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Sixteenth Century Tall Hat
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The Style and Choice: The initial inspiration for this hat (along with the basic pattern) came from Elizabethan Costuming for the years 1550 - 1580 (Section IV: Unisex Clothing, subheading: Tall Hats). Once I had the general idea to make a hat of this style, it then became necessary to find period confirmation of this style being worn by women. I found a picture in Patterns of Fashion The cut and construction of clothes for men and women c1560-1620,(page 35) showing a lady wearing a hat of this basic style. In this French illustration the brim appears a little smaller, and there is a decoration on the front (possibly a brooch and 3 delicate feathers). The hat is pale coloured but the shape is the same. I noted that both this hat and another ladies hat on page 31 (of the same book) appear to be worn very high on the head.
Pattern Development: Using the advice given in Elizabethan Costuming (section IV: Unisex Clothing, subheading: Tall Hats) I constructed an initial pattern from newspaper. I then made a mock-up out of the newspaper pattern and sellotape. Based on the relative sizes and proportions seen in the illustrations I modified the pattern (and several subsequent copies) by trial and error until my hat mock-up mirrored the period examples. I then altered the fit so the mock-up looked right on my head and hairstyle. This pattern development was a time consuming, and at times frustrating endeavour, but it was necessary for ensuring the right look to the hat.
Construction: Latch-hook canvas was used as the base of the hat. It was cut to the pattern and stitched securely in shape. The wire frames, around the top of the crown and outer edge of the brim, were constructed by soldering together carefully sized loops of wire, which were then securely stitched into the base of the hat. A white felt underlayer was then stitched to the base (and sewn together in the same manner as the outer layer will be). The outer layer itself is black silk, cut on the bias, and is stitched to itself and/or the felt at seams except on the upper brim where contact adhesive was used to prevent bagging when the brim was bent up. (The use of contact adhesive proved to be unnecessary, and in the long term, detrimental to the finish on the hat as the other areas moved slightly with wearing and storage, while the top side of the brim remained rigid.) All raw edges of the silk are sealed with melted wax as was done in period. (Patterns of Fashion, page 94, c1575-1600 Silk Hat.) A breakdown of this technique is available here. All stitching (except the inside upper-crown circular seam) is hand done. (The machine stitched seam was on the advice of Elizabethan Costuming, and was a mistake. Instead I would suggest either tacking the sides in place to the crown, and then covering a circle of felt (cut to fit) and stitching that in place, or covering the top of the crown totally and then attaching to the sides.) The finished hat was then bent into shape. (To ensure a smooth finish on the visible underside of the brim.)
Some recent images of the hat
(The hat band and feathers have been removed in order to allow a better view of the line of the hat)
Materials: I chose the Latch-hook canvas over the other base materials suggested in Elizabethan Costuming because it is inexpensive (compared to buckram - $12/m vs $50/m) and could easily be sewn together and also stitched to the felt covering (compared to cardboard). Unlike cardboard, latch-hook canvas is also very lightweight (being mostly holes) which will keep the hat light in order to prevent headaches, and has a slight give without creasing which allows it to follow the shape of this hat without losing structural integrity. While cardboard or stiffened paper was used in period, I feel the substitution of Latch-hook canvas is justified for this style of hat for the above reasons. The wire frame is suggested in Elizabethan Costuming is also mentioned in Patterns of Fashion. Unlike the period hat I left out the wire around the inside of the brim to allow some flex in fitting the head. I believe the wire could be omitted from the top of the crown if a sturdier base material was used. The wire was found in the shed. The white felt was the thinnest available at Fabric Vision, and sadly has no wool content whatsoever despite the sales woman’s emphatic assertions. The black silk was purchased from Global Fabrics. I toyed with the idea of black velvet but decided against it as all the non-felt tall hats in Patterns of Fashion are either black or brown silk. The contact adhesive is ADOS F2 Contact Spray Adhesive. The wax is plain, pale coloured candle wax, from both tall candles and tealights, as that is what I had on hand.
Difficulties Initially on the test piece the contact adhesive did not form a strong bond between the felt and the silk as it beaded on the 'stray' fibres. This meant it was necessary to really soak the two fabrics in order to get the necessary bond. This, fortunately did not stain the silk, but did make it solid and almost impenetrable to needles. Thus sewing the outer brim seam was particularly hard work. The glue also made the silk very stiff making it difficult to fold the edges under with any degree of flatness. It also eliminated any 'give' the bias gave it. Therefore it was necessary to notch the fabric regularly (every 7-8 mm along the sides, and every 3-4 mm at the front and back) and leave only a very small turn under. Wax sealing the edges probably was not necessary, but I didn't want to take any chances. Turning up the brim resulted in a less than smooth finish, which is due to the lack of bias stretch caused by the glue. Stitching was difficult as it was necessary to stitch around corners and in very confined areas. To fix this problem I bent my sewing needle. Thus I would suggest using a fine, curved needle in the future. I was unable to find an ornament similar to the one referred to earlier. I believe Tall Hats with curved/bent brim had these ornaments as there are pictures of men wearing similar hats with similar ornaments scattered throughout Patterns of Fashion. Bibliography
Arnold, Janet Dreher, Denise Winter, Janet & Savoy, Carolyn
Completed June 2000, for Baronial Arts & Sciences Championship, Barony of Southron Gaard |
