How to Make a Doll’s Hat

How to Make a Doll’s Hat

From 1938, the newest arrival in the world of millinery was the “doll’s hat”. A doll’s hat could be worn with almost any hairdo, but look particularly attractive with Edwardian curls. The picture shows the angle at which the hat should be worn, and it is held in place by means of a circular band gripping the head at the back.

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need

¾ yard corded silk or crepe.
1 sheet sparterie or ½ yard buckram
1 yard eye veiling (10 inches wide)
1 ostrich feather

Step 1
Take the buckram or sparterie and draw a circle 6 inches in diameter. Mark two points on the circumference of the circle 5 inches apart and join these two points to the center of the circle. Cut out the circle and the segment you have drawn by joining the center of the circle to the two points on the circumference. You now have the pattern of the hat.

Step 2
Cut the pattern out twice in the silk or crepe, leaving ½ inches turnings round the circumference of the circle. Join the back seams (where the segment was cut from the circle) of the two silk pieces and the buckram or sparterie piece; they will now look like tents.

Step 3
One silk ‘tent’ is to go inside the sparterie ‘tent’ and should be tacked in one or two places to the sparterie to keep it in place. Place the other silk ‘tent’ over the sparterie, keeping the back seams together. Turn the outside silk edge in over the sparterie and pin. Turn in the edge of the inside silk and hem neatly along the edge of the hat.

Step 4
Cut a strip of sparterie (it will set better if cut on the cross) one inch wide and sufficiently long to go round your head. Cover this with silk cut on the cross. Attach the ends of this strip to the point under the hat. Attach the veil to the edge of the hat and gather the cut edges of the veil up to the back seam. Stitch the feather to the hat so that it covers the back seams.