The Regency Bonnet

{One of my favourite quotes, written by Jane Austen in one of her letters.}

Back in September 2014, I took part in the costume promenade at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, and I made myself an outfit. Accessories included! I'll get round to doing a post for the outfit itself (I will I will I will) but let's start from the top. The bonnet.

This bonnet actually has a little bit of a history. There's a photo (which I will post if I can find!) of me with my sister when we were young, wearing two rather dashing hats our gran had given us to play with. We adorned them with straws (because, what else?) and ribbons, and strutted about the garden. One of them ended up sticking around in our dressing up box for many years. When I was looking for a hat I could cut up to make a bonnet, I came across it, all battered and bruised, and figured I didn't have much to lose since it was probably going to get thrown out anyway.

I gave it a bit of a steam with the iron, watched numerous bonnet making tutorials on youtube, and then took the plunge and picked up the scissors. Since I wanted it to be mouldable, I stitched wire into some bias binding, and used that to trim the edge of the brim. Then came the fun bit.

Ribbons and feathers and bows, oh my!

I got some cheap feathers from the local craft shop, curled them using various techniques from this American Duchess post, and got to stitching.

I know the silhouette is probably more late Regency/early Victorian, with the wide, stand-up-sort-of-brim, but worn with the right hair, I think I can get away with it.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, and am actually rather fond of it. If you've any questions about any element, just leave a comment!