1922—Millinery
by Charlotte Rankin Aiken, B.A.

Chapter XV—MAKING AND TRIMMING HATS

Relation Between the Saleswoman and the Workroom

Every Millinery Department has its workroom for the alteration and trimming of hats, and expert milliners have acquired their skill through a long course of training. Some salespeople, however, may be used in the workroom between seasons to their own and the store's advantage, if they know the simpler points about custom work and have deft fingers.

Such knowledge will also help them to sell exclusive hats, as they can point out the differences between these and the more common styles. Suggestions as to the renovating of hats and trimmings are also useful to the saleswoman and appreciated by the customer.

Hat Frames

The foundation of a hand-made hat is usually a frame, which may be altered from a factory-made frame or made entirely by hand. Hat wire and willow make a simple and practical foundation which is much used. If a frame is to be made entirely of wire and then covered with crinoline, frame hat wire, fine tie wire, and a pair of pliers or pincers are necessary. Measurements are marked on the inside of the hat to be copied, such as the outside edge of the brim, the width of the brim in the front, sides, and back, the depth of the crown, the diameter of the tip of the crown, the size around the top, and the size of the base of the crown. In instructions given for making hats, these are called the front brim, back, right, left, head, edge, crown, height of crown, side to side, etc. In fancy shapes other measurements may be required.

The Buckram or Willow Frame

A simple frame may be made of willow with a circular or oval piece for the top of the crown, a piece shaped like a man's collar for the sides of the crown, and a circular or oval piece with a hole in the center the size of the head, for the brim. A pattern for the sides of the crown can be made by cutting a straight piece of paper and pinning many darts in it until it fits the top of the crown and the head. The edge is wired by sewing edge hat wire with a strong thread and buttonhole stitch, around the edge of the brim, the edge of the top of the crown, and the base of the crown.

Buckram is too heavy to be much used, although formerly it was used a great deal.

The Wire Frame

In a frame made wholly of wire, the crown and brim may be made together, or the crown may be completed first and then the brim extended from that. If crown and brim are made together, a hoop of heavy frame hat wire is made for the edge of the top of the crown, and another for the base of the crown; where the hoop ends overlap, fine tie wire is used to hold them in place. Heavy wire is then used to make the spokes of the cartwheel effect, bent at right angles over the edge of the top of the crown, and bent out again at the base of the crown (or otherwise twisted once around the wire at the base of the crown) to form the brim. Where wires are not twisted but only bent, fine tie wire must be used to fasten such crossing of wires as the work progresses. The outer edge of the brim is made by twisting the spokes once each about the frame hat wire which is being used for the edge of the brim. The ends of this wire are held together by fine tie wire as stated above. The ends of the spokes should be cut off in such a way that they do not stick up. Frame hat wire is then run around the form as often as necessary to make a firm, circular or oval shape, and a bit of the fine tie wire is used to hold the crossing wires in place.

If the crown is to be made complete before starting the brim, the crown is finished off by twisting the spokes about the base, and cutting off their ends. New spokes then start from about an inch above the base of the crown, being twisted around the circular wire at that point and the ends cut off, and at the base are twisted or bent outward at right angles for the brim. The form is made stronger if the spoke wire is twisted instead of bent.

These frames may be covered with thin crinoline or similar material by securing with strong thread.

Bows

Some standard bows are the rosette, loop rosette, butterfly bow, tied bow, Alsatian, and fan-shaped bow.

There are a few tricks in making bows. The simple cravat bow is one that everyone knows how to make. Upon its evenness and grace depends its attractiveness.

Rosettes may be made in several ways. A common way is to fold a ribbon in ten or twelve even lengths, hold them together evenly and smoothly, and tie or sew another bit of ribbon about the center of the loops. The loops can be pulled out into various shapes, flat or stand-up.

A method which will make a perfectly uniform and even rosette, with the same side of the ribbon always out, is to measure the loops of ribbon half the length of the rosette just described, that is, not measuring for a double loop but for a single one. The ribbon will be folded flat back and forth about twenty times. With needle and thread every other crease is caught together, forming a straight series of loops. Different effects are obtained either by drawing the threads tight at the base of the loops or by leaving the base ungathered, just sewed flat. This method is used for making only two or three loops for a large stick-up, or for any series of loops. If the series of loops is to form a rosette, the length of loops is twisted circularly and caught with a thread. Some bows are made of ribbon wired and glued together to give the effect of a bow.

One can practice bow-making with paper, old ribbon, or a strip of narrow cloth. Some bows need wire tacked on the inside to hold them erect.

Method of Affixing Trimmings

Formerly all trimming was sewn to the hat, but now there are a number of kinds of "Milliner's Glue," or cement, which is used a great deal in fastening flowers, ribbons, etc., to the hat. These liquids must resist moisture, not injure the materials, be permanent, and have a strong adhesive power.

Often trimmings are attached to the hat by slipping them through slits in the hat itself.

Linings

Mercerized materials and China and taffeta silks are generally used for hat linings. These are of two styles. One style is drawn up in the center by a thread or tape and fastened to the apex of the crown. The other fitted style is very much like the linings in men's hats; it is in two pieces, one placed flat on the inside of the crown, the other placed around the sides of the crown and attached to the other piece. Linings should be put in slightly above the base of the crown so as not to show.

Maline is used for lining transparent hats. Satin and ribbon are now used also. Linings usually match the hat in color.

Some workrooms buy linings all ready to sew in, and it takes a skilful girl between a minute and a half and four minutes to sew one in.

Freshening and Cleaning

Customers will appreciate information upon the care and cleaning of millinery. The saleswoman should be able to tell her some ways of doing this at home.

To freshen velvet and to take out the creases, it is steamed. A good method for the amateur is to run it back and forth over the open top or spout of a kettle of boiling water. Pressing velvet on the surface with a hot iron lays the nap flat and makes a glossy panne velvet effect. If the nap is not to be laid flat it must not be ironed on the right side except with a cool iron.

Straw hats may be cleaned with a good soap and warm water, then bleached, stuffed with coarse paper to restore the shape, and dried in the sun. This method gives a cream-white result. A dead white is obtained by the use of oxalic acid, but this is not good for the straw. Lemon juice is a good bleach for hats. A faded colored straw may be improved with a fresh coat of shellac polish made for the purpose. The way in which hats are put away has a great deal to do with their preservation and fresh appearance. It preserves the shape of a hat to put it on a form, or pin it up by the inside, so that the brim is not allowed to support it.

The curling of feathers is rather difficult as an amateur is apt to break the flues. Several flues are pulled together between the thumb and the back of the knife; this process is repeated until the flues are sufficiently curled.

Although bleaching feathers requires chemical knowledge, white feathers that are soiled and yellow may be improved immensely by scrubbing them with castile soap and warm water, and after rinsing dyeing them the faintest blue.

Feathers may be dyed in the lighter shades by following the methods adopted by professional dyers as given in Chapter VIII. About two-thirds of a teaspoonful of either formic or oxalic acid in a pint of water will set the dye for one or two feathers.