the steps to put it together, I'm going to leave you with an appropriate period explanation of directions to make up the bonnet-

Any seamstress of reasonable skill will be able to make up the bonnet from the picture.

Enjoy!

A New 1840s Dress and Accessorizing the 1840s

I've actually quite enjoyed getting into the 1840s.  I have grown to like the plain, understated look-even though I hated it when I first got into living history.  Since December, I've only had one 1840s dress and even though I only have attended single day 1840s events, I knew I wanted a 'back-up' dress just in case.

I purchased this fabric from Thousands of Bolts.  This website is awesome for cotton prints.  They have great reproduction fabric at 1/2 the cost of other sites.  Of course, not every fabric is good for just any time period, but I've had reasonable success finding fabric for what I need here.

It reminded me of a few 1840s chevron prints I had seen before.

National Gallery of Victoria

Unknown collection, accessed through Pinterest

Private collection, accessed through Etsy

I used my 1840s dress base, which I made off Truly Victorian's 1845 German day dress pattern.  I didn't have to change a whole lot-just shorten the waist by a LOT (a common complaint of TV's patterns, I hear), take up a little under the bust, and take up a little at the shoulder seams.  Other than that, the size I chose fit me pretty well.

Of course the gown is entirely hand stitched, since this is the early 1840s we're talking about.  Most of the skirt is done with a running stitch but the bodice is done with a back stitch.  I worked really hard on getting my stitches tiny.  There are even some spots where I managed 18 stitches per inch, though mostly it was about 15 stitches per inch.

I lined the bodice and faced the skirt with brown cotton and piped the neckline, armscyes, waistline, and center front seam.  The bodice closes up the back with hooks and eyes and I chose to pleat the skirt in 1/2" pleats instead of gauging.

After finishing the dress, I took a hard look at my 1840s wardrobe and decided I really needed to work on some linens.  I had one chemisette, but no handkerchiefs or cuffs for either dress.  So I started with the green dress.

Since I had a plain chemisette (no lace, ruffles, or frills) that I had been using for the green dress, I made a pair of plain cuffs to go with it.  A simple 18" handkerchief done up with a narrow hem completed the set.

For the chevron dress, I knew I wanted something a little fancier. Looking through 1840s photographs had me set my heart on ruffles.

Accessed through Flickr

Although this portrait shows lace cuffs, I did find a photograph of a woman with ruffled cuffs (although her ruffles are probably lace and not plain).

Uncredited

I also wanted a ruffled handkerchief.  I found one in the MET that is similar to my design, only it used netting for the ruffle and I kept with the lawn I used for the collar and cuffs and skipped the lace insertion.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1825-1850

For my set, I used some cotton lawn I had in the stash. At first, I was unsure how to finish the ruffles but I found an 1830s double collar in the MET that clearly showed that the ruffle hem was narrow hemmed and where the ruffle met the base collar had been felled.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1830s

I made the chemisette the same way I made the plain one, but added an 1" wide ruffle to the edge of the collar.  This one also closes with buttons and ties at the sides.

The cuffs again were simple-just measured the wrist of the sleeve, cut a 2" strip and added a 1" ruffle to each.

And finally the handkerchief.  I knew the finished size of the handkerchief should be somewhere in the 18"-20" range.  In my mind, I saw the original handkerchief to be 2/3 handkerchief and 1/3 ruffle as a whole.  Shooting for 18", I knew the handkerchief would need to be a finished (read:hemmed) 12" (I cut 12.5") and the ruffle 3" (I cut 3.5").  The ruffle is set on with not a lot of extra fabric so I chose a little over 1.25 times the amount of handkerchief, or roughly 17" for each side for a total ruffle length of 60".

I also decided to make two pairs of 'tidy cuffs' from The Workwoman's Guide.  These are to be used in the kitchen or anywhere one is concerned with dirtying the sleeves of a gown.  They are made from holland (polished cotton) and the WWG says they can be braided as well.

I made a pair of brown polished cotton tidy cuffs with no braiding and a pair of blue polished cotton cuffs with red braiding.

The cuffs lace up with silk ribbons through hand-bound eyelets (one of my first times actually doing eyelets-at least successfully).  I think they turned out great!

I now feel like I have a functioning 1840s wardrobe.  I have underpinnings, two dresses, linens, a few shawls, and a bonnet.  It's basic, but very functional.  I can't wait to get to wear them again!

Enjoy!

Riding Habit... Finally Completed Habit

A couple of years ago, I made lots of posts on riding habits and my plan for one.  Here are links to the posts in case you missed them.

Riding Aside (Original Saddle)
Initial Research
Riding Assessories

The habit has been completed for a while, I just have not had a chance or an opportunity to wear it for a white.  However, I did at Welbourne three years ago!  Since the Dulany family were equestrians, I knew it would make sense to break out the riding habit.

The following photos are taken by Jessica M. Craig, at the 1861 (2017) Welbourne event.

Back of the gown with all the braiding.

Side, with horse friends in the background!  I love the graceful disarray of the veil.

Front of the gown.  Belt wouldn't go on that day, unfortunately.

On our way to a walk.

Posing on the bridge.

Skittish horse and gentle equestrian.

Another back view.

Friendly horse!

The fabric is a light wool from Hancock Fabrics years ago.  I had been eyeing it for several months but at $25 a yard, I was not going for it.  Then, for Black Friday, all their wools were on sale for $3 a yard.  I bought the hole bolt.  To this date it is the only time I have ever been Black Friday shopping.  Totally worth it.  I got a skirt, two separate bodices, and, of course, a riding habit. I originally thought I would have to take apart the dress for the habit, then realized that I had plenty of leftover fabric to make a riding habit and keep the dress until I can fit into again.  Or alter it.  Whatever.

Many original sources for riding habits state the cherry red was a popular color.  So, I trimmed my riding habit in the color.  I used cotton velveteen for the trim.  I also used some cherry soutache braid to braid some patterns on the back of the habit as well as the accessories that go with the gown.

The undershirt/undersleeves which I made as a whole separate bodice, is made of linen.  I didn't do all the frills in the original inspiration... instead, I put some horizontal tucks in to give it some detail without the ruffles.

I still haven't had a chance to really fix up the original saddle other than oiling it and trying to get it looking spiffy again.  It's missing a few pieces but there is a saddle maker/restorer a couple of towns over from Liendo that has done side saddle restoration before so I may end up taking it to him.  So, unfortunately, I haven't been able to experience riding in the habit.

Enjoy!