1870 Hat by Lynn McMasters

I'm proud and privileged to be the owner of another custom hat by Lynn McMasters, milliner, friend, and occasional mentor (the last one was a really wonderful 1880s straw hat). In this post you'll also be treated...or horrified...by photos of yours truly! I'm not fond of having my photo taken. :)

This hat is the View D from Lynn's 1870-1880 Bustle Hat Pattern (eep! also featuring yours truly...I keep forgetting about that). Lynn based this view on several illustrations from around 1870.

I've got a big fat braid pinned to the back of my head to support the hat. There's a hat pin holding it on, but Lynn and I discussed attaching one or two combs or clips that will really hold it on.

The hat will got with a walking dress from around 1875 that, well, exists in my head...someday, hopefully SOON, I'll actually make the dress.

Finally I can't go without giving a plug to my friend Lynn. Making custom hats is something she does on the side; her primary business is making excellent hat patterns. Check them out here, or got to www.lynnmcmasters.com and click on "Pattern Orders" at the top. She's even got instructions on manipulating straw braid and blocking buckram! Even if you have no interest in home millinery, stop by her site and check out her amazing work.

Skirted Parasol Canopies from c. 1870

Well, never say never! In my previous post (Restored Parasol, c. 1900), I mentioned that I hadn't seen extent parasol canopies with a "skirt" like I put on the canopy of that parasol. Now I have, and on two antiques from my own collection!

Extant canopy on an 1870s parasol. The blue
arrow indicates where the rib tip is. The fabric
is silk faille.

Extant canopy from another 1870s parasol.
The fabric is something like silk taffeta.

Both these frames are from 1870s or later (they have metal ribs, so it's not likely that they date to earlier than the late 1860s, at the very earliest). The frames both happen to be folding frames (also called carriage frames) with tilt hinges. The canopies are prototypical: black silk, with pinked edges, lined with something like china silk. The silk is shredding to bits, of course, so eventually the canopies have to come off and be replaced.

The first canopy has a tiny skirt, extending only about 1/2 inch past the tip of the rib. The second has a slightly longer skirt, about 3/4 inch past the rib top. On the first, the rib tips are wrapped with thread, which has kept them from punching through the canopy fabric (this was hard to photograph, because the lining is in the way). The second doesn't have anything on the rib tips, so they've worn through the fabric in a few spots.

The second canopy, with the shredded top flipped out of the
way. The blue arrow indicates where the rib ends.
The canopy extends down from there about 3/4 inches.

These two parasols do date to several decades before my restored Edwardian-ish parasol, so they aren't exactly hard evidence that supports the skirted canopy style I went with. But at least I can say it was done somewhere, sometime. :)