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

Chapter XVII—HAT-MAKING AT HOME

The Economy and Pleasure of Making Hats

An additional few points will be useful to those who wish to trim their hats at home. There is much to be said for making hats at home whether or not one does it as a matter of economy. One can save from half to all the cost of a new ready-trimmed hat by using old materials and freshening them up, or new materials on hand, such as remnants, etc. The creative work itself is a pleasure to most women. Girls have been heard to say, "I'd rather make a hat than eat." Sometimes a club of girls can get together to make their own hats, having a buyer for the club to purchase at wholesale rates. The sum total of their experience and taste produces lovely hats.

The individual not only can save greatly by making her own hats, but can have many more, match them better with her clothes, and learn to make them more becoming and better suited to her than the hats she might chance to buy. Many people whom one sees on the street are wearing unbecoming hats, or at least, those that are not the most becoming. Some get so tired of looking that they buy recklessly, some are overpersuaded by the saleswoman, and some have not a cultivated taste.

If a woman is able to alter the hats she buys and adapt them to her own style when necessary, she can make them more individual and becoming. Then too, a winter hat of good style can be turned into a summer one, and vice versa. Perhaps the change made by covering the straw crown with velvet or silk, or a different trimming will do the trick. From every point of view it is advisable for one to learn how to make hats.

Observation the First Essential

The first step in making a hat at home, if one does not know exactly how one wishes to make it, is to leave home and go "window shopping" and also to look through the millinery departments in the stores. It is well to do this in order to be strictly up to date and to study the detail in vogue at the time, even though one does have in mind before starting an image of the result desired. Fashion varies somewhat from year to year even in the matter of putting a hat together, but an observant person may learn all of fashion's changes. In looking at hats it is well to know and apply the principles contained in the chapters on color and form.

The easiest method of trimming a hat and also the most expensive is to buy a shape that is becoming and trim it with new materials. These can be tried on at the store and pinned into place to get the effect. The saleswomen are often very helpful.

Covering the Frame

It is more difficult to cover the frame. Whoever trims her hats will soon pass from the easy work of putting trimming on a ready body hat to the interesting task of making the complete hat. Cutting the material is the most important thing. If it is bought on a bias there must be more of it. A turn-up or drooping brim is usually covered with material on the bias, unless it is of very sheer material and a soft gathered effect at the base of the crown is desired. Instead of buying a new frame the beginner may well take an old hat, if in good style, rip it to pieces, and use the old covering as a pattern. Another advantage of ripping up an old hat is that is shows just how much goods to buy. A straight brim is simple, being just a circle with a hole in the center. Two such circles for the upper and under sides of the brim can sometimes be stitched together on the sewing machine. The seam is then turned inside.

Wire or crinolin shapes can be bought. The frame should sit easily upon the head. If, however, a shape is too large, by the use of a little padding or a bandeau it can be made to fit. The covering of a frame has to be painstakingly done, as nothing shows up so much as uneven work or rough edges. It is a good rule never to let a stitch show, except in embroidery. A long strong needle is best, with strong coarse linen thread for most of the work. Unless the goods is quite smooth, it should be pressed beforehand. Old velvet can be steamed as directed in Chapter XV.

The Trimming

Pin the trimming on first, putting everything in place, then try the hat on, and change the trimming about to find the most becoming effect. Perhaps some trimming will have to be discarded or changed for something else. Try it with the costume with which it is to be worn.

The Lining

Hat linings can be bought, in white or black. Homemade linings can be cut on the pattern of any old well-fitting lining, and can be made to match the hat. If the crown is transparent, the lining may be left out, or a colored lining can be used as a trimming for the hat.

Clubs for Hat-Making

It is nice for a club of girls to buy one of the inexpensive little embroidering machines which are now extensively sold. They do neat, quick work. A club can also buy braids in large amounts very much cheaper than at retail.

Colored Hats

If one wishes to have a hat to match a costume, it is pretty to use left over pieces of the gown. A summer hat can combine the materials of several dresses, if they happen to go together, and so be suitable to wear with all of them. It is well to have a black hat always in one's wardrobe, as it goes with everything.

Hat dyes are good but are very apt to shrink the hat. If a piece of paper or cloth is laid on the head of the wearer first, and then the wet hat put on, the dye will not come off on the hair, the hat will dry to fit the head exactly, and will not shrink. It dries rapidly, in 20 or 30 minutes. Hat shellac will freshen up old straws. Milliners' glue is useful for some kinds of trimming, but the average person does not have it.

Reblocking

Reblocking of hats that have lost their shape or need to be changed somewhat is done at many little hat repair shops, but some adventurous girls reblock their own hats by fitting them wet over a bowl and using flatirons to hold them down.

Magazine Helps

There are several millinery magazines as well as sections in Vogue, the Ladies Home Journal, Vanity Fair, Woman's Home Companion, and others, which may be helpful to the hat-maker. Many people, to whom the intricacies of fitting a dress are unknown, can trim their own hats, and it is not at all bold to attempt it with the hints that have been given in this book.