I've started making bonnets...lots and lots of bonnets. I like making bonnets - they use up scraps of material and cool buttons and spiffy-keeno ribbons. They're fun to create and stitch. 'Nuff said. Now onto bonnets!

This is the first one I'd ever made. The body is scrap tie material, utility ties are of bias cut china silk, and the main ties are vintage grosgrain. The curtain is cartridge-pleated silk. The bonnet is lined with china silk, which I'll never use again for lining - it's far too floaty and delicate. Bonnets need a sturdy lining, almost like a taffeta. And you always want to use natural fibers - they breathe, unlike polyester crap. Bleah. The buttons are antique rubber with horse hoof chips baked in. Yes, you read that right. Horse hoof chips. Click on the thumbnails to see a larger picture, and hit your back button to come back here. Oh - the pattern I used was Miller's Millinery Cottage Bonnet pattern, with a couple of modifications. I simply made one outer layer and one lining - I didn't split anything like the pattern did. It's much simpler and goes together much more quickly.

This quilted bonnet is the second one I've made. It's one pattern piece (no commercial pattern - simply one piece) drawn up by our teacher, Judith Peebles. (Don't let the home page fool you - she's really quite good.) What took the most time was the quilting itself and the beadwork I insisted I do. Once again, silk was used for both the outer and inner layers as well as the hand-done pleating, and the cotton batting was purchased from a local quilt store. I raided my bead stash for most of the beads, pearls, sequins, and crystals you see. The rosettes' antique buttons and vintage pale pink crystals are from a groovy little store in Benicia called Discover Yesterday.

This scandously sparkly red bonnet is for a Regency Summer Sun costume I've put together for Costume College 2008. The pattern is Lynn McMasters' Early 19th c. Seaside Bonnet, and it made great fodder for raiding my bead collection. Red, orange, and yellow silk dupionis came from Jo-Anne's home dec department - they're great to work with, as they're a bit heavier than the fashion silks, plus they were 50% at time of purchase, AND they're 54" wide. The real joy in building this was letting it tell me what it wanted - I kept adding and adding, to its insistence, and eventually it said "Enough!" Sometimes you just have to let a piece speak for itself.